Hi, I'm Deena.

I’ve been “the creative one” my whole life. I spent my career building user-friendly products and experiences, and I’m passionate about using design to solve some of our planet’s big problems. I speak and write about behavioral design at places such as TEDx, IxDA, SXSW, Medium, GOOD magazine, Stanford d.school, and VentureBeat.

As the head of design at Opower, I built products that nudged people to use less energy, with big impact: Opower has saved 11 billion kWh (!) of energy and $1B USD across 50 million homes. In my past life, I spent 15 years designing user experiences across multiple industries, from consumer electronics to organic food. In my past past life, I was a software engineer, designing interactive software like CD-ROMs (remember those?) and global enterprise systems.

Following an exploratory year, I’m currently working with socially mission-driven startups and non-profits. I love helping product leaders apply design thinking to their strategies, teaching ethical design to the next generation of designers, and helping leaders build thriving design teams and culture.

I specialize in:

- Leading User-Centered Design training workshops with cross-functional teams
- Teaching Behavioral Design to product teams, through seminars and hands-on workshops
- Advising start-ups on building design teams - team culture, recruiting, design process
- Hands-on research to inform program/product design strategy
- Coaching and mentoring design managers and ICs

Other fun facts: I've sailed across French Polynesia, I'm fluent in Ashtanga and Kundalini, and I've meditated for 7 days in silence (twice). I love cooking communal vegetarian meals, painting tiny watercolors, and helping people organize their lives.

 
Photo by Andria Lo

Photo by Andria Lo

Nice to meet you.

I’m a product advisor and strategist with 20 years of experience, an expertise in Behavioral Design, and a focus on environmental and equity work. I’ve advised startups, non-profits, and product teams on design strategy and best practices. I’m currently at Google, building products to give people information they need to make sustainable choices.

As the head of design at Opower, I helped build products that nudged people to use less energy, with huge impact: Opower has saved 20 billion kWh (!) of energy across millions of homes. I teach people about “behavioral design for good” at places such as TEDx, IxDA, SXSW, Medium, GOOD magazine, Stanford d.school, and VentureBeat.

Fun facts: I've sailed across French Polynesia, I'm fluent in Ashtanga and Kundalini, and I've meditated for 7 days in silence (twice). I love cooking communal vegetarian meals, painting tiny watercolors, writing haikus, and helping people organize their lives.