About Ada
Philosophy taught me to question assumptions. Data science taught me to find patterns. UX taught me to make it matter. Now I help teams see their users in a whole new light.
I help product teams tackle their toughest challenges by bringing an unusual blend of skills to the table. My background means I see user problems differently and find insights others miss.
My philosophy education taught me to examine assumptions ruthlessly, to break down complex problems into pieces, and to remember that every mind experiences the world differently. When I'm mapping user journeys or analyzing research data, I'm drawing on those same analytical frameworks.
The leap to user experience isn’t as strange as it might seem. Both fields are about finding patterns in complexity and testing our beliefs against reality. Add my penchant for design to the mix, and you get a researcher who can not only uncover insights, but help teams turn them into action.
I've helped organizations transform how they understand and serve their users. From redesigning complex legacy platforms to shaping how AI tools interact with professional writers, I focus on turning research into a clear product direction. Each project has reinforced that good research isn't just about gathering data—it's about asking the right questions and helping teams act on the answers.
Now I partner with teams who need to deeply understand their users build stronger research practices. Based in Berlin, I work globally with organizations ready to move beyond assumptions and transform how they make product decisions. When I’m not at work, you’ll find me reading on a couch with my wife or out waiting for the sun to line up for just the right picture.
Methods and Approaches
Generative Research
Through ethnographic interviews, field observation, and contextual inquiry, I uncover user needs that aren't yet being met. This work often reveals opportunities for new features or entirely new products.
Evaluative Research
Good testing isn't just about finding problems. It's about understanding why they occur. From prototyping to comprehensive usability studies, I help teams understand how well their solutions work.
Strategic Research
To ensure solutions fit both user needs and business capabilities, I conduct deep organizational research with stakeholder interviews and systematic analysis.
Interests and Habits
When I’m not doing UX work, I can be found doing portrait photography, throwing pots on the wheel, or reading whatever book you tell me to.
Whatever it is, I’ll read it. Want to put that to the test? Send me an email. Use that power wisely.
Currently Reading
The Unaccountability Machine
Why Big Systems Make Terrible Decisions—and How the World Lost Its Mind
by Dan Davies
“In The Unaccountability Machine, Davies lays bare how markets, institutions, and even governments systematically generate outcomes that no one—not even those involved in making them—seems to want.”
The Ordinal Society
A sweeping critique of how digital capitalism is reformatting our world.
by Marion Fourcade, Kieran Healy
“The personal data we give in exchange for convenient tools like Gmail and Instagram provides the raw material for predictions about everything from our purchasing power to our character. The Ordinal Society shows how these algorithmic predictions influence people’s life chances and generate new forms of capital and social expectation.”
Intertwingled
Information Changes Everything
by Peter Morville
“This is a book about everything. Or, to be precise, it explores how everything is connected from code to culture. We think we're designing software, services, and experiences, but we're not. We are intervening in ecosystems.”
Who’s Afraid of Gender?
by Judith Butler
“[This book] is a bold call to refuse the alliance with authoritarian movements and to make a broad coalition with all those whose struggle for equality is linked with fighting injustice. Imagining new possibilities for both freedom and solidarity, Butler offers us a hopeful work of social and political analysis that is both timely and timeless—a book whose verve and rigor only they could deliver.”