How to make UX matter in places where it isn’t expected

What do you do when you're the first UX hire in an organization that isn’t sure where UX fits?

In this talk, Vinni shares what she’s learned about building trust, creating small wins, and turning imperfect projects into meaningful influence. As a two-time first UX hire, she has introduced design into an engineering-driven culture at GreyB Research and brought UX into everyday employee operations and enterprise-wide digital initiatives at The Heritage Group.

She takes the audience behind the scenes into the systems that quietly enabled UX influence—governance models, decision-making frameworks, research loops, and cross-functional alignment. These structures helped turn imperfect projects into stepping stones toward long-term maturity.

Attendees will walk away with practical strategies for earning trust, navigating constraints, and turning research into decisions that teams actually act on.