# Vanessa Bell > UX Technologist | Service Design Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/vanessabell I’m an aspiring service designer transitioning from software engineering with a focus on UX, behavior-change design, research, and creating intuitive learning experiences. I just completed a mindful spending case study (SpendLight) and am now deepening my UX x AI skillset with a health tech project. ## Work Experience ### UX and Service Designer @ Vanessa Bell Design Jan 2025 – Present Various UX and service design projects in the behavior change and health tech spaces. ### UX Designer and Web Developer @ Purusha Yoga School & Studio Jan 2025 – Present I make ongoing content, web maintenance and design updates to the Purusha Studio website. Most recently I designed and implemented the yoga teacher training page: https://purushayoga.org/yoga-teacher-training-sf/ In March 2025, I implemented the new branding guidelines for Purusha's website, then designed and implemented their yoga teacher training page in close collaboration with the co-owners. The following month, they hired me on a contract basis to make ongoing content, maintenance, and performance updates to their WordPress website. ### Yoga Teacher @ Purusha Yoga School & Studio Jan 2024 – Present | San Francisco, California, United States I teach hatha flow, vinyasa, and beginner yoga classes in person and online. ### UX Lead — Research, Concept Validation & Prototype Testing @ SpendLight Jan 2025 – Jan 2025 Led the design and validation of SpendLight, a mindful spending journal that helps users build calm and awareness around discretionary purchases through brief daily reflections — an alternative to traditional budgeting apps. - Conducted generative interviews and competitive analysis to understand why users abandon budgeting tools and what makes financial behavior change feel emotionally safe and sustainable. - Designed and refined the core experience through mid- and high-fidelity prototyping using Figma Make and Figma Design. - Moderated user tests and synthesized insights that shaped the core product philosophy (“awareness, not control”) and clarified SpendLight’s tone, onboarding, and feature set. - Validated a journaling-based financial behavior model focused on emotional triggers, self-reflection, and calm. - Defined a scoped MVP ready for development, including annotated Figma files, an insights summary, and an MVP design brief with event instrumentation. - Partnered weekly with founder/technical lead to align design decisions with product goals. Final prototype validated for MVP; currently transitioning to engineering build with target iOS beta. ### UX Designer - CoCreate Cohort 20 @ Talofa Jan 2025 – Jan 2025 I was the User Testing Lead for a 10-week product design sprint with Talofa Games, redesigning the “Welcome Back” flow for Monster Walk, a mobile fitness game that converts real-world steps into in-game rewards. Key contributions: Designed and executed both unmoderated Maze studies and moderated 1:1 concept testing, including a strategic pivot that improved qualitative feedback depth. Recruited participants from multiple sources (closed tester group, Discord community, friends & family) and built systems for moderator alignment and note-taking. Synthesized insights into actionable design decisions — shifting focus from step-to-stamina clarity to emotional engagement and monster personality, based on user feedback. Produced annotated mid-fidelity wireframes within Talofa’s existing design system and game logic constraints. Collaborated with a cross-functional team of designers, coaches, and the client to iterate through multiple test/ideation cycles, ensuring alignment with player motivation, retention goals, and technical feasibility. ### Senior Software Engineer @ AllStripes Jan 2022 – Jan 2023 | San Francisco, California, United States Here are a few of my proudest moments as a senior SWE at AllStripes: Streamlined Operations with PDF File Chunking: Led the development and implementation of a PDF file chunking process in collaboration with our operations team, resulting in a 95% reduction in the time required to split 100-page medical record files. This feature saved the operations team hours of manual work, and ultimately resulted in patients being able to see their medical records in their portal sooner. Survey for New Patient Onboarding Flow: Designed the data model for survey questions in our new patient onboarding flow and implemented the frontend using React. Ensured seamless aggregation and visual display of patient responses in our web app. Empowering Our Research Team with Survey Targeting UI: Developed a user interface in our internal tool without design assistance, enabling our research team to create target audiences for Typeform surveys embedded in our web app. Efficiency Gains through Automation: Automated on-call notifications and test coverage reporting by integrating Google Sheets with Slack, significantly reducing manual efforts for our engineering team. In addition to these achievements, I also: - Led multiple technical specifications for integrations with third-party services. - Presented new features regularly to the rest of the company, consistently receiving positive feedback on my demos. - Demonstrated strong crisis management skills by efficiently addressing critical incidents and maintaining open communication with stakeholders. - Played a pivotal role in building a mobile app from scratch using Expo and React Native. - Implemented feature flags with LaunchDarkly and created comprehensive guides for engineering and product teams. - Conducted interviews for prospective engineers, designers, and PMs. Technologies and Tools: Proficient in React, React Native, TypeScript, Node.js, and Parse. Familiar with Storybook, Expo, LaunchDarkly, Google Ads, Mixpanel. ### Software Engineer @ AllStripes Jan 2020 – Jan 2021 | Remote Worked primarily on our internal tooling for our medical record operations team. React, Typescript, Postgres, Parse. I also: - Drove process improvements for AT/QA, contributing to enhanced product quality. - Provided leadership and continuity in project management during team absences. - Led a weekly Zoom social event as part of a cultural initiative. ### Software Engineer @ Cabin Technologies Jan 2019 – Jan 2020 | San Francisco, CA I developed software across the diverse Cabin ecosystem of digital platforms, including web, mobile, and onboard IoT. Unfortunately, the consumer product side was shut down in August 2020 due to uncertainty around COVID-19. Developed a redesigned, mobile-friendly landing page for the consumer product using React.js Updated our suite of digital products as needed (staff-facing web dashboard, host mobile app, driver mobile app) using React and React Native Built the foundation for a UI component library that was accessible via Storybook Implemented best practices across our codebases with ESLint, Prettier, and Typescript Developed an initial MVP used to control the lights on our buses, requiring collaboration between software and hardware Researched and implemented a data pipeline with the Elastic Stack (Elasticsearch and Kibana) Developed a Node.js wrapper to run a MATLAB analysis (internal tool) ### Software Engineer @ Thistle Jan 2017 – Jan 2019 | San Francisco, California, United States I was the lead React Native developer for Thistle's iPhone and Android apps, but I also worked on the website (Django/Python) Developed (and maintained via Storybook) React components for our website. Wrote RESTful APIs with Django Rest Framework. Advocated for a better user experience on web and mobile. ### Web Developer @ Search411 Jan 2017 – Jan 2017 | remote As a member of the R&D team at this small startup, I reported directly to the CTO to design React components written in JSX (using ES6), wire up components with Redux, and style HTML5/CSS3 (using SASS and Foundation). Quickly familiarized myself with the codebase by designing tests in Jest and solving bugs that I identified, for example one bug where users were unable to include punctuation in a company name field. Managed issues on GitHub by writing them up, prioritizing, and tracking. Owned the design and implementation the team page component: https://beta.search411.net/about-us and the Jobs page. In addition, I worked with the CEO to identify where content could be improved and user experience optimized. Jumped into the codebase and implemented changes on my own. ### Event Operations Associate @ EdSurge Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | Burlingame, CA I worked on event logistics for EdSurge's Tech for Schools Summits across the United States. The summits brought together K-12 educators & administrators and educational technology companies who aimed to meet district needs. Soon after starting at EdSurge, I created a Google site for our community and district partner co-hosts which included all of the relevant information they needed to prepare for the summits. I also implemented various strategies to improve the efficiency of our core events team, including daily scrum meetings via Slack and use of detailed checklists to track our progress. I frequently used Excel to analyze our attendee base to help inform our decisions regarding event operations and scheduling. In addition, I was responsible for maintaining and updating our event websites. ### Product Operations Associate @ Coursera Jan 2015 – Jan 2015 | Mountain View, CA Managed projects for multiple partner universities who were preparing their courses to go live. Learned how to use internal tools and HTML while working with the courses. Worked with the Partnerships team to keep the course creation and editing process on track. Identified ways to improve communication among team members at Coursera and with partners. Tested courses for quality before they went live. Troubleshooted and resolved issues raised by partners, and escalated to engineering teams when necessary. ### Research Assistant @ Data Marketing Inc. Jan 2014 – Jan 2015 | San Jose, CA Data Marketing, Inc. is a consulting service-based company providing data solutions for direct marketing outreach. Redesigned and rewrote a response report template, a client order form, and a product description. Maintained data vendor relationships. Ran statistical models with SPSS to determine best direct mail targets. Created Maptitude maps to research clients' target markets. Designed PowerPoint presentations of DMI results for meetings with clients and conferences attended by the CEO. ### Community Engagement Intern @ Sacred Heart Community Service Jan 2013 – Jan 2014 | Santa Clara, CA and San Jose, CA The Santa Clara University Ignatian Center hosts a program called Arrupe, which facilitates SCU student involvement in the surrounding communities during one academic quarter. As an Arrupe Intern, I elected to work at Sacred Heart Community Service, one of the Ignatian Center's partner agencies. Acted as a liaison between Sacred Heart Community Service and Santa Clara University students completing volunteer hours. Created and implemented an evaluation for volunteer education experiences in order to improve future lessons and workshops. Worked in the Volunteer Center creating K-12 and college lesson plans for visiting volunteer groups Facilitated activities and building tours for groups of diverse age groups (from first graders to adults). ### Laboratory Assistant @ Santa Clara University Jan 2014 – Jan 2014 | Santa Clara, CA Assisted students in conducting statistical analysis for their Quantitative Methods class. Edited written drafts of students' research papers for style and content. ### EMEA Marketing Intern @ Akamai Technologies Jan 2013 – Jan 2013 Analyzed customer data in Excel to construct a profile of over 100 customers who are likely upgrade to new services. Used SalesForce extensively to gather customer information. Designed and implemented a survey instrument to gather quantitative data on 97 customers. Created and presented two PowerPoint decks about aforementioned customers. ### Business Associate Intern @ Fetching Allure Inc. Jan 2013 – Jan 2013 | San Jose, CA Curated and inputted content for this startup’s iPad app, called Paletta. Wrote copy for Paletta website. Managed an international outsourcing project and validated data. Conducted consumer interviews to gather early feedback about Paletta and analyzed results. ### La Mesa Verde Family Mentor Intern @ Sacred Heart Community Service Jan 2012 – Jan 2012 | San Jose, CA Helped to provide first year La Mesa Verde families with one on one garden support, build community, and provide a successful first year gardening experience with their own garden plot at home. Met with around 6 families a week in order to provide information and resources related to gardening. ## Education ### UX Design CoCreate ### Web Page in Digital/Multimedia and Information Resources Design Designlab ### Full Stack Web Development Coding Dojo ### Bachelor's Degree in Sociology. Minors in International Business and Spanish Santa Clara University ### Spanish Language and Literature CIEE Study Center in Seville ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/vanessajoanbell --- Source: https://flows.cv/vanessabell JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/vanessabell/resume.json Last updated: 2026-03-31