about

 
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hi there! i'm tomi —

a Nigerian British Canadian American user experience (UX) professional with a social science background

 

experience

In a previous career, I studied how people across cultures make meaning of their lives from a developmental and psychological perspective. As part of this, I tutored students for many years, and then led my own classrooms, where I got kids excited about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). My interests in enhancing learning through tech led me to pursue a career in UX and apply my previous skills to digital platforms.

now

Today, I’m a UX researcher/ mentor based in Chicago, and I thrive on collaborative teams that celebrate differences and multidisciplinary inspiration. When I’m not tackling UX challenges, you’ll probably find me biking around Chicago, attending DIY music events, or anxiously watching competitive cooking shows.

let's connect

Email me a problem you’re looking to solve!


Things people have said about working with me

Recommendations from my LinkedIn page:

 
I’ve had the pleasure to work along side many professionals over many years, and you never forget the ones that truly made a difference and stood out with excellence. When Tomi joined our team, it was a new dawn with nothing but possibilities and she quickly set in and demonstrated leadership and professionalism that had an influential impact. Tomi’s past experiences and natural talents enabled her to be successful in front of any audience and on any project type. I really appreciated Tomi’s organization, communication, and creative skills that served valuable on a number of projects we collaborated on together. Tomi pushed me as a mentor, team member, and colleague to be better at my game which is always appreciated in the creative space. Her ability to listen intently and with empathy empowers her to be a serious designer with serious impact in the problems she engages and the audiences she is creating for. I hope in the future our collaborative spirits will meet again, as she brings a lot of value to any team!
— Joe Call, Creative Director at Vokal Interactive (June 29, 2020). Joe managed Tomi directly
Tomi was an extremely valuable member of our UX team at McGraw Hill. Her thoughtfulness and insight helped win hearts and minds as our culture has been shifting towards a more user-centered approach to product development. She is a master of the ambiguous and consistently supported project teams as they explored in generative spaces and then iterated towards requirements, by developing sound research plans, conducting interviews and collecting data, facilitating collaborative analysis and synthesis with the entire project team, and delivering final recommendations. As her manager, I often received feedback indicating appreciation for her collaborative approach, ability to help participants feel at ease during interviews, and effectiveness when addressing research objectives. Additionally, Tomi led and facilitated an internal group through a course where all were able to learn and practice a user-centered approach.
— Libby Van Why, Director, Program UX at McGraw Hill (June 27, 2020). Libby managed Tomi directly
It is rare to work with someone like Tomi. I had the pleasure of working with Tomi during an entire UX project of my companies platform. Throughout the weeks of our project, Tomi was responsive to any questions, thoughtful of my companies vision, and was full of details. Tomi’s positive attitude really made me feel I was in good hands! Thanks Tomi!!
— Daniel Stelmach, Founder of ChangEd (December 6, 2017). Daniel was a client of Tomi’s
Tomi is an incredibly passionate and empathetic people person. As a goal-oriented team player in the demanding legal services field, she elegantly tended to client needs while serving as the sole paralegal and bookkeeper. Among her many talents are her sophisticated office management and organizational skills, her technical expertise, and her ability to communicate collaboratively with diverse audiences. We often faced challenging deadlines; Tomi always maintained a calm demeanor and sustained the quality of her work, even under pressure.

Her intellectual curiosity and international background afford her a refreshingly unique perspective, and render her an excellent sleuth. She is sensitive to potential conflicts and is able to quickly analyze complex problems. Importantly, Tomi’s artistic sensibility translates to great visual and spatial skills, and an ability to organize metadata well. Ever the multi-tasker, she proved to be indispensable to legal research and trial preparation efforts, while balancing myriad client-relations responsibilities. Tomi kept everyone on the same page by identifying and outlining actionable next steps, developing training guides, and creating tools to assist coworkers through the lifecycle of projects. Her positive attitude was crucial to our intimate, fast-paced firm.

For these reasons, it was truly a pleasure to work with Tomi, and I believe she is a superb candidate for a user experience design position.
— Bridget Marks, Contract Attorney (June 17, 2017). Bridget was senior to Tomi but didn’t manage directly
I’ve had the opportunity and the pleasure to work with Tomi as a co-instructor at Project Syncere. From the time we’ve worked together Tomi has always been the consummate professional. She takes her job of mentoring and educating children very seriously. Tomi is a kind spirit who brings calmness to students and everyone around her. Her prowess in the classroom is second to none. She is very prepared and always delivers quality content to students in a smart and effective way. All of Tomi’s collective skills and experiences are easily transferable in any industry or professional environment. I have no doubt that she would be an asset to any company that’s willing to give her an opportunity. Tomi, you are a great colleague and I’ve enjoyed our time as co-instructors. I’ve learned so much from you.
— Dale Greenwell, Quality Assurance Professional (April 5, 2016). Tomi worked with Dale in the same group