d.school fellow 2007-2008
The first thing that Kerry ever deliberately designed was an intricate system for getting what she wanted as the youngest of three children. She called it….whining. While not aurally appealing to those around her, it was effective. From this experience Kerry learned that a self-centered design was not ever going to be as widely accepted as one with a user-centered focus. And so her journey of staying true to what she believes while incorporating the perspective of others began, and continues today.
Kerry discovered her passion for Anthropology during her undergraduate education, and with it the understanding how evolutionary biology influences behavior. Kerry realized that by watching and talking to people you can reveal what is true about all people, even yourself. This interest in investigating people and their deeper motivations was superseded by the necessity to get a “real world” job after graduating. Recognizing her excitement when learning about new subjects in college, Kerry wanted her career to be in an entirely new field. With those criteria, Kerry started on a four-year odyssey in Equity Research. After years of observing (and participating in) the culture of an investment bank, Kerry made the decision to attend Stanford's Graduate School of Business, eager to learn more about how businesses are run and corporate strategy is set. To her surprise, Kerry rediscovered her passion for understanding culture and influencing behavior by studying business organizations and how they function.
Newly determined to find a real world job that permitted a b-school grad to demonstrate an interest in human behavior, Kerry joined a medical device company upon graduation where she sought to understand the drivers behind adoption -or lack thereof- of novel technologies by surgeons. Kerry's heart continued to resonate to the beat of the Anthropologist within, while her mind was tuned to that of an MBA, and her bank account was sadly still that of a student. Today, Kerry is grateful to be at home among the d.school family that accepts her disjointed background while embracing her pedigree as a mutt.
Kerry believes that there are many aspects of being human – both physical and cultural – that unite us all, and this belief guides her approach to design. Through the d.school Kerry has found a community of like-minded thinkers who believe that delving deeply into what makes each one of us unique is at the heart of good design for all of us. This apparent disparity between what is singular and what is universal is one that she hopes to continue to explore.
