United States

Content Design

UX Design

Branding and Identity Design

Service Design

Product Design

UX Research

Content Strategy

Design Systems

Systems Design

Generative AI

Bachelor of Arts

Jay Castro

Senior Content Designer

Tone consistency

Problem-solving

Presentation skills

Brand positioning

Brand strategy

Business intelligence

Conversational AI

Design systems

Canva

ChatGPT

Figma

Notion

Confluence

Introduce yourself, define mentoring expectations and goals. Learn and grow together.

General mentorship

Making remote and globally distributed teams work for you and your needs.

Working remotely

Learn essential burnout prevention techniques and replenish physical and emotional energy.

Managing burnout

Talk to people who have learned to manage their imposter syndrome.

Dealing with imposter syndrome

Keeping your sanity, career growth and job satisfaction.

Surviving a merger or acquisition

Understanding factors that lead to a motivated team - recognition, communication and more.

Keeping team members motivated

Understand the process of training, motivating and directing your team members.

Managing people

How to create a positive workplace culture that drives collaboration and productivity?

Fostering a good team culture

Steps to building and maintaining a strong, cohesive and effective team.

Building an effective team

Learn the tips to successfully manage a team in a remote environment.

Managing a remote team

Strategies for maximizing your design internship or co-op program.

Getting the most out of my internship

Tips for transitioning into a new role or company.

Changing roles

How to ask for a promotion and negotiate for salary raise?

Negotiating a job offer

How to think about design career paths and what progression looks like for designers?

Design career path

Get actionable feedback on your resume or portfolio.

Resume and portfolio review

Practice HR, technical and behavioural interviews with mentors.

Practice mock interviews

Talk to people who've broken into the tech industry and learn their stories.

Breaking into tech

Learn the best ways to answer technical interview questions with frameworks

Acing technical interview questions

How to set up the team for success by defining and measuring team's performance.

Choosing metrics and team goals

Best practices for running productive design critiques.

Running effective design critiques

Methods of prototyping and solution validation. When to use which kind of prototype (eg. Webflow, Notion, etc)

Prototyping methods and tips

Manage team expectations and get the most out of your meetings.

Running effective meetings

Learn how to properly present your work and share ideas and opinions.

Presenting your work with impact

How to work with team members with different skill sets but towards a common goal?

Working cross-functionally

Methods and models of exploring, deciding and delivering design.

Building a design process

Managing being the only designer at your company and working with non-designers.

Being the only designer

Ways and resources to improve your design skills.

Improving design skills

Navigating the working relationship with PM's and engineers as a designer.

Working with product and engineering

How to create personas, and leverage them in design.

Creating and leveraging user personas

Ways to provide constructive feedback to team members.

Giving effective feedback

How to conduct interviews, what to ask, and how to analyze your results? (eg. user interview)

Conducting effective customer interviews

What are design systems and how to work with them?

Building successful design systems

I lead a cross-functional team that drives product inclusion initiatives and delivers positive business and people outcomes. We do this with and for the Indigenous community.

UX Content lead for all things related to the DoorDash merchant product ecosystem.

I was also the co-founder and lead of the Indigenous employee resource group at Airbnb. Our DEI-focused community group leveraged Airbnb’s product and voice to create positive economic change and economic opportunities for Indigenous groups to share and preserve their cultural heritage.

UX Writer for the Homes Platform team responsible for creating an accurate and complete understanding of every trip and place to stay in the world and designing the tools and systems that make hosting easier.

Our UX Writing team is the voice and tone of a technical and complex product used by millions of global advertisers. We set the vision for content and created product narratives. 

Strategically, I helped define the AdWords, AdSense, and AdMob content strategy, standards, and guidelines. I also wrote thousands of lines of micro-copy for the AdWords3 to AdWords Next product migration and then again for the Google Ads rebrand.

Specifically, I oversaw UI copy, interface design, and taxonomy for the most complex areas of the product: remarketing, audiences, and video ads. I was also a Technical Writer overseeing a library of advertising documentation in a custom CMS where I wrote and coded content, kept it updated, and managed the governance.

I joined Google via the acquisition of Wildfire Interactive. What an incredible experience it was! Check out the full story: http://bit.ly/google-acquires-wildfire

My role at Wildfire pre-Google was to uncover global growth opportunities in markets where we didn't have a local sales presence—prioritization was vital. I built and managed a strategic partnership reseller network with digital agencies and creative firms from Australia/New Zealand, Brazil, Europe, Isreal, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, and South Korea.

Once we joined Google, I was a Strategic Partner Manager for Wildfire. In this role, I focused on expanding Google partnerships into social media marketing and content creation in emerging markets worldwide. I spent a lot of time influencing product internationalization and evangelizing localization. Thank you to all those who hosted me during my travels! 🌏

UNDRCRWN is a high-fashion lifestyle brand dedicated to the basketball lifestyle.  www.undrcrwn.com. We called ourselves "The brand of champions" and created basketball and hip-hop inspired footwear and apparel for enthusiasts to wear off the court. 

Our startup apparel business grew from awesome designs in a sketch book to $2M+ in global sales in our first 3 years. We sold more than 300k different products/SKUs in over 20 countries. We made everything from tracksuits and tshirts to original footwear and even a basketball leather covered Barcelona chair. We were a hit with professional athletes, and not just for our awe inspiring designs—for our inclusive sizing chart. All of our apparel was sized from small to 5XL and our footwear from size 7 to size 17. 

I led logistics, distribution, customer service, and digital strategy.

• Spike Lee and our famous O-Face shirt http://goo.gl/jHQgVc
• Partnership with Adidas: The Starting Five collection http://goo.gl/UQ4E39
• Partnership Mos Def: https://bit.ly/2C12w5q

Trained by Apple to display, demo, and set up Apple products for consumers—before the iPhone and Apple store.

Shirin Maleki

Student

Erin Erb

Senior content designer

Sharon Ni

Content Designer

Anonymous user

Mels SF

Asal Jafari

UI/UX Designer

In these mentorship, I'll review your existing portfolio and provide constructive feedback for improvement. You'll receive guidance on enhancing visual appeal, organizing content, and targeting specific audiences. Revamp your portfolio to make a lasting impression and increase your chances of landing dream projects or job opportunities.

Portfolio Review & Revamp

Transitioning to a new career path can be both exciting and challenging. In this mentorship series, I'll provide guidance and support to navigate this change with confidence. From identifying transferable skills to setting achievable career goals, you'll gain the tools needed to successfully transition into a rewarding new career and seize opportunities for growth and advancement.

Career Transition Success

Happy to help in any way. The time is yours. You can either tell me what you need or I can ask directed questions to help get you closer to the answers you’re looking for.

Jay Castro🇺🇸

About Jay Castro

Expertise

Sessions with Jay Castro

What mentees say