# Rachael Wussow

> Experience Design Leader + Brand Strategist

Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States
Profile: https://flows.cv/rachaelwussow

I help organizations solve complex problems—creative, business, or systemic—through design.

With 15+ years of experience in design and over 5 years in leadership, I help organizations going through critical inflection points translate insight into experiences that resonate with people and create measurable impact for businesses.

I’ve worked across the design process bringing ideas to life: from discovery research and future envisioning, to service prototyping and product strategy, to brand development and go-to-market activation, to leading major experience pivots and redesigns. I am a bridge that connects the dots between insight, strategy and execution.

I’ve partnered with nonprofits, startups, and Fortune 50 companies alike—always driven by the same goal: to create work that’s meaningful, human, and impactful.

## Work Experience
### Fractional Brand + Design Strategist and Design Director @ Unknown
Jan 2025 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area
I partner with companies during pivotal moments to clarify design priorities and investments that strengthen user connection, fuel growth, and sustain engagement.

### Design Director: Traveler Experience @ Expedia Group
Jan 2022 – Jan 2023 | San Francisco Bay Area
Championed and led the strategy, design and execution of two new multi-disciplinary teams: Adaptive Home and Destination Discovery, across Expedia core brands globally

### Director of Product Labs: UX Research, Content, Concepting: Hotwire @ Expedia Group
Jan 2021 – Jan 2022
Oversaw company-wide user research, content and new feature experimentation

### Product Labs Manager: UX Research and Content: Hotwire @ Expedia Group
Jan 2018 – Jan 2021

### Insights Strategy Lead: Hotwire @ Expedia Group
Jan 2017 – Jan 2018 | San Francisco Bay Area

### Insights and Strategy @ Google via Adecco
Jan 2016 – Jan 2017 | Mountain View, California
Design research and brand strategy for Google Wifi leading up to launch and preparing for international expansion

### Freelance Brand + Design Strategist @ Brand and Product Strategy + Innovation
Jan 2013 – Jan 2017 | San Francisco Bay Area
Working with mission-driven organizations to drive human-centered design solutions.

Engagements:
- Insights + Strategy with the Home UX team @ Google (bringing Google Wifi to market)
- Leading the strategic brand development of start ups and pivoting companies @ CharacterSF
- Experience strategy for global philanthropies and social enterprises @ Amplifier Strategies
- Leading UX research projects to inform the organization's rebrand @ Kiva.org
- HCD Research and service prototyping for poverty prevention @ Tipping Point Community

### Problem Solver @ T Lab @ Tipping Point Community
Jan 2013 – Jan 2014
One of nine ‘Problem-solvers’ in the inaugural fellowship class of the T Lab—an R&D lab within Tipping Point Community, focused on prototyping human-centered design solutions for local social impact aimed at reducing cyclic poverty in the Bay Area.

: Tasked with finding opportunity in a blue-sky design brief focused on Child Care needs.

: Following a user-centered research process, developed a cost effective care option available for underserved parents pursuing job advancement in the evening and weekend hours.

: One service design was developed for prototype proof-of-concept testing. Three families participated in a four day pilot at Holy Family Day Home.

: Blogged about the process along key journey points. http://tippingpoint-tlab.tumblr.com/tagged/childcare


Context for T Lab: Companies and investors spend billions to develop new products, technologies and services, but far less is invested in solving social problems. With 1.3 million people living in poverty in the Bay Area, the stakes are high. At Tipping Point Community, our mission is to make poverty preventable. Tipping Point Community launched the T Lab program in 2013 to explore new solutions in Child Care, Early Childhood Education and Prisoner Reentry programs aimed at impoverished and lower income communities.

### strategist @ fuseproject
Jan 2009 – Jan 2012
qualitative research
competitive analysis + positioning
product design + digital UX approach
brand + product naming
go-to-market strategy
trend forecasting
business prototyping
growth strategy


fuseproject develops cohesive brand + product experiences. With a focus on establishing new markets and disrupting old ones, our work takes a long-term strategic approach to developing and enhancing our clients' business. With nimble multidisciplinary teams, custom assembled for each client and program, we span brand & market strategy, identity & naming, packaging design, product development and communications design.

### lead designer @ The Change Brand Creation and Design
Jan 2007 – Jan 2009
Helping good-for-the-world brands grow by leveraging their conviction, personality and sense of mission into market value.

thechangecreation.com
The Truth is Your Best Tool.


## Education
### BA International Studies in International Relations + Graphic Design
North Carolina State University

### graphic design
Meredith College

### Language and Culture Studies
Universidad de Granada


## Contact & Social
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/rachaelwussow
- Portfolio: http://rachaelwussow.com

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Source: https://flows.cv/rachaelwussow
JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/rachaelwussow/resume.json
Last updated: 2026-04-13