Mentor
2022-2024
Context
Women in Tech Russia is a mentoring initiative that supports women entering or advancing within the tech industry. The program provides one-to-one guidance, skill development, and professional support for designers and product specialists who want to grow their careers with confidence.
As a mentor, I worked with four designers through personal, in-depth mentoring sessions. We focused on UX/UI design, portfolio development, professional positioning, communication skills, and career strategy. For each mentee, I adapted our sessions to their goals — whether they were transitioning into design, preparing case studies, or aiming for senior roles and leadership.
Real mentoring practice
From design process to leadership — I helped mentees build real workflows, stronger portfolios, and clear, confident professional strategies.
Focused one-to-one work
Every mentee received personal guidance, structured assignments, and in-depth UX feedback tailored to their career goals.
GLOBAL MENTORING EXPERIENCE
I mentored designers from Moscow, Yerevan, Valencia, and Budapest, adapting each session to their backgrounds, goals, and career paths. Working across different locations and contexts helped me develop a flexible mentoring approach and support women transitioning into design, advancing to mid-level roles, or preparing for leadership.
My Teaching Approach
My work combined practical UX/UI expertise with personalised one-to-one support. Together with mentees, we analysed real product problems, built design workflows step by step, and improved their portfolios and confidence.
For three of my mentees, I provided a full project case to work on. We followed the entire design process together — from understanding the problem to presenting the final solution. I prepared detailed feedback after every step, helping them articulate decisions clearly and structure their cases professionally.
One of my mentees aimed to transition into a Senior position and start managing a team. With her, we focused heavily on communication with stakeholders, promoting ideas within the company, leading teams, building roadmaps, and structuring product backlogs — alongside improving her design skills.
“Thank you so much for the project and the experience. It was incredibly helpful — both practically and emotionally. You helped me believe in myself again and realise that I actually do have the skills. Your impact is hard to overestimate. Thank you, dear ❤️ I got a new job, and a huge part of that is thanks to you.”
“Our sessions helped me a lot — I finally got a new role and a compensation increase. Thank you so much for sharing your experience with me”
“I got a new job offer in May — and a huge part of that is thanks to you. Because of your help, I finally had strong projects in my portfolio, enough to regain confidence and pass the selection process. You don’t realise how much you influenced my life. After the layoff I felt completely lost, but you appeared at exactly the right moment and helped me find stability again. Your explanations are incredibly clear — no one had ever broken down design methodologies for me like that”
“I’m really sad to finish the program.
Thank you for your mentoring and for supporting me in everything. You’re an incredible combination of high-level professionalism and truly wonderful human qualities. It was productive, fun, and incredibly helpful. ❤️ Love.”
Curriculum Structure
Design Process
- Understanding the problem
- User research & assumptions
- Structuring insights
- Defining the product goal
- Building user flows
- Wireframing & prototyping
- Visual communication basics
- Presenting a UX case
Portfolio Development
- Reviewing existing portfolio
- Identifying gaps and strengths
- Rewriting case studies
- Improving structure, clarity, and storytelling
- Articulating design decisions
- Preparing for interviews
- Building confidence for mid-level and senior roles
- Planning next steps for career growth
Product Thinking
- Communicating with business & stakeholders
- Selling and defending design ideas
- Cross-functional communication
- Managing designers & product teams
- Building roadmaps
- Structuring product backlogs
- Prioritisation and delivery planning
- Leadership mindset for senior designers
Impact & Scale
Over the course of my work with Women in Tech Russia, I mentored four designers in personal, in-depth one-to-one sessions. Each mentee had different goals — from preparing their first UX/UI case, to building a strong portfolio, to transitioning into senior roles and leadership positions.
All four successfully improved their projects, strengthened their communication and design skills, and gained clear direction in their careers. Several of them continue to refer to our work as a turning point that helped them move forward with confidence.