In March of 2024, we interviewed our Volunteer Robin Yip. With over 17 years of experience in human-centered design, Robin has led the design efforts for multiple companies with in-house product design teams of varying sizes, cofounded a startup, and created experiences that have reached millions of people worldwide. Her ethos is to establish meaningful and equitable experiences that have a positive social impact, reduce user friction, and expand accessibility for the largest number of people.
Apart from her work in tech, Robin is also an environmentalist and filmmaker. Currently, she's collaborating with The Monarch Sanctuary Project to produce educational videos and online content that aims to inspire people to help with the migration of monarch butterflies. Their objective is to assist individuals in establishing and maintaining native habitats in their own homes to safeguard the monarch butterfly population. By doing so, they can appreciate the beauty of nature while also promoting the expansion of these invaluable pollinators and other wildlife.
To close Women's History Month, we are excited to feature Robin! Here's our interview.
How did you learn about Pursuit and in what ways do you volunteer with us?
I was introduced to Pursuit by Zohar, and as I learned more about their mission, I felt a strong connection and decided to become a design mentor in 2021. Since then, I have had the great opportunity to mentor six cohorts and a hackathon team. Recently, I taught two cohorts a UX Design course specifically tailored for their Capstones.
What inspired you to start volunteering with us?
My values in this field are centered on empowering individuals who have been historically marginalized, promoting diversity in the tech industry, and increasing opportunities for a greater number of people. Pursuit’s programs for underserved adults without college degrees help create systemic change, which motivated me to become a part of the Pursuit community.
What’s been a highlight of your volunteering experience with us so far?
It has been a truly wonderful experience to meet a diverse and talented group of Fellows through Pursuit. Witnessing their creativity, kindness, and thoughtfulness has been a highlight for me. Their innovative and accessible solutions have solved real user problems and delivered a positive social impact. Collaborating with them has been an honor, as I am always inspired by their unique ideas and grateful for the opportunity to help bring them to life.
What’s been your journey to becoming a Product Design Director?
Solving complex problems is something that gives me a lot of fulfillment. Shortly after graduating high school, I co-founded a startup that specialized in designing and developing apps for a diverse range of clients. This required me to take on multiple roles such as design, research, development, quality assurance, marketing, branding, and product strategy. Throughout my career, I have always emphasized the importance of humanity-centered design. This led me to lead in-house product design teams of varying sizes to successfully deliver global solutions that have impacted millions of people.
Have some key experiences or mentors impacted your career or shaped your approach to leadership?
I have been fortunate to work alongside Joie Chung and Caroline Morchio, both of whom embody servant leadership - a quality I strongly value. They exemplify rare qualities such as empathy, inclusion, collaboration, and open communication, which have inspired and encouraged me to continuously emphasize the importance of psychological safety to foster an open, inclusive, and collaborative team environment. Another person who has influenced my leadership style is Ludmila Praslova, who focuses on creating equitable organizations and systemic inclusion informed by an understanding of neurodiversity and neuroinclusion.
As a woman in the traditionally male-dominated world of product design and tech, could you share some (if any) of the challenges you've faced and how you've navigated them?
These are very thoughtful questions and I’ll do my best to balance being thorough and succinct. I’ve faced many challenges that range from unconscious/implicit bias to upper leadership tolerating toxicity. To work through these challenges, I sought out allies, used my voice, documented my experiences thoroughly, and influenced change where I could.
What changes would you like to see in the industry to support and empower more women to take on leadership roles?
In terms of changes to support and empower more women and non-binary people to take on leadership roles, current approaches such as unconscious/implicit bias (e.g. ageism, gender, and others) training and diversity hiring goals have been proven to be inadequate for creating the systemic changes needed to ensure sustained diversity in organizations.
What is needed is more in-depth work to address cultural, environmental, values, and other factors that are limiting opportunities for women and non-binary people to be in leadership roles. From the hiring process to internal performance evaluations, I have come across some promising approaches to create effective change, such as:
- Establishing a culture that emphasizes equity (acknowledging the unequal starting points and creating processes to ensure that people from marginalized backgrounds can effectively compete, have access to development opportunities, contribute, and grow, without losing sight of their identities)
- Utilizing unbiased technologies and processes to identify top candidates to top performers while reducing the risk of unconscious/implicit bias
- Having actionable measures in place to address and manage toxic behaviors that negatively impact the work environment
- Implementing standardized and skills-based questions to prevent bias
- Incorporating inclusive collaboration into the day-to-day work, making psychological safety the standard, and considering diverse perspectives to inform decisions
What advice would you give to women or other minorities pursuing careers in your industry?
Find your community and allies, develop a growth mindset, and sharpen your discernment skills as you’ll naturally encounter a good amount of feedback in a product design role.
What’s one thing — either work-related or not — you learned in the last month?
Recently I learned about the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) and that fewer than 10% of the approximately 2,800 animal exhibitors licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture are AZA accredited. Now I know to check if an institution is AZA-accredited before going!
