Overview
My name is Nkechinyere Nwoko—but you can call me “NC.” I have over 10 years’ experience leading teams that create digital transformations connecting companies and people. There’s no one title that sums up all I do, but my expertise is broad and deep when it comes to UI+UX design and product strategy. I’m also a usability advocate. Where accessibility most often relates to the technical side of digital development, usability is concerned with the quality of the experience (the efficiency of accomplishing a task and the satisfaction experienced while completing a task). That said, I strive to ensure the solutions I help create are powerful, practical, and measurable.
In 2022 I launched a small business called Social Innovation Strategies through which I team up with organizations large and small to bolster social impact initiatives, product launches, digital presences, grant proposals, and more. I am also able to provide freelance support to augment the capacity of your existing teams.
Download my résumé to view my professional history in detail, or keep reading to learn more about the experiences and values that have shaped who I am.
My Career
There’s nothing more exciting to me than diving into a new creative challenge. For as long as I have been in the workforce, I have been a usability professional and problem-solver. Throughout my career spanning more than a decade, I’ve worked with organizations of all sizes and alongside individuals from many backgrounds. I started out as a technical writer, reporter, and B2B marketing strategist at an online audiovisual industry publication company. That’s where I developed my love for digital innovation. Since then, I’ve worked at agencies and software development companies on projects across all facets of project life-cycle development. I also served for several years on the executive council of the Triangle User Experience Association to give back to the community that gave so much to me.
Over time I’ve come to realize that my most rewarding projects facilitate social empowerment, whether on an individual level or a collective level. Some of my latest work experiences leverage social innovation and grounded theory to tackle healthcare and human rights issues. To do these projects well, good intentions are not enough. Particularly in the health and education spaces, digital transformations should be professionally and ethically sound. Although my job titles and specializations have evolved over time, using technology to make an impact by understanding systems, people, and motivations has proven to be a constant. These realizations moved me to pursue graduate studies in public health and human-computer interaction at UNC Chapel Hill. The future is bright, and I’m excited to see where life takes me.
Graduate Studies at a Glance
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UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health:
M.S. in Public Health, Health Policy & Management
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UNC School of Information and Library Science:
M.S. in Information Science, Human-Computer Interaction
- Graduate Certificate in Public Health Informatics
- UNC School of Medicine: North Carolina Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Fellowship
- UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School: Adams Apprenticeship Program
- UNC Healthcare: Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt
- Racial Equity Institute: Phase 1 Training
- NAHSE Everett V. Fox Student Case Analysis and Presentation Competition: Team Lead
- Innovation Engine at Atrium Health: Public Health Practicum
- Nielsen Norman Group: UX and Eye-Tracking Analysis Internship
- Berlin & Dublin SILS Summer Seminar: Information science norms of multinational/start-up tech companies
My Values
1. Social Impact.
The most responsible use of power is toward social justice, particularly for the underserved or overlooked.
As a first-generation Nigerian American, I am no stranger to hardship and hard work. I believe everyone deserves a chance at self-actualization—so when an individual is “not thriving” it is not the role of the persons or groups with power to “fix” the individual; rather, those with power are responsible for recognizing the autonomy and goals of the individual as they exist now, followed by actions toward understanding and improving the environments (including our own roles in creating such environments) in which that individual is expected to live.
2. Empathy.
In my line of work, context is critical.
I embrace both traditional and tailored strategies to understand complex challenges that are unique to the communities and stakeholders that I collaborate with. Whenever possible, I use human-centered design (HCD) principles to conduct my work. The bedrock of these principles is the desire and intention to listen. The four HCD principles are to 1) understand and address the core problem, 2) be people-centered, 3) use an activity-centered systems approach, and 4) user rapid iterations of prototypes and testing. To live up to these principles, we have to be willing to listen empathically first and foremost.
3. Diversity.
The world is fundamentally a complex, messy place; you can’t sort individuals into tidy little boxes, and compassion is usually the right answer.
In my experience, the most effective transformations happen when collaborative efforts include a multitude of experiences, perspectives, and creativities. Embracing diversity in all its forms requires a commitment to fostering shared learning spaces, both physical and intangible, where differences can cultivate people and projects that thrive. It means conducting oneself in culturally-responsible ways that ideally take into account the historical/political structural, sociocultural, and psychosocial effects of racism/racial inequality―as well as added complexities relating to gender and sexual identity/expression, differences in cognitive and physiological ability, and health status.
My Personality
I’ve got a big personality and a curious mind! I can entertain a crowd, but I don’t need one; I’m quick to seek new learning opportunities; and I tend to gravitate toward the Arts.
I’m lucky to have several clusters of close-knit friends, and I think they’d all say that I’m the type of person who appreciates directness and honesty, who feeds off the passions of people who love what they do, and who’s quick to help if I can. All these facets conspire to make me the person I am today: a work in progress and a step in the right direction.
Thanks for reading, and enjoy my site!
