I am a User Researcher, highly focused on creating an impact through motivational insights and stories committed to making actionable decisions.

Hi! This is Yelin [yerin]

I also go by Danielle, which used to be my preferred name in many places where I grew up and lived!

I am currently based in Brooklyn, New York. Before moving here, I lived in Seattle, Washington, studying for my master’s in 🎓 Human-Centered Design and Engineering at the University of Washington.

Gallivanting around the world, I have been to 35 countries so far. I was also raised as a third culture kid, living in five countries: South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Germany, and the United States. 🌏

I am a UX Researcher at Starbucks, conducting generative and evaluative research studies in the Customer Retail Technology team.

Before joining Starbucks, I worked at Cruise and Sendbird as a User Experience Researcher. Before that, I co-founded a Korean fashion label, Select by AND.

Cruise is a self-driving car company in San Francisco 🚗. I led two projects - one in the commercial operations team looking into the application deployment tool and one in the ride-hailing team, analyzing the preferred pick-up and drop-off locations to optimize the driverless experience.

Select by AND was founded by two friends: me and my local friend in Singapore. We presented a collection of quality Korean designs, featuring the best of the latest Korean trends and timeless classics. Our business philosophy was to bring in quality pieces that are fitting, comfortable, and elegant for all.

Sendbird (YC W16) provides chat API and SDK for companies like Reddit, Hinge, DoorDash, Blind, and more, to power their messaging platform on their mobile and web application. I joined the company when it just raised Series A and stayed until it became a unicorn 🦄.

Being fortunate enough to experience the hyper-growing startup environment, I truly enjoyed discussing complex issues with different teams to enhance user experience and building the research team from scratch, hand in hand with UX, Product, Marketing, and Sales teams.

Roles I play as a UX Researcher

  • Initiating research is critical to help the company observe long-term user behavior and detect patterns. Primarily, UXR-led research supports making quick product decisions and unveils hidden potentials that can reveal opportunities that could not have been found by project-specific research.

  • Taking the responsibility of summarizing research findings in meaningful and impactful deliverables. I ensure the found insights allow the involved stakeholders to be motivated and take action. As vital as an enhanced UX is, inspiring the insiders to lead the changes plays an important role.

  • Sharing is caring! Withal, sharing empowers UX researchers. To build anything, researchers need to work closely with any combination of developers, product managers, designers, etc. Sharing the knowledge around empirical research methods and processes with others will make research more efficient and thorough.

My greatest interest lies in the intersection of people, technology, and culture. 

My past experiences taught me a lot about people, their desires, habits, and how they interact with what's surrounding them.

Say hello!

When I'm not exploring the field of technology, I spend my time discovering music, traveling, and exploring new cafes.

My dogs are my world (a poodle and a cockapoo, both 14+ years old), and horseriding is everything to me (I haven’t had a chance to resume in the States yet!)

If you'd like to get in touch, feel free to connect with me 💗