# Natalie Woyzbun > Design Strategy and Innovation Leader | Experience & Systems Design | AI, Consumer, and Arts | 2x Tech Founder Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/nataliewoyzbun I’m a design strategy and innovation leader who helps early-stage teams and established brands turn ambiguity into clear direction. I work where emerging technology, human behavior, and systems thinking meet, helping teams shape products and services that make sense in the real world. I’m a two-time tech founder, including an AI-powered marketplace, and an early member of the Stanford d.school design team. I bring a mix of strategic clarity, research depth, and hands-on prototyping to help teams move from early insight to real-world validation. Today I advise AI and consumer startups on product vision, research strategy, and early growth. Previously, at Gap Inc., I led innovation priorities for Old Navy’s New Ventures group, guiding 0 to 1 concepts from early insight to nationwide pilots, including Old Navy's first testing store, The Imagine Lab. My work blends service design, experimentation, and cross-functional leadership to move ideas into real-world impact. I'm comfortable in the room where decisions get made, across arts, healthcare, publishing, and tech startups. Outside of work, I’m a hands-on creator who builds with my family, collects contemporary art and vinyl, and roasts small-batch coffee. A selection of my work spanning digital platforms, installations, and service design is available in my portfolio URL above. ## Work Experience ### Design Advisor @ Gumption Inc. Jan 2023 – Present | Palo Alto, California, United States Provides guidance on product design and design research strategies for an early-stage AI/consumer tech company democratizing expert home design. - Shapes 0-1 prototyping strategy for an emerging AI and consumer tech platform, ensuring new features start with real user needs in mind. - Advises on marketplace strategy—providing guidance on which template designs and independent brand products to include, and explaining the rationale behind each recommendation to align with business goals and user preferences. ### Strategic Design & Growth Advisor @ Emerging, funded brand crafting elevated everyday essentials Jan 2025 – Jan 2025 I advised the emerging fashion brand’s founding team helping turn a rough idea into a tangible, launch-ready brand. My role blended creative direction with strategic thinking. I translated vision into design systems, guided early prototypes, and laid the groundwork for go-to-market success. * Led early product design and defined the brand’s look and feel * Led design research to understand what people actually want * Initiated the go-to-market strategy so the team could launch with clarity and confidence * Advised on how to scale the brand with intention * Managed a small team of three across design and strategy ### Principal Designer | Sr UX Design Manager @ Gap Inc. Jan 2019 – Jan 2023 | San Francisco, CA Led the creative direction for the New Ventures agency studio within Old Navy's Innovation Strategy team. I drove UX design and strategy, using a human-centered approach to identify user needs, test concepts, and transform 0-1 ideas into scalable solutions across over 1,200 stores and digital platforms nationwide. I mentored and guided cross-functional teams, led UX prototyping for omnichannel experiences, and ensured innovation was both practical and user-focused. I ensured experiences were designed to serve a wide range of users, with accessibility and inclusive design informing both digital and physical environments. - Drove Old Navy’s fit overhaul, leading UX and design to cut $120M in returns and set Gap Inc.’s sizing standards. - Directed a 25-person team to launch Old Navy’s first modular testing store, The Imagine Lab, from idea to launch. Developed a feedback loop for real-time customer input, enabling immediate improvements in digital and physical service elements, store design, product placement, and confidence in launch viability. - Managed and mentored cross-functional teams spanning product, merchandising, operations, engineering, stores, and marketing—bridging design vision with key business objectives. - Crafted user journey maps, service blueprints and high-impact strategic presentations for C-suite, and board stakeholders—pinpointing new customer acquisition strategies that increased net sales by an estimated 14%. - Influenced user-centered design (UCD) methodologies, conducting design-thinking workshops with 40+ teams, enhancing collaborative problem-solving, and building empathy and creative confidence across functions. - Introduced Google-style design sprints, streamlining team handoffs and accelerating decision cycles from 3 months to 4 weeks. - Used Adobe CC, Miro, InVision, and Figma for rapid digital and physical prototyping, reducing design iteration cycles, and de-risking change for the retail brand. ### Design Strategy Consultant @ Lantern Lab Jan 2018 – Jan 2019 | San Francisco Bay Area Provided consultation services to Sutter Health, a pioneering non-profit healthcare system. - Designed an interactive user journey map summarizing strategies to improve patient service experience: This work seeded Sutter Health’s Scout, a digital platform supporting youth mental health. - Conducted foundational design research and collaborated with senior stakeholders to enhance patient journey experiences. I conducted over 100 hours of in-person research, including interviews, presentations, and workshops, to understand youth healthcare needs. - Presented findings and recommendations directly to senior leadership and donor stakeholders. * Lantern Lab is a consulting group started by IDEO alum. ### Head of Design | Startup @ Editr Jan 2016 – Jan 2018 | San Francisco Bay Area Co-founded AI-personalized shopping discovery engine using computer vision and machine learning. - Led and managed a global team, overseeing product design and management, design operations, and engineering teams to ship a fully-built consumer web application to USA Beta Users. - Designed and developed front-end (Adobe CC, Sketch, HTML, CSS, InVision), and demonstrated understanding of Microsoft Computer Vision API and AWS S3. - Conducted comprehensive UX testing (round tables, one-on-one, surveys, UX analytics) with users in 5 North American cities. - Led the creation of a shopping tool supported by an innovative AI-driven algorithm and Microsoft Computer Vision API, which recommended from over 2000 retails the best fashion and home products based on their style input, and managed the development of a machine-learning feature that fine-tuned how products were paired with styles. - Secured Seed round venture funding with IDEO Ventures, Graph Ventures, and notable super angels. ### Head of Design | Startup @ Tablo Inc. Jan 2012 – Jan 2016 | San Francisco Bay Area Co-founded the white-label SaaS product for digital annotation, tagging, clipping, and remixing of print magazines. - Led a global team, overseeing product design and management, design operations, and managing the engineering team. - Designed and developed front-end (Adobe CC, Sketch, HTML, CSS, InVision), managed custom admin infrastructure (CMS), and demonstrated back-end comprehension (AWS, Rails) to create a fully searchable, indexable, and interactive software. - Conducted comprehensive UX testing (round tables, one-on-one, surveys, UX analytics). - Established strategic partnerships with Vogue and Dwell, presenting to editorial leadership and securing private betas for each brand. ### Coach @ Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford Jan 2013 – Jan 2015 | Stanford University ### UX Design Strategist @ Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford ( d.school ) Jan 2007 – Jan 2010 | Stanford, CA Founding member of the d.school design team - Leveraging the fundamentals of HCD and the design-thinking process, I led the research, prototyping, and testing of service and environment design elements for 3 d.school spaces inspiring global standards for HCD education and corporate institutions. I worked alongside some of the most influencial designers, academics and innovative leaders of our time. ### UX Design Strategist @ Stanford University Jan 2007 – Jan 2007 | San Francisco Bay Area I played a pivotal role in conceptualizing and implementing the K-12 Innovation Lab at The Nueva School in Hillsborough, CA. ### Curator @ Connecting_07, World Design Congress Jan 2007 – Jan 2007 ## Education ### MA in Center for Curatorial Studies Bard College ### BFA in Fine Arts Mount Allison University ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/natwoyzbun - Portfolio: https://iamnatw.com --- Source: https://flows.cv/nataliewoyzbun JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/nataliewoyzbun/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13