Join us for a lively evening at UX Speakeasy, where we’re teaming up with the dynamic duo, Julie Morgan and Melanie Noble! Our experts will dive into the fascinating world of player-coaching, drawing on many years of experience to share how to balance being a leader and doing the work. Mingle with fellow UX enthusiasts in a laid-back and fun atmosphere, share insights, and spark new ideas. It’s a night of inspiration, connection, and a touch of UX magic you won’t want to miss!
THE PANELISTS
Julie Morgan, MBA, Research | Qualcomm
Julie is a multifaceted design leader with expertise in UX design, research, emerging technologies, digital marketing, program management, finance, and product development. With over a decade at Qualcomm, she led UX tools software research and design, creating innovative systems and tools. Her prior experience includes senior design roles at Digitaria, collaborating with major brands like Royal Caribbean and CareFusion.
Beyond her professional achievements, Julie is a dedicated community advocate. She founded Designing Women, now Design Spaces, and co-founded the San Diego Tech Women’s Summit. She mentors at USD’s Innovation Catalyzer and recently judged the 2024 Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge. Currently, Julie is a Program Manager at Qualcomm, an adjunct professor at USD, and Vice President of the Design Forward Alliance. She holds an MBA from USD and a bachelor’s degree from UCSB.
Melanie Noble, Principal | Intuit
Melanie is a Principal Design Researcher and Innovation Catalyst at Intuit. She has over 15 years’ experience leading research to uncover customer insights in financial, medical and enterprise experience areas. Melanie is a problem-solver at heart, leading research to uncover customer issues and guiding teams through data-driven decision-making. With a strong focus on customer insight, she coaches cross-functional teams across organizations to innovate, design, experiment, and deliver exceptional experiences that drive business results.
A specialist in mixed methods research, Melanie excels in concept testing, in-depth interviewing, journey mapping, and contextual inquiry/field research. She is also proficient in prototyping, strategic thinking, and shaping customer experience visions. Melanie brings extensive experience in both B2B and consumer spaces, consistently inspiring teams to think outside the box and achieve innovative outcomes.
THE MODERATOR
Kavita Appachu, CEO | Moves The Needle
Kavita Appachu is a product discovery and growth leader who works with organizations to elevate the practice of customer-centric collaboration to drive transformation. As CEO of Moves The Needle, she consults with organizations of all sizes to address growth challenges by building internal capability, new leadership skills, and products to transform company culture toward continuous innovation. She has helped unlock the entrepreneurial spirit of teams and leaders at organizations including Intuit, Target, AARP, Roche, and Procter & Gamble by coaching them to embrace change, understand the importance of risk-taking, and build solutions that create value.
She serves on the Advisory Board of University of California Riverside’s Executive Design Thinking Program and UX Speakeasy. She also mentors at the University of San Diego School of Business and is co-host of a podcast SHIFT, where she interviews leaders that are making an impact on the frontlines of transformation.
Note: Some events locations may require a 21+ age requirement