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The Iowa Idea: Vivianne Castillo
“Don’t let anybody take your voice away. Speak your truth and see where it lands.”
In this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I sit down with Vivianne Castillo. Vivianne is a User Experience Researcher with 8+ years of psychology and research experience spanning multiple contexts, cultures, and industries whose work and opinions have been written about in Slate, Fortune, Huffington Post, and ELLE Magazine. Prior to becoming a User Experience Researcher, she worked primarily in the arenas of human services and counseling, where she tackled issues like shame, empathy, vulnerability and compassion.
She is also the Founder of HmntyCntrd, an online course and community aimed at helping UX Professionals learn how to lean into new conversations around deeper human-centered issues, so they can understand how to craft equitable, inclusive experiences, know how to navigate UX topics that don’t have easy or obvious answers, and transform the status quo of what it means to be human-centered in our professional & personal lives.
We discuss her journey into UX research, the important work she is doing with HmntyCntrd and her academic background in theology. We dig deep into the importance of being humanity-centered vs human-centered; why selfcare is essential for UX practitioners, and the need for genuinely inclusive and supportive experiences. Vivianne shares the importance of building foundational skills, vulnerability, as well as cultural humility. I appreciated Vivianne’s framing regarding cultural humility, human-centered design, and true diversity and inclusion efforts.
It was an honor having Vivianne on the podcast. I was first introduced to Vivianne’s intellect and insight when I read the introduction she wrote for a design ethics book. Since then we were able to meet at a conference and I love her powerful and thoughtful voice on Twitter and LinkedIn. Check out the links to some of her talks in episode description. I thank Vivianne for sharing her time and insights. I hope you enjoy the episode.
About Vivianne
Vivianne Castillo is a User Experience Researcher with 8+ years of psychology and research experience spanning multiple contexts, cultures, and industries whose work and opinions have been written about in Slate, Fortune, Huffington Post, and ELLE Magazine. Prior to becoming a User Experience Researcher, she worked primarily in the arenas of human services and counseling, where she tackled issues like shame, empathy, vulnerability and compassion.
She is also the Founder of HmntyCntrd, an online course and community aimed at helping UX Professionals learn how to lean into new conversations around deeper human-centered issues (e.g. the role of identity, privilege and power in design, the misapplication of empathy, and coping with compassion fatigue and trauma in UX) so that they can understand how to craft equitable, inclusive experiences, know how to navigate UX topics that don’t have easy or obvious answers, and transform the status quo of what it means to be human-centered in our professional & personal lives.
Ultimately, Vivianne will tell you that her work is driven by her desire to impact businesses and organizational ecosystems as a means to elevate the humanity and dignity of everyone — yes, everyone.
Links:
Website: HmntyCntrd
Twitter: vcastillo630
Instagram: choose.courage
Talks: Ethics & Power: Understanding the Role of Shame in UX Research, The Siren Call of Self-Neglect
Podcasts: Design Observer | S7E4: Vivianne Castillo, Self Care As A UX Researcher,
Articles: Why Self-Care Matters in UX Research, Self-Care is for UX | Medium Series, Vivianne’s Medium Writings
Credits
Episode produced by Spark Consulting Group (www.inspiredbyspark.com) in Iowa City, with support from Executive Podcast Solutions (https://www.executivepodcastsolutions.com/)
The Iowa Idea Podcast music written and performed by Paisley Bible (https://paisleybible.bandcamp.com/).