Sera Tajima Podcast

Sera Tajima, Host and Founder of The Craft gives an introduction to circular design with 4 global examples of circularity from Apple to e-waste in Brazil. Chapters(00:00:00) Introduction to circular design (00:05:35) Why design for circularity(00:07:10) Technical and biological waste(00:10:21) Smartphones, cost-savings, and Apple (00:12:20) Shifting to a society that consumes less(00:14:16) 4 Case Studies on Circularity(00:14:36) Recycling plastic waste in the beauty industry(00:18:14) Leveraging e-waste to build digital equity in Brazil (00:21:03) Modular headphone subscriptions to reduce waste(00:22:51) 100% regenerative agriculture with buy-in from shareholders(00:25:31) Continue the conversationGet resources here 👇🏽Join the Conscious Tech Movement⁠⁠___________________________________________________________I'm Sera Tajima, Founder, Climate Tech Advisor & Investor. 🤙I talk about: → Product Growth Strategy (Growth, Design, AI)→ Climate Tech→ Venture Capital⁠⁠⁠Connect for more good energy⁠⁠⁠ ⚡️Become a sponsor: partner@seratajima.com

Colton Schweitzer is the Founder of Kickass UX; he helps graphic designers become UX Designers. In this conversation we chat about Colton's background, starting Kickass UX, and where the UX education industry fall short. Chapters(00:00:00) How Colton got into UX (00:05:55) Creating your own opportunities (00:07:40) Depression, discovering spirituality, & gratitude (00:13:50) Sera's grieving & health issues (00:25:18) Critical thinking and the why (00:28:27) Kickass UX (00:35:08) Coaching students who were struggling in a bootcamp (00:36:25) Teaching graphic designers (00:38:56) Designers need to understand business and growth (00:40:00) Picking the right case study (00:45:05) Free work and value (00:51:34) Colton's relationship with social media (00:55:00) Unconscious habits and letting human needs drive the product (00:57:40) Meditation, manifesting, and visualizationsWhere to find Colton Schweitzer: LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/coltonschweitzer/Kickass UX: https://www.kickassux.com/free-ux-design-course___________________________________________________________I'm Sera Tajima, Founder, Climate Tech Advisor & Investor. 🤙I talk about: → Product Growth Strategy (Growth, Design, AI)→ Climate Tech→ Venture Capital⁠⁠⁠Connect for more good energy⁠⁠⁠ ⚡️Become a sponsor: partner@seratajima.com

Kate Kalcevich is the Head of Accessibility and Innovation at Fable. In this conversation we chat representation, intersectionality, and practical tips for accessible design. Chapters:(00:00:00) Season 2 and Kate Kalcevich(00:02:06) Empowering people with accessibility (00:09:45) You'll never learn if you don't engage(00:13:43) Good role models and representation (00:16:06) Kate's career in government(00:17:04) Fable and their products(00:18:30) A large portion of the population has a disability(00:21:44) Consciously create more inclusive products and teams(00:24:00) Talk to people with disabilities and tips for designing(00:30:44) Recruiting participants for research(00:34:00) Integrating accessibility into the day-to-day(00:38:30) Find purpose, advocate and shape your careerWhere to find Kate Kalcevich: Kate's LinkedIn:⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/in/katekalcevich/ Fable: ⁠https://makeitfable.com/___________________________________________________________I'm Sera Tajima, Founder, Climate Tech Advisor & Investor. 🤙I talk about: → Product Growth Strategy (Growth, Design, AI)→ Climate Tech→ Venture Capital⁠⁠⁠Connect for more good energy⁠⁠⁠ ⚡️Become a sponsor: partner@seratajima.com

Season 1 is complete! Join me for a review of the season, who the audience is, what we learned from each guest, and overall learnings. Chapters:(00:00:00) Story about launch(00:02:40) Timeline of events(00:04:13) About the audience and performance(00:08:00) Learnings from each episode(00:10:34) Overall season 1 learnings___________________________________________________________I'm Sera Tajima, Founder, Climate Tech Advisor & Investor. 🤙I talk about: → Product Growth Strategy (Growth, Design, AI)→ Climate Tech→ Venture Capital⁠⁠⁠Connect for more good energy⁠⁠⁠ ⚡️Become a sponsor: partner@seratajima.com

Carlo Liquido is Founder of Lady Bandit Studios, a local product studio dedicated to shaping a more equitable future in Hawaii. Pi’iku, his internship program, provides career-building opportunities for aspiring Hawaii-connected designers.Chapters(00:00:00) Get to know Carlo(00:02:10) Spotlighting Hawaii voices(00:03:56) Carlo’s journey into design (00:06:35) Moving home to Hawaii (00:07:24) Economic Impact on Kanaka Maoli (00:09:27) How tech companies calculate pay (00:11:19) Carlos’ work at Shopify(00:14:07) Circular Design Internship (00:17:08) Bridging the gap between education and jobs(00:19:08) Cohort 3 rebrand to Pi’iku(00:23:34) The Craft’s Product Design Accelerator(00:25:40) Companies don’t get value from interns(00:28:55) Bias towards hiring seniors(00:29:40) The future of design education (00:31:54) Financial struggles with pursuing a business(00:34:00) Building businesses that are not extractive (00:34:21) The 6 categories in life (00:35:30) Be localWhere to find Carlo Liquido:Pi`ikū Co: https://piiku.coPi`ikū Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/piiku-co/Carlo LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carloliquido/Carlo Website: https://www.carloliquido.com/___________________________________________________________I'm Sera Tajima, Founder, Climate Tech Advisor & Investor. 🤙I talk about: → Product Growth Strategy (Growth, Design, AI)→ Climate Tech→ Venture Capital⁠⁠⁠Connect for more good energy⁠⁠⁠ ⚡️Become a sponsor: partner@seratajima.com

Many designers struggle to gain buy-in for their work, to communicate with stakeholders, or to measure their impact. Join Sera in this episode to understand how to design like a growth hacker. If this interests you, the Sustainable Growth Playbook is now available (linked below). Chapters(00:00:00) An Introduction to growth thinking(00:02:00) Advance your design career with business thinking(00:03:53) The intersection of growth hacking and product design (00:05:28) Identifying the business lever (00:07:38) How to think about the customer lifecycle and growth frameworks(00:09:52) Risks associated with growth hacking(00:10:36) A strong growth strategy starts with retention (00:12:31) Good growth practitioners are humanity centered(00:14:48) Where your power lies as a technologistRecommended Resources: Sustainable Growth Playbook (The Craft) Decentering profit (referenced) Rethinking capitalism (referenced) Reforge Center for Humane Technology Design GuideTristan Harris on Trevor Noah Podcast___________________________________________________________I'm Sera Tajima, Founder, Climate Tech Advisor & Investor. 🤙I talk about: → Product Growth Strategy (Growth, Design, AI)→ Climate Tech→ Venture Capital⁠⁠⁠Connect for more good energy⁠⁠⁠ ⚡️Become a sponsor: partner@seratajima.com

Gabriela Lucía Lorenz is Director of UBS in Switzerland. She has an MBA in Sustainable Business, is originally from Argentina, and has worked in Switzerland for 10+ years. She is an advocate of ethical design practices, fostering sustainability and a change of paradigm — from user centric to humanity and planetary centered design. Chapters(00:00:00) Gabriela Introduction (00:03:34) Design Director at UBS Zurich(00:05:50) MBA in Sustainable Business(00:09:38) Ethics and Sustainability (00:12:39) Moral values for individuals and companies(00:18:01) Talking about DEI in Europe(00:19:00) Getting started with ethics(00:23:41) Frameworks for design and business(00:30:03) How to approach projects for sustainability and ethics(00:34:14) Growth, power, and money unregulated isn’t working(00:35:58) The definition of success(00:36:57) Work life balanceRecommended Resources: Don Norman, Design a Better WorldKelly Small, The Conscious CreativeRuben Paten, Politics of designThe Center for Humane TechnologyMariana Salgado Podcast ⁠https://disenoydiaspora.org/Uxía⁠ Arias García ⁠https://universomeraki.com/⁠Where to find Gabriela:LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/gllorenz/⁠___________________________________________________________I'm Sera Tajima, Founder, Climate Tech Advisor & Investor. 🤙I talk about: → Product Growth Strategy (Growth, Design, AI)→ Climate Tech→ Venture Capital⁠⁠⁠Connect for more good energy⁠⁠⁠ ⚡️Become a sponsor: partner@seratajima.com

Chapters(00:00:00) Thijs Introduction (00:02:15) Internship with Albert Heijn (00:06:39) Internship with medical center(00:07:25) Why Thijs didn't pursue a 9-5(00:10:21) Design content writing(00:13:46) Thijs' approach to Linkedin(00:15:58) Thijs' system for notes(00:18:09) Writing topics(00:20:44) Linkedin as a business model(00:26:26) Using LI to land clients(00:29:22) Design teams need marketing(00:31:22) Building a business that reflects your ideal life(00:34:48) What's the direction of Linkedin(00:37:52) Evangelizing design (00:40:45) Everyone is a designer(00:41:28) The value of writingRecommended Resources: Tim Ferris PodcastFounders PodcastPaul GrahamShane Parrish, Clear ThinkingNaval RavikantWhere to find Thijs Kraan:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thijskraan/Website: https://thijskraan.com/___________________________________________________________I'm Sera Tajima, Founder, Climate Tech Advisor & Investor. 🤙I talk about: → Product Growth Strategy (Growth, Design, AI)→ Climate Tech→ Venture Capital⁠⁠⁠Connect for more good energy⁠⁠⁠ ⚡️Become a sponsor: partner@seratajima.com

In this episode, Leanne Waldal, Principal at ADP, shares her expertise with us on how to measure the value of design, perspectives on layoffs, career growth, and more. Chapters(00:00:00) Introduction (00:03:10) How to navigate politics(00:05:05) Set up your own board(00:06:08) Learn from sales(00:09:57) Find a coach (00:11:54) Working styles(00:13:17) Manager Training (00:14:36) Layoffs(00:17:00) A typical week(00:18:25) The value is in the hands of the customer(00:24:32) Who and how to research(00:30:45) Is research valued? (00:33:28) Sell yourself using data(00:37:33) Balancing work and personal life(00:42:44) Observe how humans operate(00:43:26) ResourcesRecommended Resources:⁠Follow Leanne on LinkedinDesign XResearchOps CommunitySteve Portigal___________________________________________________________I'm Sera Tajima, Founder, Climate Tech Advisor & Investor. 🤙I talk about: → Product Growth Strategy (Growth, Design, AI)→ Climate Tech→ Venture Capital⁠⁠⁠Connect for more good energy⁠⁠⁠ ⚡️Become a sponsor: partner@seratajima.com

In this episode Sera shares an excerpt from the Conscious Tech newsletter exploring the limitations of capitalism.Chapters(00:00:00) Why capitalism? (00:03:39) Capitalism is not inherently bad (00:05:41) Where does capitalism fall short?(00:06:16) 1. Business is about the maximization of profit(00:07:34) 2. Companies lacks an ethical foundation(00:08:18) 3. Companies operate with a low level of consciousness(00:09:20) 4. Money buys influence(00:10:43) Rethinking Capitalism(00:13:10) What does change look like?For full access, ⁠⁠subscribe to the newsletter⁠⁠. ___________________________________________________________I'm Sera Tajima, Climate Tech Advisor & Investor. 🤙I talk about: → Product Growth Strategy (Growth, Design, AI)→ Climate Tech→ Venture Capital⁠⁠Connect for more good energy⁠⁠ ⚡️Become a sponsor: partner@seratajima.com