Care.com · 2007–2017
From an Early Design Hire to International Leadership
I joined Care.com shortly after its Series B round and grew from Graphic Designer to Senior Art Director as the company expanded across products, markets, and stages of growth.
Roles
Graphic Designer, Art Director, and Senior Art Director across consumer, B2B, mobile, brand, and international work.
International experience
Relocated from the US to Berlin and led design within Care.com’s European organization after acquisitions.
Growing with the company
Care.com had roughly 30 employees when I joined. Being an early design hire meant moving between product, marketing, brand, and whatever the company needed next. It also gave me regular access to the CEO, CMO, CTO, and other senior leaders early in my career.
That experience taught me how to explain design decisions in terms of the larger business, listen to direct feedback, and work comfortably with people at different levels of an organization.
Career and company growth
Learning to lead across stages, functions, and markets
Boston startup
Early design hire working directly with senior leadership
Growing platform
Consumer, mobile, brand, and Care at Work
Berlin leadership
European teams, acquired businesses, and local markets
Public company
Global organization through and after the IPO
Designing across products
My work changed as the company grew. I supported the early desktop product, helped the experience adapt as mobile became central, and led brand and design work for Care at Work, the company’s employer-benefits offering.
Care at Work needed a distinct expression while still belonging to the larger company. That was an early lesson in designing a shared foundation without assuming every audience should see the same product or brand treatment.
Moving to Berlin
I relocated to Berlin after Care.com acquired Besser Betreut and led design within its European organization. The work required close collaboration across countries, functions, time zones, and acquired businesses.
It also changed how I think about consistency. A global company needs enough structure to hold together, but local markets and teams cannot simply be treated as copies of the US business.
That principle continues to shape my work at Cartera, where a common platform supports airline, banking, and retail brands with different customers and expectations.
Learning to change altitude
Over nearly a decade, I moved between hands-on craft, team leadership, executive conversations, and cross-market coordination. I learned to change altitude without losing contact with the work itself.
That experience prepared me to lead in distributed organizations, enter ambiguous situations with confidence, and connect product decisions to what the company is trying to accomplish.
What I carried forward
Care.com gave me an unusual view of a company’s growth from a Boston startup through international expansion and life as a public company. More importantly, it taught me that organizations change faster than job descriptions. Good design leadership requires curiosity about the business, comfort across functions, and enough flexibility to help where the next problem appears.