About Paula

Paula on September 3, 2022

9.2021 – Promoted to Content Design manager. I’ve grown the team from 3 to 11. As the most senior in my discipline and the only manager, I support the writing teams in China, Hong Kong, and Singapore as well.
I’ve created a team culture where we can be present, vulnerable, and constructive. Teaching and mentoring happens throughout the team, making sure we’re all getting what we need to grow professionally and make an amazing product.

4.2021 – Promoted to Team Lead, I’m managing a team of 7 content designers.

4.2020 – I’m the 2nd UX Writer/Content Designer at Okcoin. We’re a crypto-currency exchange, so my focus is making complex, abstract concepts accessible for a global audience.

6.2019 – I’m on the Fonts team, part of the Material team. It’s like I’m taking a master class on typography to learn about variable fonts. We work on things that actually affect the infrastructure of the internet. I often feel like I’m in a William Gibson novel.

7.2018 – I’m on the Cloud Identity team working with some of my former friends/teammates from the Payments team. I’m working on the admin console as well as updating foundational guidelines and helping our amazing techwriters cross-train in UX writing. I’ve also co-taught a UXW training for non-writers.

7.2017 – I joined Intuit’s QuickBooks Online team to write for a QuickBooks Online. I ended up working on a lot of foundational projects across the org as well as creating the GDPR microsite.

7.2016 – I was super delighted to join Google’s payments platform team as the UX writer. I worked closely with my ENG and PM partners to ensure the best possible global payments experience for our customers and internal users. I’ve participated (and loved) 3 different design sprints.
I was also a member of the Scribbler team that creates Google’s Doodle blog.

2.2016 – I was the Sr. Content Manager in UX for the almost not-a-startup, Clover Network. They never had a content department before, and I worked to build a nimble and collaborative Content Team. I created content, processes, and guides for designing, writing, and governance, as well as training the jr. writer. I created a UX library for the entire company to use.

2015  – I was a Sr. Content Strategist in UX & UX lead at Bank of the West. Our UX team operated as an internal agency and handled all the projects for Digital Sales across all channels. I worked closely with everyone. We stood for our users and pushed back when necessary for the best possible customer experience.

2014 – I was a Global Content Designer with PayPal in the User Experience department. I was on the merchant on-boarding team. Our goal was to give merchants of all size, all around the world, the best possible introduction to PayPal.

I worked on multiple merchant flows including our Partner experience and the radical re-design of the PayPal Payments Pro experience. I loved being in the Usability lab and seeing how my content tests with actual customers and being able to write new content on the fly with the developers to see how it tests.

2013 – I was the sole copywriter at VUDU, a Walmart company. I worked on the new brand and editorial guidelines for their brand refresh, as well as the UI and web copy for the website refresh.

2012 – Rosetta (formerly LEVEL Studios) asked me to come back and work on a special internal project for Apple.

I had a great time in the six months I spent at Yahoo! with the Small Business Department.

2011 – At LEVEL Studios, I wrote a new website for Skype’s business division, and a dozen email templates for Skype customers.
I refreshed Apple’s microsite – Apple Store for Education Institutions.
I also wrote a micro-site for Cisco/Linksys’ Wireless Home product line. I edited the website for Steven Soderbergh‘s Contagion.

2010 – Monster Cable Products was focused on becoming a dynamic lifestyle brand with a variety of consumer electronic products that year. Using my background as a gamer and Sci-fi fan I created the content strategy and wrote the majority of the product copy for the TRON family of products for an amazing micro-site.

And almost a year later I was invited back to help out with to write more micro-sites and sales collateral.

I’ve had two separate contracts with The Men’s Wearhouse to support bringing a brick and mortar store online. I helped develop the brand’s voice and tone. It was a blast to work in the photo studio while the clothes were being prepped and shot while we were writing.

2008 – At Logitech, I was part of the team that handed the change in brand voice. I worked closely with different international business units to support a variety of new products as well. I designed the content strategy for the lifespan of a product throughout web, marketing, retail parters, regional changes, and packaging.

2007 – My 18 months at Walmart started in consumer electronics and ended as the writer for the Baby department. I wrote the majority of my copy straight from the samples. My office was often full of racks of baby clothes and merchandise. By the time I left, my contract had been renewed 3 times.

Yahoo

Paula on May 23, 2019

My role: UX Writer for Small Business department

The Small Business department helps their members learn how to market their business and become more profitable through educational blog posts and summits.

Before responsive was a thing, Duda (a member of Yahoo!’s small business group) helped optimize websites for mobile devices.

Google

Paula on May 23, 2019

Role: UX Writer

Cloud Identity is one of Google’s most complex projects. The Admin Console is used by thousands of business customers (IT Admins, Support agents, Resellers) to manage millions of users and devices across the world.

We have several feature teams within Cloud Identity focused on bringing ground-breaking, innovative new tools for our users and their end-users. As the UX writer working across these teams, I have a bird’s eye view of the product. This lets me create a more consistent customer experience.

The challenge: IT admins keep their company data and users safe with security policies. However, assigning the right level of security to the right person, team or resource is very nuanced and kind of a pain in the ass. If the admin doesn’t get it right, it can leave the company and users at risk.
We created a new way to manage people, devices, and resources by using Google Groups. It’s now easier to create a roster and protect the people/devices/resources on that roster with just the right security policy.

a sample of the steps an admin will take to change security settings for a group

Google Device Policy app – IT Admins use this app to help protect their company data on employee’s devices.

The challenge: Previously, the content was unclear and confused users who thought their personal info on their personal devices was at risk. It also gave too much unneeded info to users, which can be overwhelming and alarming,
I redesigned the content to be friendlier, re-assuring, more user focused.

Monster

Paula on May 20, 2019

Role: Copymonster
The challenge: Monster was rebranding itself as a dynamic lifestyle brand and had partnered with Disney to release a limited edition set of headphones for the new TRON movie.

I created the content strategy and wrote the majority of the product copy for the TRON family of products for the product packing, manuals, and voice-over script for an amazing micro-site. (Fun fact– I’m a huge gamer and Sci-fi fan so this was a hugely fun product. I was able to tap one of my friends to provide the voice-over for the site)

The challenge: Monster wanted to capitalize on the release of Apple’s new iPhone 4S and showcase their line of Apple accessories. My task was to come up with a brand voice that was a hybrid of Monster and Apple and create an overall campaign slogan, write the product family story as well as a story for each category (Clean, Charge, Connect, and Listen).

Vudu

Paula on May 20, 2019

(Owned by Walmart)

Role: Sr. Writer/Product Marketing manager

A great thing about writing for Vudu was the ability to do things like stand in a room with a bunch of co-workers with wildly different accents and shout at the new Xbox One to test the Vudu app on the console.

Vudu is special in that it’s a streaming service with Android & iOS, PlayStation & Xbox apps, it’s was also connected with UltraViolet (cloud storage), and with all the movie studios. So there was a lot to write, and test, and write again.

I created the content strategy for VUDU’s marketing and user experience and created an editorial calendar to make sure our Social media, Marketing, and in-store deadlines were manageable.

I worked on the new brand and editorial guidelines for their brand refresh, as well as the UI and web copy for the website refresh.

I wrote web pages, FAQs, blog posts, headlines, emails, postcards, and promotional copy for business partners’ banners, and ads.

Walmart partnered with Vudu to create a way for their customers to buy a DVD in the store, scan their receipt with the app, and have a digital copy of that movie waiting for them online.

Apple

Paula on May 19, 2019

Under NDA

My role: UX writer
When I was at LEVEL Studios & the Rosetta agency I worked on 2 very different projects for Apple.
(LEVEL Studios is a local agency with long time ties with Apple. Rosetta bought them – until LEVEL bought themselves back.)

Intranets need love too– Apple’s unique tone and voice is used both externally and internally.
I helped bring their global intranet HR portal and internal communications into Apple’s iconic brand voice while working closely with agency creative directors and the team at Apple.

Computers help students learn – I rewrote Apple’s microsite – Apple Store for Education Institutions.

Walmart

Paula on May 19, 2019

Role: Copywriter

The challenge: Walmart had a huge push to bring the site into parity with the brick and mortar experience.

To that effect, all the writers had quotas they had to meet. I was recognized and given formal kudos by director and managers for meeting deadlines and exceeding quotas.

I wrote tons and tons of content for Walmart’s website. I started out in Electronics and quickly took over all things Baby. Occasionally, I dabbled in other sections – kids apparel, home, and gifts. I did my own QA and pushed my pages live.

Skype

Paula on May 19, 2019

Skype for business website

Role: Writer
The challenge: Before Microsoft bought them, Skype has developed a business focused product but needed help differentiating it from the consumer offering and explaining the different plans available. I worked with the content strategist to help with the messaging strategy and execute the vision.

Emails

Logitech

Paula on May 19, 2019

Role: Writer
The challenge: A global brand refresh meant writing new product communication briefs for all legacy, current, and upcoming products for packaging, sales, and web.

A communication brief is extensive and includes the product positioning statement, description, website copy, international retailer/partner copy, specs, and packaging copy.

I partnered with both domestic and international business units to make sure we covered the product’s entire lifecycle.

Special projects

The challenge: Logitech bought Ultimate Ears and red-designed their website and product packaging.

I helped write the website and packaging.

Cisco

Paula on May 19, 2019

Role: Writer
The challenge: Cisco asked LEVEL Studios to revamp the microsite for their “Wireless Home” marketing campaign.
I designed and created the content explaining the product and benefits.