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Esther Pelaez
UX Design Student @ DesignLab - Aspiring Product Designer - First-gen Peruvian Immigrant - Mentee @ The20, a Wonsulting Company - Advocate for mental health and DEI
Professional Background
Esther Pelaez is a dynamic professional with a robust background in business administration, product design, and community engagement. She has cultivated a solid foundation through diverse roles in various industries, which has equipped her with a wealth of knowledge and skills that she applies in her work today. Initially, Esther began her professional journey at the Fashion Island Hotel Newport Beach as a Guest Relations Representative, where she honed her customer service skills, engaging with guests and ensuring a delightful experience. Esther's keen eye for design and community engagement propelled her into the real estate sector as a Leasing Specialist at Campus Apartments, where she successfully helped prospective tenants find their perfect homes.
Esther's career took a significant turn when she joined WeWork, a global leader in coworking spaces. Over the years, she progressed through various roles, starting as a Community Associate focused on member experience at WeWork SoMa. Her talents and dedication soon led her to become a Sr. Community Associate in Marketing at WeWork 400 Concar, where she implemented innovative marketing strategies to foster community relations. Her expertise continued to grow, and she took on the role of Operations Lead, Community at WeWork Crossroads, integrating her operational acumen with her marketing knowledge to enhance member engagement and community dynamics. Through these experiences, Esther developed a multifaceted understanding of community building and product design, eventually transitioning into a Product Designer role at IDentify through her work with Wonsulting.
Esther's journey reflects her passion for creating meaningful connections and experiences, not only within her professional roles but also through her continuous pursuit of knowledge and skills development.
Education and Achievements
Esther's educational background is both impressive and diverse, marked by her dedication to continuous learning and honing her expertise in various fields. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Management from the University of California, Riverside, providing her with a solid grounding in business principles that she has utilized throughout her career.
In line with her entrepreneurial spirit, Esther further distinguished herself by participating in the prestigious Oxford Young Entrepreneurial Leadership program at the University of Oxford, where she sharpened her skills in entrepreneurial and small business operations. This experience not only expanded her knowledge base but also enhanced her leadership abilities in the competitive business landscape.
Continuing her professional education, Esther pursued certification programs at General Assembly, the UX Academy at Designlab, and the Design101 Certificate in UX & UI Design, showcasing her commitment to staying at the forefront of design innovation. Additionally, she received a Facebook Digital Marketing Program Certificate in Product Marketing and Digital Marketing from the College of San Mateo, further establishing her expertise in the realms of digital marketing.
Esther also participated in a mentorship program at Wonsulting, where she gained hands-on experience and insights into the fast-paced world of tech and design, which has been instrumental in shaping her career trajectory. Through these educational opportunities, Esther has equipped herself with a comprehensive toolkit of business, design, and marketing skills that she leverages effectively in her professional life.
Achievements
Esther Pelaez's career is a testament to her commitment to excellence and passion for innovation. Her work in various roles within WeWork is particularly noteworthy, where she played a pivotal role in enhancing the company's community initiatives and marketing efforts. Her contributions significantly improved member engagement and satisfaction, showcasing her ability to bridge the gap between operational excellence and community-centric service.
As a Product Designer at IDentify, Esther has embraced her role by creating user-centric designs that enhance experience and accessibility. Her strong background in UX and UI design, combined with her business acumen, allows her to craft intuitive solutions that resonate with users and enhance product offerings.
All of Esther’s achievements reflect her adaptability, creativity, and unwavering dedication to making an impact in her community and fields of expertise. Her unique blend of skills makes her not just a valuable asset to any organization, but also an inspiring figure within her professional network. With each step of her journey, Esther continues to demonstrate her tenacity and commitment to lifelong learning, setting her apart as a forward-thinking leader and innovator in the realms of business and design.
Highlights
❗ You’re planning an event, although you’re unemployed?
Yeah, I couldn’t believe it either but this year has been about reconnecting with myself and rediscovering the activities that excite me — giving back is one of them!
Amidst the job hunting uncertainty and having a difficult time getting a Product Design interview, I decided to take a leap and plan a holiday-themed event for orphaned youth at Aldea Infantil Virgen del Pilar in Tarapoto, Peru.
Back when I was 17, I worked at Forever 21 and used that money to host an event for this same orphanage. This time, life looks a little different. I relied on sponsors, a portion of my savings, and donations from friends and family to help make this event possible. Some might consider it wreckless, but if there is one accomplishment I want to have this year, it’s this.
The event almost didn’t happen because it would have financially impacted me, but then I remembered something I saw on LinkedIn: “If people don’t know you need help, then they can’t help you,” so I created a GoFundMe page, reached out to friends and family, and the donations started coming in. I’m still in shock this event is actually happening and the emotions I feel are hard to describe.
This really showed me that you don’t have to do things alone in life. “It takes a village,” as they say.
Basically, if you're concerned about someone saying no, ask anyway. If you're not sure what the outcome might be, it doesn't matter because at least you tried. Action always gets you closer to where you want to be in life.
I’ll share more about the event soon and another relevant project I’m working on but for now, you can take a look at the GoFundMe page linked below.
#philanthropy #eventplanning #donations #fundraising
“My solution isn’t ‘big’ or ‘fancy’ enough to make an impact” — that’s a lie…
It was a lie I told myself a few weeks into my Product Design internship at Shipt. It was a lie that triggered self-doubt. Luckily, my manager brought up a good point during our 1:1:
“A solution doesn’t need to be ‘big’ in order to make an impact, it does need to get the business closer to its north star and solve the problem. You’re doing that with your proposal.”
She was right, my solutions would influence members/customers to tip more at checkout, which:
📈 Increases Shopper satisfaction and results in better service ⬇ Decreases the chance of customer/member churn 🔒 Safeguards the long-term business revenue, brand perception, and brand loyalty
Although I wasn’t doing a full redesign of the Checkout pages' tipping section, the impact on the business and users was significant.
Here are my key learnings:
💡 High design and engineering effort doesn’t always equal high impact. Some design changes will seem “small” but they are far from that. If your solution gets the business closer to its north star, you’re on the right path.
💡 Imposter syndrome is a feeling you might experience regardless of your career. Throughout my career, I’ve run into folks who have mentioned this time and time again. So, please know you aren’t alone, and if you are feeling this way, reach out to me!
💡 How your manager is towards you, matters, at least for me it does. Having a manager who valued the work I was doing motivated me to keep going. Thank you, Erin K. Jones my #mamabear!
Below you’ll find a slide from my case study presentation where I dove deep into how small or no tips at checkout would result in a domino effect of problems for the business, member/customer, and shopper.
If you have tips on how to improve my graphic or a business or user impact I missed, write them in the comments below ⬇
#productdesign #Uxdesign #programmanagement #userproblem #businessrevenue #EntentionalEsther
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Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.
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