Michelle Walton

“I reported to Michelle while working on the UX team for purchase experiences at Rocket Mortgage. She was a fantastic leader of craft - always willing to roll up her sleeves to dig into problem spaces and collaborate on design solutions right alongside us. I admired this about Michelle, because it meant that she had a deep understanding of the projects we were working on, which allowed her to go at bat for the team from an informed lens when solutions were questioned by less knowledgeable stakeholders. As a reliable source of cross-discipline feedback, she was critical in my own success. Being a UX writer in today's full-stack world, I often find it difficult to get meaningful feedback from design leaders who don't have backgrounds in content. Michelle did not fall into this stereotype. In fact, she coached me on leading a content-focused project that both resulted in a significant increase in product performance metrics and won a content design industry award. I can confidently say that she can wear the hat of both visual and content design leader. And she wears it well. This, I think, shows her solid expertise and dedication in designing holistic end-to-end user experiences. Finally, I came to rely on Michelle as a genuine servant leader and mentor. She was never afraid to advocate for what's right by her team. Even if it meant challenging high-level things like org structures or process, based on concerns she heard from us. She has a way of helping people see the potential for a better way in their work, and also in themselves as people. Truly, any team would be lucky to have her.”

“Michelle has been one of my favorite people to work with. As a leader, she leads with heart, courage, and vulnerability. She pours her whole self into caring for her team, advocating them, and getting them to push their own boundaries. As a designer, she has a rare combination of excellence in BOTH graphic and experience design. Michelle is uniquely suited to bringing brands to life digitally. While I worked with her at Rocket Mortgage, Michelle was responsible for driving a massive change. Moving from an old, out of date, and impossible to maintain design system to one built on modern frameworks (plural!) able to evolve and expand as a design system should. She was able to make some really difficult decisions around the approach to take and advocate for that path, getting others on board along the way. She put a great deal of effort into crafting the team that would build and support the new system, getting the most out of each of their strengths. Ultimately, the design system effort was a success. It's still thriving today, due in no small part to Michelle's influence. I would happily work with Michelle again. And if you have the opportunity to do so? *Take it.*”