Join Raja Schaar, Associate Professor of the Product Design Program at Drexel University, as she reflects on her career journey from museum exhibit design to wearable tech for maternal health.

Listen to Raja's perspectives on:

• The intentionality of slow tech
• The importance of respect for the tools you use
• How can what your doing now create positive change for others?

Follow Raja!

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajaschaar/

Website: https://drexel.edu/westphal/about/directory/SchaarRaja/

This episode was produced by Liz Gerber and Madison Deyo, and edited by Troy Cruz.

Join Kris Woyzbun, design executive and co-founder of Gumption Inc., as we dive into her career journey from her role at Google to co-founding three tech-centered companies.

Listen to Kris's perspectives on:

• Finding the people to support your career journey
• The future of AI and design
• The power of design
• How to create a human-centered company

Follow Kris!

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kriswoyzbun/

Website: https://www.getgumption.co/

This episode was produced by Liz Gerber and Madison Deyo, and edited by Troy Cruz.

Join Arianne Miller, managing director and co-founder of the Civic Design Collaborative (Civic), as she shares her journey of working with government agencies and civic-minded organizations to adopt human-centered design practices that lead to more equitable, effective public service.

Listen to Arianne's perspectives on:

• Giving space for kindness in collaboration
• Continuous learning in your career
• The importance of how and when to find rest and recovery
• What to focus on during your education

Follow Arianne!

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arianneheienmiller/

Website: https://www.civicdesign.co/

This episode was produced by Liz Gerber and Madison Deyo, and edited by Troy Cruz.

The Technical Difficulties Podcast is coming back this spring with a new line-up of incredible women shaping the world of tech and design. Hear from incredible founders, leaders, and educators like Doris Sung, Liz Danzico, and more.

Stay tuned for the first episode of season four, dropping March 9th, 2026.

Welcome back to our rerelease season, where we're highlighting some of our favorite episodes from previous seasons.

Join Amy Ko, Professor at the University of Washington Information School, as she recounts her adventures in human-computer interaction, the tech startup world, and academia. She is a leader in computer science education with over 100 published papers and recognition from the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery). Amy researches computing to harness it for play, power, and equity for more technologically just futures. Tune in to hear Amy's perspective on:

• What sparked her interest in human-computer interaction (HCI)
• Moving fast and breaking things(?)
• The startup scene as Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
• Beta release labels are an accountability excuse
• Critically conscious computing
• Creative coding

Technical Difficulties is hosted by Liz Gerber and produced by Lauren Lin & Gilli Nieh. Special thanks to the Alumnae of Northwestern and Northwestern’s Center for HCI + Design. This episode was edited by Troy Cruz.

Welcome back to our rerelease season, where we're highlighting some of our favorite episodes from previous seasons.

Join Dori Tunstall, founder and lead executive officer of Dori Tunstall Inc, as she shares her career journey through design anthropology. Dori is a design anthropologist, public intellectual and book author of, “Decolonizing Design: A Cultural Justice Guidebook" - tune in to hear more!

This episode was produced by Liz Gerber and Madison Deyo, and edited by Troy Cruz.

Welcome back to the Technical Difficulties rerelease season, where we highlight some of our favorite episodes from previous seasons.

Join Nicole Kahn, VP of Design at Carta, as she reflects on discovering design research, the secret to telling sticky stories, and transitioning into tech. She has led design at companies like IDEO and WeWork, and is now building out what good design looks like at Carta. Nicole coined the "Bar Test" for storytelling, and is dedicated to unlocking the creative potential in all. Tune in to hear Nicole's perspective on:

• Transitioning from chemical engineering to design research to tech, and the realities of grad school
• Learnings from WeWork: hypergrowth and authentic leadership
• UX debt
• The "lone designer type"
• The "Bar Test" for better stories
• Realizing your expertise as a designer

Join us as we talk with Irene Au, Design Partner at Kholsa Ventures, as she shares her career path across Yahoo and Google, and her insights on the design industry - tune in to hear more! Hear Irene's perspectives on:

• AI documentaries
• Life long learning
• The internet's evolution
• Building from the ground up

Follow Irene! LinkedIn: / ireneau

This episode was produced by Liz Gerber and Madison Deyo, and edited by Troy Cruz.