In 2022, I teamed up with celebrity entrepreneur David Adefeso to help unblock prosperity for American families. Dave has a rags-to-riches story. He used his network, smart money habits, faith, and willpower to build wealth. We design an app where all families access the wealth-building support Dave had during his come up.
We designed an app that enables families to set up savings accounts, access philanthropic funding, and learn smart money habits. While the engineering team set up the financial backend, I led the team in UX research and design, connecting with users through community events in partnership with mayors across America.
Community events gave us ample data about users. Now we needed to center the team around our users' needs. Sootchy was made up of finance professionals, former NBA players, and a product team distributed across Europe, Africa, and Asia. I led design sprints to align everyone's focus on robust, data-driven user journeys.
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The heart of the design challenge at Sootchy is building trust with users. Low income families are often skeptical of financial services and anything that looks like a "get rich quick" scheme. We tested accessible interfaces, encouraging celebrity cameos, and community ambassadors to overcome skepticism and earn trust.
"Every team needs someone like Michael. It's the way he challenges my thinking, brings the team together, and inspires rigorous design thinking. Michael has shown our team a whole new standard for design."
David Adefeso, CEO & Head of Product @ Sootchy
