You Need to Make This Right UXPA
An Emerging Story of Nepotism, Secrets, and Sexual Harassment
∘ Introduction: #uxfriends
∘ Chapter 1: Code of Conduct
∘ Chapter 2: Unforeseen Circumstances
∘ Chapter 3: I’m Sorry You Feel That Way
∘ Chapter 4: A Statement and a Threat
∘ Chapter 5: Protecting Members of Our Community
∘ Chapter 6: DEI Commodification & Performative Allyship
∘ Conclusion: Words Can Hurt and Words Can Heal
∘ Epilogue: Friends, Family…and Business Partners
∘ Opportunities: Low-Hanging Fruit & Beyond
∘ A Timeline (last update: 11/19/2024)
Introduction: #uxfriends
Rich Gunther, User Experience International (UXPA-I) Executive Director, past president, and past board member. As of 2022, he’s received $313,217 in compensation from UXPA-I for his part-time Executive Director role, including $46,660 in 2022. 2023 WUC attendee.
Hannes Robier, founder of World Usability Congress (WUC) — run through his user experience (UX) consultancy youspi — and several other initiatives associated with youspi, UXPA-I leadership, Eric Reiss, Russ Wilson, and Javier Bargas-Avila. This includes IAPUX, which co-facilitates UXPA-I’s accreditation and professional registry program. 2022 WUC Knight.
Eric Reiss, recipient of the 2024 UXPA-I Lifetime Achievement Award, which was rescinded and resulted in an open letter signed by over 500 people asking for specific reforms within the UX community. 2023 WUC keynote speaker.
Russ Wilson, former Google Cloud UX Director and person of significance in my Google discrimination and harassment lawsuit. 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2023 WUC speaker. 2014, 2024 UXPA-I Conference keynote. 2022 WUC Knight.
Javier Bargas-Avila, former head of Google Cloud User Research and a person of significance in my Google discrimination and harassment lawsuit. 2013 and 2019 WUC attendee. 2020, 2023 and 2024 WUC speaker.
Jennifer Romano, UXPA-I 2024 Conference co-chair and past UXPA-I president and board member. 2022 WUC keynote and Knight; 2023 WUC speaker. Former Googler.
Chapter 1: Code of Conduct
“I know sometimes bad people happen. And they prey on others. I thought then we stopped them. Because MY COMMUNITY is better than that. But we live in a world where sane people allow dangerous people space to prey on others. That is beyond my understanding. That is beyond my tolerance. My safe world where I thought good people did the right thing has been shattered. I’m scared for the little girls and the big girls who know that when bad things happen, nothing will be done.
— Christina Wodtke, Not Here
It’s unsettling that a few days after I published this Fortune article discussing why I’m yet another woman retiring from the tech industry, the User Experience Professionals Association International — a Texas 501(c)(6) non-profit, EIN 75–2455656 — announced its awarding of Eric Reiss its Lifetime Achievement Award via an April 10th email titled, “Meet our Lifetime Achievement Award Winner at UXPA 2024.” Emphasized was Eric being a champion of women.
As a user experience researcher who has spoken out about my experiences with discrimination and harassment in the tech industry, and a UXPA-I member who has a history of volunteering for the non-profit, I believe this is unacceptable.
Eric confirms in his own tweet below that he’s an accused sexual harasser. This includes being banned from attending Information Architecture (IA) Institute conferences due to multiple complaints about his conduct, as noted in a 2019 lawsuit he filed in an alleged attempt to harass 2018 and 2019 IA Conference Co-Chairs for enforcing the IA Code of Conduct.
The complaint, which was permanently dismissed, was widely discussed on social media and elsewhere, with the lawsuit even being mentioned on Eric’s Wikipedia page.
Eric’s inappropriate behaviors are additionally exemplified by his mocking individuals who shared feedback about a lecture he once gave, with his stating on Twitter, “Would you believe that someone actually accused me of violating a code of conduct? Sexual harassment — because I said ‘tits.’”
I’m keenly aware of how many men talk in vulgar ways about women’s bodies amongst other men, objectification that intentionally or not promotes sexual violence against women. Defending his use of the word “tits” on Twitter is an instance of objectifying women publicly. Eric could have used feedback given as a moment for learning and reparation, but instead, he arrogently doubled down. It’s telling that UXPA International leadership would someday exhibit similar behavior in connection to their affiliation with Reiss.
Please watch the full talk. In it, Eric advises women repeatedly on how they should present themselves to be taken seriously in corporate contexts:
“Don’t let gender get in the way. One of the best project managers I ever knew was this incredibly beautiful blonde. She could have been a Playboy model, and she knew she looked good and wore very tight, revealing clothes. Lots of cleavage, whatever. And she got fired because her best client called her boss and said, ‘Don’t bring this woman to any more meetings because I’m tired of staring at her tits.’”
— Eric Reiss, 2014 Content Strategy Forum Conference
Among other biases, Eric’s quote above exemplifies the Beauty is Beastly Effect, a phenomenon coined by academic researchers in which women perceived as attractive are viewed as more deserving of being fired. Hearing his words made my palms sweat as they immediately brought me back to an uncomfortable memory from my 20s when I was working as a public policy analyst for the Nevada State Legislature and was asked to change my shirt because a much older male senator complained about how my top made him uncomfortable.
Women being judged by what they wear and how they look are some of the many ways they’re penalized at work for reasons other than performance and skill, as discussed in more depth in the book Glass Walls: Shattering the Six Gender Bias Barriers Still Holding Women Back at Work.
![A screenshot from a recording of Eric Reiss’ 2014 Content Strategy Forum Conference talk, in which he expresses his opinions on how women should appear in corporate contexts. “This woman [on the left], no matter how talented she might be, is probably not getting into the boardroom.”](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1400/format:webp/1*HjSM2jad68R8vV8D6T5--Q.png)
I hope it’s now clear why, in selecting Eric Reiss for its Lifetime Achievement Award, the UXPA International leadership team is condoning sexual harassment, sexual assault, and discrimination.
A long list of accomplished user experience professionals could have been chosen for the award through what should have been a highly rigorous vetting process. Yet, UXPA International leadership selected Eric and, in doing so, violated its commitment to “Do No Harm” per its own Code of Professional Conduct.
I also want to highlight how the UXPA International leadership team recognizing such a controversial person prompted me to look into past recipients. It seems in the fourteen years UXPA International has granted its Lifetime Achievement Award, not one person of color has been selected.
In an April 17th episode of his podcast, UX Professor Darren Hood mentions a “UX Illuminati” effect caused by a certain level of gatekeeping and nepotism among some with influence in the UX community. Might this help explain a lack of more diverse award recipients and Reiss’s nomination?
This won’t make sense just yet, but let me plant this seed here: #uxfriends.
Important insight: 81% of women in the U.S. report experiencing some form of sexual harassment and/or assault in their lifetime.
Recommended reading: Why Some Women Defend Abusive Men— Blackburn Center
Chapter 2: Unforeseen Circumstances
“To be excluded or dehumanized in an organization, community, or society you are part of, results in prolonged, uncontrollable stress that is sensitizing. Marginalization is a fundamental trauma.”
— Bruce Perry, What Happened to You
Following a public demand to do so, the UXPA International leadership team swiftly rescinded Eric Reiss’s Lifetime Achievement Award, citing “unforeseen circumstances.” Sara Mastro, UXPA International President, emailed me stating, “UXPA International will not be offering further comment on this matter.”
Too often, organizations and their representatives respond to sexual harassment, sexual assault, and discrimination with silence, gaslighting, or vague communication. While its action in rescinding Eric’s Lifetime Achievement Award is laudable, the UXPA International leadership team is perpetuating further harm in not directly acknowledging its error and harm done, issuing a public apology, and thoughtfully discussing what it can do differently in the future.
How? As revealed by an abundance of research conducted over the past few decades, “sexual harassment, even at relatively low frequencies, exerts a significant negative impact on women’s psychological well-being and, particularly, job attitudes and work behaviors.” When organizational leaders refuse to publicly oppose actions that condone sexual harassment, tolerance levels for such behavior dangerously increase. This is verified by Stanford sociologists, who also note that brushing such actions under the rug “amounts to institutional betrayal, which can compound the trauma suffered by victims.”
I assume the UXPA International leadership team's lack of appropriate response is partially due to fear of legal retaliation from Eric, who, as mentioned above, has a history of engaging in litigious actions against those who attempt to hold him accountable. This aligns with past UXPA International board member and president Cory Lebson, someone I’ve worked with and whose book The UX Careers Handbook I volunteered to contribute to, sending me, unprompted, the LinkedIn message below.
As a someone unlike Cory who has actually been through the grueling process of being a plaintiff in an especially public discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit, while simultaneously working full-time during the COVID-19 pandemic and caring for a baby and toddler, I’m intimately familiar with the fear of litigation, something I didn’t need Cory to unsolicitedly explain to me. I spent years of my life, daily, in an elevated state of panic, worried about what the future held for myself and my family.
Asking me to empathize with the feelings of the UXPA International leadership team in the way Cory does is an example of interpersonal sexism. Because women just need to be more empathetic, even when they’re being oppressed, right?
(Assume positive intent. Everyone makes mistakes. It must be a miscommunication. They were unaware. These are all types of rhetoric women often encounter in instances of institutional betrayal.)
I hope it’s understandable why I don’t think Cory’s past fear of potentially being sued for UXPA International not having enough money to pay conference expenses in full when he was president justifies his conduct, including his professed “less bad” solution of silence (FYI, UXPA-I reported a net income of negative $136,105 the year Cory was president). This type of behavior, in fact, is a major contributor to the enablement of women being exploited in professional settings.
As discussed in this Time article, men with influence who sexually prey upon women are frequently protected by “a cascade of tiny choices made by dozens of individuals, who fear for their own fates.” Oftentimes, such individuals band together in a hive-like mentality to protect themselves while leaving victims, sometimes even people they know, in a state of isolation while navigating a significant power imbalance throughout the journey of seeking accountability as a means of healing.
Being ostracized in this way is one of the most painful parts of speaking out as a survivor.
Conflicted, I held off for a few weeks before folding Cory into this narrative until I started to feel I was subjugating myself — as I’ve done in the past and as many women who have experienced abuse do — in trying to protect him despite his being a character of significance. The psychology here complicated and is one of the many reasons why women don’t report sexual misconduct.
In a vulnerable moment given our history, I reached out to Cory not long after writing about him above. My hope, as I shared with him, was that through reading my words, Cory might respond with understanding that I could highlight and celebrate in this story to facilitate healing across all parties. His immediate reaction was to ask, “Are you angry at me because I said I like going the UXPA Conference? You are trying to blackmail me or threaten me with something else?” It’s not surprising that Cory left this part out of his LinkedIn article “I was cyberbullied; this is not ok,” despite stating the article included “full screenshots of all mentioned conversations” between us. Here’s a copy of the article, which Cory has since deleted.
(As you’ll see if you continue reading, the UXPA International BOD would eventually also accuse me of blackmail, a felony crime. This is one example of many patterned behaviors that emerge in this story.)
I should have disengaged, but I continued the conversation with Cory. Mind you, Cory is someone I met not long after becoming a user researcher, and I spent a decent amount of time in my career as a woman in UX looking up to him as an unofficial mentor (as he mentioned on LinkedIn, we’ve exchanged “600+ positive messages over the years”).
Cory did eventually apologize. However, the narrative he posted on LinkedIn omitted that he rescinded the apology, just like other parts of our conversation he left out that I assume he felt were unflattering.
After putting my children to bed late on Mother’s Day following a full day of festivities in Seattle, I responded at 11PM PT with appreciation, Hey, thanks for this, Cory, acknowledging that apologizing isn’t easy and reassuring him it would be okay, It’s not done. I was relieved to be able to discuss our coming to an understanding and showcase in this story that it’s never too late to apologize, Please know you are helping a lot of people here. In his LinkedIn article, Cory says these “severe” words scared him.
Not long after replying to Cory, I discovered his LinkedIn post below, which he alerted me to in referencing to it alongside his blackmail comment.
“These are my people.” #uxfriends
With Cory mirroring Jennifer Romano’s rhetoric which I had already written about critically, something suddenly felt off in my gut and feelings of subjugation started to emerge once again. This led to an instinct to block Cory, which triggered the warning message he saw when he viewed my message.
The very next day, Cory, who has 39k LinkedIn followers, yet again mirrored Jennifer Romano’s language, this time recasting victim-playing accusations in publishing his LinkedIn article accusing me of cyberbullying. “I cry as I write these words and hope that I have enough social capital within the UX community, that I care about so deeply, to be allowed to be accepted for having a different opinion than some others…”
Cory would later remove my attribution credits from The UX Careers Handbook website. Following the footsteps of Eric Reiss and UXPA International leadership, he would then proceed with sending me a cease and desist letter which included a threat to sue me if I don’t delete this story. In reflecting upon his time as President of UXPA-I, I guess Cory wasn’t being completely truthful when he said to me that he would never want, “…anyone else to go through what I went through in thinking a lawsuit might be coming.”
Through silence, the UXPA International leadership team is increasing tolerance levels for misconduct against women, further hurting survivors within the UX community. Accountability is important for healing and change; the women impacted by the UXPA-I leadership team’s behaviors deserve an apology and a thoughtful discussion.
Recommended reading: Male Allyship Is About Paying Attention — W. Brad Johnson and David G. Smith
Chapter 3: I’m Sorry You Feel That Way
“When the culture of any organization mandates that it is more important to protect the reputation of a system and those in power than it is to protect the basic human dignity of the individuals who serve that system or who are served by that system, you can be certain that the shame is systemic, the money is driving ethics, and the accountability is all but dead.”
— Brene Brown, Braving the Wilderness, The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone
About a week after UXPA International rescinded Eric Reiss’s Lifetime Achievement Award, I noticed that Jennifer Romano wrote the LinkedIn post below, reflecting on the state of the UX community. #uxfriends
I shared feedback trying to help Jennifer understand how her language might feel alienating to survivors given her status as a past UXPA International board member and president. With her being the co-chair of the upcoming 2024 UXPA International Conference, I was especially concerned about the impact of her cutesy choice of words.
Jennifer responded, “I’m sorry if you perceive this as ‘toxic positivity’ and gaslighting.” She continued, “I encourage you to run for office so you can run it as you see fit. You can! Do it!”
This was a reopening of an old wound, given the many times people told me, “I’m sorry you feel that way,” as I was navigating workplace harassment and discrimination. A common form of gaslighting called “The Disguised Apology” — Gaslight #1 — such language is often used to deflect culpability and place blame onto victims.
Jennifer’s commentary is an informative case study of common forms of gaslighting used by organizational leaders to distance themselves from blame following wrongdoing—sometimes intentionally and other times unconsciously. Let me further deconstruct her words, noting the additional four types of gaslighting present.
Gaslight #2: Toxic Positivity
“Let’s not let negative things dampen the power and fun we have as a group!”
Toxic positivity “is the belief that no matter how dire or difficult a situation is, people should maintain a positive mindset.” According to Whitney Goodman, author of the book Toxic Positivity, “The core of toxic positivity is that it’s dismissive and it shuts down the conversation,” creating a barrier to harmed people receiving support and increasing the likelihood of misconduct happening again in the future.
In emphasizing “fun” in her post and referring to the UXPA International leadership’s actions as an obscure “negative thing,” Jennifer engages in toxic positivity. This becomes more obvious when you replace the words “negative thing” with what she is specifically downplaying: “Let’s not let the UXPA awarding a known sexual harasser a lifetime achievement award dampen the power and fun we have as a group!”
Gaslight #3: Perpetrators as Victims
“I would like to remind my colleagues that organizations, like UXPA, are 100% run by volunteers. Our colleagues and friends volunteer their time to create and provide resources to us, the community...”
Playing the victim is a common way gaslighters guilt people into excusing harmful behaviors. It’s subtle, but Jennifer does this by pulling at heartstrings in repeatedly referring to the UXPA International leadership team as “friends.” No one wants to hurt a friend, right? The subliminal message: holding the UXPA International leadership team accountable to do the right thing = hurting a friend.
Playing the victim is consequential because “when gaslighters play the victim, it causes more difficulties for actual victims of harassment…[People] start questioning whether claiming to be a victim is a “real” thing — and that may stop people who are truly victims from speaking out.”
Gaslight #4: Accountability Avoidance
“We all make mistakes.”
It’s often the case that sexual harassment and assault victims are accused of overreacting, yet another behavior that directs blame onto victims. In downplaying the UXPA leadership team’s ongoing actions that condone sexual harassment, sexual assault, and discrimination as a simple “mistake,” Jennifer is communicating that those speaking out are overreacting.
The form of gaslighting here reinforces harmful stereotypes about women’s emotions that enable those complicit in the abuse of women. As noted in “The Sociology of Gaslighting,” this is because “systematically associating another person with irrationality in a power relationship is a gender-based strategy that reinforces power dynamics.”
(Related, Jennifer would eventually state that I need counseling, an act mirroring how Google HR treated me and other women as reported on by The New York Times: “‘You’re the Problem’: When They Spoke Up About Misconduct, They Were Offered Mental Health Services.”)
Gaslight #5: This Is Your Fault
“I encourage you to run for office so you can run it as you see fit. You can! Do it!”
It’s not my job to help fix sexual biases and abuses, just like it’s not my job to explain how patronizing it is to tell a whistleblower like me, “You can do it!” Yet here I am, like so many women who have experienced these things, doing the job…again.
In sandwiching a CTA of running for office within her post, Romano is again diverting attention away from the UXPA International leadership team and directing accountability elsewhere: onto you and me. “If only more people were involved, this wouldn’t have happened,” is Jennifer’s subtext, which, in other words, is a statement of “This is all your fault” gaslighting.
My Friends
When left unchecked, instances of gaslighting like the aforementioned empower people of status within organizations to engage in further misconduct. This creates an unsafe environment for reflection and discussion, a crucial activity in the prevention of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and discrimination.
Case in point: Prior to writing the above analysis, Jennifer accused me of using my experiences with sexual harassment and discrimination as leverage to “bully” and “single-handedly” bring down the UXPA. I suspect it’s not a coincidence that the timing of these allegations appears to align with companies starting to rescind their sponsorship of the UXPA 2024 International Conference.
Notice Jennifer’s repeated use of the words “my friends” as a claim of majority status to reinforce her accusations and make me question myself. If there were a playbook for how to silence people from marginalized populations asking for accountability, this would align with a recommended best practice one would find there.
An organizational leader ostracizing someone and making an accusation of being harassed in response to that person providing feedback is an example of weaponized victimhood, a type of rhetoric that reinforces “inequalities of class, gender, and race.”
Recommended reading: Preventing Sexual Harassment Guide — Chloe Grace Hart and Marianne Cooper
Recommended reading: Reporting sexual harassment: The role of psychological safety climate — Sarah Singletary Walker et al.
Chapter 4: A Statement and a Threat
“As journalists, academics, legislators and bloggers across the country have recognized, [defamation] lawsuits are increasingly used by corporations, businesses, and public officials as a weapon to silence, to intimidate and control what constitutes the truth.”
— Rajshree Chandra, Defamation: The Weapon of Choice to Stifle Pursuit of Justice and Free Speech
Having spent two years of my life in litigation, I wish I could candidly share what it feels like to be threatened with an unfounded lawsuit by an organization I started volunteering for in 2011. But I won’t because I know that stigmas often lead to the discrediting of women who show emotion, a situation I want to avoid given the nature of the accusations being directed at me that you’ll see more of below.
What I can say is that I’m not a criminal for discussing well-documented behaviors and that I’m most certainly not going to jail for writing this article. Public discourse is an important means to shine “a light on the way in which our systems have served to silence survivors and protect perpetrators,” with truth being the ultimate defense against a defamation claim.
Sadly, this is how these situations often play out, with organizations and people like Eric Reiss abusing the legal system as a means of intimidation, often while simultaneously emphasizing a commitment to values like “community,” “acceptance,” and “respect” for all to see.
It’s important to highlight that the use of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP suits) — unfounded defamation claims— is on the rise as a means to silence sexual harassment and assault survivors. Fortunately, to counter this, anti-SLAPP laws are increasingly being enacted to prohibit such legal retaliation which is, “meant to silence speech that’s protected by the First Amendment, state constitutions, and other statutes.”
As exemplified in threatening a SLAPP suit and other behaviors, the specific psychological tactic being used by the UXPA International leadership team which becomes even more apparent in this chapter is DARVO: deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender. The attack and reverse victim and offender phases tend to intensify as the light shone on misconduct gets brighter, as is the case with the UXPA-I leadership team’s escalating crazymaking as this story continues.
A note to Rich Gunther: regarding your choice of words, “I think its time you and I had a talk..,” I’m a 41-year-old woman, mother, and professional, not a girl to be schooled with an unfounded threat of a legal spanking from someone condescendingly presenting themselves as a scolding father figure. It’s too often that women are infantilized like this, a phenomenon that research shows reinforces harmful gender stereotypes and causes psychological damage to women.
Important insight: 68% of sexual harassment charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) include an allegation of retaliation.
Recommended reading: When Sexual Assault Victims Speak Out, Their Institutions Often Betray Them”— Jennifer Freyd
Chapter 5: Protecting Members of Our Community
“The bigger muzzle on the voices of [sexual harassment and assault] victims is still the most mundane of human habits, the disinclination of non-victims to make a noise or protest about something that didn’t happen to them.”
Happy to not to have received the threatened cease and desist yesterday, I looked forward to a good night’s rest last night. Unfortunately, though, a racing heart kept me up for the third night in a row this week. This often happens before I become fully conscious of something my mind and body are working through.
As I sluggishly poured another cup of coffee into my Fix Systems Not Women mug after getting the kids dressed for school, some clarity surfaced: this story, as it’s emerged, is more than a story about a “mistake” made by the UXPA International leadership team. It’s another example, like many that have made the news in recent years, of behaviors that are insidiously rolling back civil rights, including women’s rights.
I think, even more significant, this is also a story of how communities can fight back and support survivors when these circumstances happen.
“Activism is an important aspect of changing the landscape of sexual violence.” I assume Gunther didn’t act on his threat because of the opposing public response, a beautiful example of ally activism, which “can facilitate powerful change that benefits and supports survivors.”
I wrote this story while moving my family to a different city in preparation for starting law school. My tech worker story, this story, my future law school story, they’re all part of an emerging series of insight and closure. Sharing one’s experiences and engaging in activism can be critical tools in healing and regaining a sense of power for survivors, so I’m thankful that allyship demonstrated throughout this saga supports me and other survivors in continuing to share our stories well into the future.
Important insight: PTSD occurs in roughly 94% of U.S. women who have been sexually assaulted.
Recommended reading: From Pain to Power: An Exploration of Activism, the #MeToo Movement, and Healing From Sexual Assault Trauma— Charlotte Strauss Swanson and Dawn M. Szymanski.
Chapter 6: DEI Commodification & Performative Allyship
“Within organizations, performative allyship might manifest as: (i) Tokenism, employing diversity as a checklist, rather than a change in organizational values, policies, and practices; (ii) Hallow statements, championing diversity publicly while suppressing internal organizational attempts to make changes; and (iii) Failing to address internal issues — e.g. publicly championing a cause while simultaneously ignoring or silencing voices within organizations that raise concerns…”
— Jacqueline Stephenson, Allyship in Organizations
To recap, in response to writing this story, the UXPA International leadership team and friends have accused of committing civil offenses and crimes, inferred I’m deserving of jail time, stated I’m a “shame” to the UX community and in need of counseling, and more; all acts of hostile sexism concerted by a group of #uxfriends. It’s not uncommon for women to be vilified like this for saying this isn’t okay, a phenomenon I’ve spoken about before called the “Third-Victimization” of survivors.
Once the dust settled after its initial threat of sending me a cease and desist letter, the UXPA International BOD would also months later carry through with the threat, accusing me of blackmail, blaming me personally for “quantifiable financial loss” suffered in 2024, and threatening a lawsuit if I share the demand letter publicly and don’t delete this story.
I’ll let you infer how the UXPA International leadership team’s behaviors affect someone with my history, all of the survivors out there who watched this saga unfold (story stats to-date: 13k reads, 18k views), and the many people in UX who will someday experience sexual harassment, sexual assault, and discrimination.
This unfortunate tale happened because members of the UXPA International leadership team chose to prioritize their small echo chamber of #uxfriends and collectively act through self-interest instead of listening to feedback from the UX community at large and protecting their marginalized constituents, a path that would have been much easier and would have saved a lot of people from a lot of harm done.
Doesn’t it sound unbelievable that this all occurred, especially within the small community of UX made up of professionals who pride themselves on being empathy-driven? But it did happen because even in 2024, these types of stories remain common. I know this not only from my experiences and data but also from the women who continue to reach out to me weekly asking for advice on how to navigate organizational misconduct, including women in UX.
When my tech industry scars have further faded, perhaps I’ll comment more here or elsewhere on how this story sheds light on the long-term challenges survivors experience. In the meantime, if you read my timeline below, my hope is that you’ll see how survivors are systematically pushed down and out over time while cycles of DEI commodification and performative allyship carry on within organizations, as if nothing bad or inappropriate ever happened.
Recommended reading: The Costs and Labour of Whistleblowing: Bodily Vulnerability and Post-disclosure Survival”— Kate Kenny and Marianna Fotaki
Recommended reading: A Framework for Understanding Effective Allyship— Evava S. Pietri et al.
Conclusion: Words Can Hurt and Words Can Heal
“Employees who bring up inclusivity issues in the workplace are usually the ones experiencing them — vulnerable people with marginalized identities. And when they bring them up, it’s because they’re trying to escalate the issue to the people who may be able to solve it. They’re looking for leadership to take responsibility.”
On April 10th, I had the great fortune of talking with AnitaB.org President and CEO Brenda Darden Wilkerson via the AnitaB.org podcast “B The Way Forward,” a conversation in which we discussed how words matter in walking the daily walk of allyship. Just ten minutes after our discussion concluded, I learned that UXPA International awarded Eric Reiss its Lifetime Achievement Award, prompting me in a moment of deja vu to immediately start writing, a tool that’s been an important part of my healing process.
Little did I know then that the article I initially set out to write would morph into what you see here now, a user journey of sorts from the lens of a sexual harassment and assault survivor. I did my best along the way to use my knowledge to put a name to the behaviors exhibited by characters in this tale, an empowering strategy I learned from gender equity researchers Amy Diehl and Leanne Dzubinskithat.
This isn’t an excuse for the UXPA International leadership team’s wrongdoing, but I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t acknowledge I can recall several instances in which I know my ignorant words and actions have hurt people; no doubt there are many additional situations in which I’ve caused pain that I’m unaware of. Allyship is a path of learning that requires constant self-reflection, humility, and accountability. To the people I’ve hurt, I’m sorry.
Saying those two words isn’t so hard. And it feels good, too.
I hope that through my documentation this saga will be less likely to happen in the future and that learnings will be carried forward so that UX organizations and teams can thrive as safe places for all to learn and grow. For women and other marginalized population in UX navigating your own stories, please know that you’re not alone in your experiences. I hope this story brings you some validation.
Epilogue: Friends, Family…and Business Partners
“Taalika’s welcoming words on my first day as a Googler were my first encounter with the mindset of Google being “home” and my coworkers being “family.” Years later, when I would speak out publicly about my experiences with pregnancy discrimination and sexual harassment, many of those in my so-called “family” turned away from me.
Through the loss of so many relationships that I believed were real, I learned that a majority of my Google coworkers weren’t my friends, and they certainly weren’t my family. More importantly, I learned how unhealthy this perspective was.”
— Chelsey Glasson, Black Box: A Pregnancy Discrimination Memoir
On the morning of July 23rd, I looked at my LinkedIn feed to discover Jennifer Romano had posted a picture from the 2024 UXPA International Conference — #UXFRIENDS, this time in all caps for added emphasis. The picture included her and Russ Wilson, my former UX Cloud Director who was involved in my pregnancy discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit against Google. I was tired, having gotten home at 2AM the night before due to a delayed flight, so I rubbed my eyes hard and did a double take.
No, it can’t be, can it? That’s just too weird of a coincidence.
Aware that the originally scheduled 2024 UXPA International Conference keynote speaker had cancelled her talk for personal reasons, I had previously noticed that the conference website oddly left out the name of the backup speaker, despite the website providing a synopsis of the keynote and sharing the names of other conference speakers.
This, plus Jennifer’s LinkedIn post, motivated me to confirm what my intuition at this point suspected was true: Russ Wilson keynoted the 2024 UXPA International Conference as a backup speaker brought in seemingly at the last moment, after the Eric Reiss 2024 UXPA Lifetime Achievement Award saga began.
With my research instincts pinging, not long after, I unearthed that #uxfriends Russ Wilson and Eric Reiss were both keynote speakers at World Usability Congress 2023, “the premier usability conference in Austria.” Eric also taught a conference workshop.
Then I discovered that UXPA has been a long-time sponsor of World Usability Congress, which is run by youpsi, a UX consultancy founded by #uxfriend Hannes Robier.
Once upon a time in a small, quiet town nestled between rolling hills and lush forests, there lived a young boy named Hannes. Hannes was unlike any other child in the town. While his peers dreamed of becoming doctors, teachers, or farmers, Hannes had a grandiose dream that set his heart on fire: he wanted to conquer the world. He knew that to conquer the world, he needed to understand it first. He also knew that he needed allies...
One fateful day, as he scoured the internet for information on global diplomacy, he stumbled upon something unexpected: an upcoming UX (User Experience) conference in the nearby city. It was called “UXPA int. conf in Munich”…
But the most extraordinary encounter happened on the final day of the conference. As Hannes was sitting in the courtyard, pondering the vastness of the world and how he could possibly conquer it, he heard a soft, melodious neigh. Turning around, he couldn’t believe his eyes.
Before him stood a majestic creature that defied imagination — a pegasus...
— Hannes Robier, “How it all began. The story about the Pegasus and the World Usability Congress.”
Ironically using Google, it was easy for me to find World Usability Congress 2023 photos and social media posts, repeatedly referring to Eric Reiss, Russ Wilson, Hannes Robier, Jennifer Romano, Sara Mastro, and Rich Gunther as “friends” and “family.”
#uxfriend Javier Bargas-Avila was there too, which is of note given as the head of user research for the Cloud UX team, he used to report to Russ Wilson and was also a called witness in my lawsuit whom Google instructed not to state disparaging or derogatory remarks about me as part of my settlement agreement. I even discuss Javier and Russ as characters in my book Black Box: A Pregnancy Discrimination Memoir.
As #uxfriends headed home upon the World Usability Congress 2023 ending, Javier said to Russ on LinkedIn, “Have a safe flight home, boss, see you next year 👊.” (PDF)
Something’s not right.
My disbelief turned into kindling concern when I next found that Russ, Jennifer, and Hannes were designated as “UX Knights” by World Usability Congress in 2022. Other knighted UXPA #uxfriends include Clemens Lutsch and Hanna Köhler.
Then I stumbled across UXPA International’s UX Accreditation program — “the highest level of appreciation and recognition in the world of human centered design.” I admit I chuckled a bit for what I hope are obvious reasons when I read that one benefit of UX Accreditation includes protection “…from unruly influence by third parties.”
An accredited UX professional communicates its will to be scrutinized by a body of evaluation, one’s work to be questioned, be willing to let others speak on one’s behalf and to adhere to the code of conduct of UX professionals.
The Code of Conduct is assisting our work, and is also intended to protect you from unwanted and inappropriate influence from others that want you to do things that are unprofessional and unethical.
I stopped laughing when I saw that the UX Accreditation Board of Directors consists of people captured in photos above: Clemens, Hannah, Hannes, and Claudia — all tasked with “supervising” the Accreditation Code of Conduct.
Hidden at the bottom of the UX Accreditation program website, alongside a UXPA International logo, is the fine print:
“The accreditation program is operated by the Association for the International Accreditation of UX Professionals and Quality Assurance in the Professional Field of UX, Usability and Human-centered Design (IAPUX). It works as a partner of UXPA International and provides voluntary accreditation of UX professionals by UXPA International into a registry of professionals around UX, human-centered design and strategy.”
IAPUX is affiliated with an organization called User Experience Quality Certification Center (UXQCC), founded by Hannes as a revenue generating UX education and certification program, from what I can tell. Its Board of Directors includes UXPA International BOD affiliates Jennifer Romano and Ahmad Alhuwwari.
I learned that Hannes appears to have first publicly shared the vision for UXQCC on Twitter in December of 2020, just months after I filed my lawsuit against Google, via sketches written on a Google-branded notebook. UXQCC is one of six different revenue streams, with small arrows noting how they all feed into each other: University, UXQCC, WUC UXQCC, Design Business, Design Management Course, and Top Secret.
Why is Hannes Robier documenting his business plan on a Google-branded notebook?
Then it occurred to me that both Javier Bargas-Avila and Jennifer Romano were employed at Google at this time, which led to my finding Javier and Hannes discussing on Twitter meeting at Google’s Zurich office.
Something’s not right.
I kept researching.
The UXQCC website states that completing its multi-level paid training is a step in reaching UXPA Accreditation, “The last level is done by the international UX accreditation. this accreditation is a peer review process done by UXPA professionals.”
In addition to paying for UXQCC curriculum access through designated training providers, students have to purchase exam codes from UXQCC to sit for required certification tests. After passing required tests and becoming certified, one then becomes eligible to buy a €350.00 “voucher” to access a code they have to enter on ux-accreditation.org in order to apply for UXPA accreditation.
Whom does the €350.00 dollars go to?
Why is this getting so confusing?
The UXPA Accreditation application process involves a 1:1 interview, that if one completes successfully, results in their being given a unique ID number and added to the UX Professional Registry, which is described as being “like a professional fingerprint.”
“By certifying UX practitioners, UXQCC provides recruiters and companies additional assurance that individuals reach the bar in terms of knowledge and expertise. This certification has the potential to improve the sourcing of candidates, consultants, and partners worldwide.”
— Russ Wilson, UXQCC website
UXQCC training providers are strongly affiliated with UXPA International leadership: companies like UXR Coach (owned by Jennifer Romano), youspi (founded by Hannes Robier), Omnia Consulting (founded by UXPA-I Volunteer Coordinator Matt Karakilic), Ahmad Alhuwwari Consulting (UXPA-I BOD)…
Isn’t UXPA International a 501(c)(6) non-profit?
I next discovered that Hannes is starting an “Experience Knights Group” through his “World of Experience (WOX)” initiative, apparently another revenue stream for people he describes as “beloved ones.” This is one of a few paid “Premium” offerings hosted on the WOX Mighty Networks group, with the group being moderated by staff of Hannes’ UX consultancy youpsi. Access to the group is “unlocked” after being designated a World Usability Congress Knight, which I suspect requires certification, accreditation, or some other paid-for accolade.
Is this part of the “Top Secret” revenue stream Hannes notes in his business plan sketch?
Why are so many of the same overlapping #uxfriends involved?
On LinkedIn, Hannes hinted to Russ Wilson joining him in promoting the Knights Group at World Usability Congress 2024 via an invite-only event happening at a “secret” location for design leaders. My intuition tells me this is a marketing gimmick to recruit members, similar to how people get suckered into timeshare sales pitches by being offered a free meal or movie ticket.
My kindling concern ignited when I saw that Hannes is also building an invite-only Knight’s School, with the overview page stating, “After payment you will get the secret date and place where we will meet for this extraordinary experience.” One has to apply and then be chosen to receive a “personal invitation.” (If you’re a woman considering attending this, I suggest you read my timeline below — i.e. real females.)
Hannes promises, “a unique educational adventure that goes beyond traditional boundaries. Your future of purposeful learning begins here.” Teachers include, “knights.”
As in World Usability Congress Knights like Hannes, Clemens Lutsch, Russ Wilson, Hanna Köhler, and Jennifer Romano?
Then I noticed that WUC, WOX, UEQCC, IAPUX all share the same address in Austria as Hannes’ UX consultancy youspi, as noted in the footer of their websites. And that there are additional Russ Wilson, UXPA International, and Hannes collaborations, including strategicx.org, a pay-to-play design competition and award event.
Suddenly linguistic and other patterns started connecting, forming an unusual and yet telling poem of sorts:
the world’s best, the highest level, the beloved ones
multi-level training, membership, paid accolades
inappropriate influence, protection, supervision
secret plans, private venues, false threats
family, friends, allies…real females
a registry, a number, fingerprints
conquer, transcend…a pegasus
invite-only
knights
This is when the rate at which questions started popping into my head increased:
Why do I feel like I’m stumbling across a pyramid scheme with cultish undertones?
What specifically is the business relationship between youspi CEO Hannes Robier, UXPA International leadership, and my former Google colleagues?
With Hannes Robier having a history of seeking investors, could it be that Eric Reiss — self-proclaimed “maker of millionaires” — is a partner, just like Russ Wilson appears to be?
Am I being retaliated against by a group of #uxfriends because of the combination of my criticisms of UXPA International and my connection to Russ Wilson and Javier Bargas-Avila?
Does all of this help explain why the UXPA International leadership team refuses to disclose how they selected Eric Reiss for their Lifetime Achievement Award and apologize for harm done?
Something’s not right.
Even with full answers to these questions still emerging, there’s a clear conflict of interest with members of the UXPA International leadership so heavily involved in Hannes Robier’s business plan. A conflict of interest that can lead to people acting in nepotistic ways, in violation of 501(c)(6) non-profit exemption requirements. A conflict of interest that any professional service organization should avoid, especially in building an accreditation program.
Recommended reading: Seven Signs of Ethical Collapse — Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University
Recommended reading: Is Your Corporate Culture Cultish? — Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries
Opportunities: Low-Hanging Fruit & Beyond
I’m leaving the UX industry.
The UX industry and the conversations within it … exhausts me.
The amount of people who’d rather complain than contribute … exhausts me.
The racism, misogynoir, and hypocrisy from leaders who built their careers on the colonization of what it means to be “human-centered” … exhausts me.
The lack of accountability in this industry … exhausts me.
— Vivianne Castillo, Founder of HmntyCntrd
*More Coming Soon
- While this story highlights alarming, systemic issues that need to be discussed and addressed within the UX influencer community and conference scene, some low-hanging fruit also emerged from this tale that should be straightforward actions items.
- The dangers of professional communities that foster a mindset of associates being “family” and “friends” — e.g. codes of conduct.
- The need for term limits for 501(c)6 professional service organization leadership roles. (Sara Mastro has been the president of UXPA-I since 2019, and Rich Gunther served as the Executive Director from 2015–2024. Many members of the current BOD have served multiple terms, with each term being three years.)
- The importance of public disclosure of annual financial reports and board member meeting notes for 501(c)(6) professional service organizations (e.g. IxDA). (UXPA-I bylaws should be amended to include member rights of inspection, in alignment with Texas Business Organizations Code. Even better would be for UXPA-I to commit to publishing their records on their website, as many non-profits do, in support of transparency)
- The need for member advisory boards and the holding of regular membership meetings for 501(c)6 professional service organizations. (How long has it been since UXPA-I held its annual membership meeting, as required by statute and its own bylaws?)
- Conflict of interest checks — $$ — e.g. especially when accreditation is involved.
Recommended reading: Assessing Conflicts of Interest in Organizations — Emiliano De Carlo
Recommended reading: Ethics and Nonprofits — Deborah L. Rhode and Amanda K. Packel, Stanford Social Innovation Review
A Timeline (last update: 11/19/2024)
01/2019: Hannes Robier publishes his 2019 “UX Trend Report” featuring Russ Wilson.
08/03/2019: I publish an internal memo discussing my experiences with pregnancy discrimination and harassment one week before my last day at Google, touching upon my experiences on the Google Cloud UX team, under the leadership of Russ Wilson and Javier Andrew Bargas-Avila. The piece is read by over 12,000 Googlers in less than two days and goes viral in the international news cycle.
08/12/2019: I start a new job at Facebook, with my daughter being five months old and my son having just turned three years old less than a month prior.
08/2019: Russ Wilson’s last day at Google occurs this month.
09/03/2019: I file an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint against Google, which is reported on in outlets such as the Seattle Times and the Washington Post.
10/16–17/2019: Hannes Robier hosts WUC 2019. Javier Andrew Bargas-Avila attends for the second time.
10/30/2019: Fast Company publishes, “Exclusive: I left Google because of pregnancy discrimination.”
01/16/2020: I give testimony to the Washington State Legislature about my experiences at Google.
02/26/2020: The Washington Post publishes an article about the EEOC opening an investigation in response to my complaint, “A former Google employee says she faced pregnancy discrimination. Now, there’s an investigation.” CNBC also reports on the investigation.
03/05/2020: Pregnancy discrimination legislation I proposed and lobbied for passes with broad bipartisan support, as reported on in the Seattle Times and elsewhere.
06/24/2020: Hannes Robier and Javier Bargas-Avila discuss a future meeting at Google, “Thanks to Javier Andrew Bargas-Avila for being part of World Usability Congress the second time after 2013. It’s a huge honor. Looking forward meein you again in-person. Maybe in #Graz next year or at Google in #Zurich.”
07/23/2020: I file a lawsuit against Google, with sponsorship by the American Association of University Women. Javier Bargas-Avila and Russ Wilson are listed as witnesses. Ulku Rowe (who also worked on the Cloud PA) and I are the first two women to file discrimination and harassment lawsuits against Google following the Google Walkout.
10/19-23/2020: WUC 2020. Javier Andrew Bargas-Avila is a speaker.
12/17/2020: On a Google-branded notebook, Hannes Robier maps out a business plan that he shares on Twitter, including six revenue streams: University, UXQCC, WUC UXQCC, Design Business, Design Management Course, and Top Secret coming soon.
03/09/2021: I publish an op-ed in Fast Company, “Fighting pregnancy discrimination shouldn’t be this hard.”
04/09/2021: The Guardian publishes an article about my lawsuit, “She sued for pregnancy discrimination. Now she’s battling Google’s army of lawyers.”
07/21/2021: The New York Times publishes an article discussing my Google experiences, “‘You’re the Problem’: When They Spoke Up About Misconduct, They Were Offered Mental Health Services.”
10/11–13/2021: WUC 2021. Russ Wilson is a speaker.
10/21/2021: NPR runs a story profiling me, “Tech workers recount the cost of speaking out, as tensions rise inside companies.”
10/26/2021: I publish an op-ed in Business Insider, “I sought therapy after my boss at Google discriminated against me. I used a 3rd-party therapist through the company and it was a decision I will forever regret.”
11/17/2021: I give a speech to Google’s Alphabet Workers Union, “Discrimination in the workplace.”
12/08/2021: Hannes Robier starts his The World of Experience (WOE) Mighty Network group, where members can engage with his emerging revenue streams. Eric Reiss and Russ Wilson are active on the platform through 2023.
02/04/2022: I reach a settlement with Google, which includes an agreement of Google instructing Javier Bargas-Avila not to state disparaging or derogatory remarks about me. The settlement is reported on in Bloomberg and elsewhere.
03/03/2022: Silenced No More legislation, which I proposed and lobbied for, is passed and then retroactively codified in Washington state. Among other things, the legislation prohibits NDAs and non-disparagement agreements from being used to prevent women from sharing their sexual harassment and assault stories. The Speak Out Act is similar federal legislation that was also codified in 2022.
04/29/2022: Exhausted, I quit my last tech job, starting what would become a two year sabbatical focused on healing, including writing Black Box: A Pregnancy Discrimination Memoir.
06/01/2022: In response to shareholder demand, citing references to my lawsuit and advocacy, Google commits to Silenced No More protections for all employees: SEC filing, June 2022 Annual Meeting of Google Stockholders.
10/07–21/2022: A documentary about my lawsuit titled Spread Thin premiers at The Workers Unite Film Festival.
10/11–13/2022: 2022 WUC. At the event, Jennifer Romano (keynote speaker), Hannes Robier, and Russ Wilson are designated as “UX Experience Knights.”
10/12/2022: The UXPA UX Accreditation program is announced as part of the 2022 WUC Opening Ceremony.
10/18/2022: Russ Wilson notes his affiliation with Hannes Robier’s new MBA in Strategic Experience Design via Hannes’s WOE Mighty Networks group.
03/2023: Media outlets start reporting on my upcoming book Black Box: A Pregnancy Discrimination Memoir.
01–07/2023: UXPA International adds two new positions to its BOD: MENA Regional Director (Ahmad Alhuwwari) and Europe Regional Director (Claudia Bruckschwaiger), both with ongoing business engagements with Hannes Robier.
03/29/2023: Hannes Robier announces his MBA in Strategic Experience Design on LinkedIn.
08/17/2023: I send a LinkedIn message to Javier Bargas-Avila asking him to read my book so that he can understand how his behavior impacted me and my family.
09/22/2023: Hannes Robier publishes a LinkedIn article sharing how he was inspired to start WUC after attending a UXPA International conference.
09/27/2023: Black Box: A Pregnancy Discrimination Memoir is published.
10/14–17/2023: Jennifer Romano, Eric Reiss, Russ Wilson, Javier Bargas-Avila, Sarah Mastro, and Rich Gunther all participate in WUC 2023, with pictures published of them socializing and social media posts referring to themselves as “friends” and “family.” After the event, Javier Bargas-Avila tells Russ Wilson on LinkedIn, “Have a safe flight home, boss, see you next year 👊.” (PDF)
Russ Wilson is the opening keynote, and Eric Reiss is the closing keynote speaker (PDF). Eric, along with Russ, is featured in this YouTube video attending WUC 2023. Eric also gave a conference workshop.
02/08/2024: Hannes Robier publishes his 2024 “UX Trend Report,” profiling Eric Reiss and featuring an advertisement for the upcoming 2024 UXPA International Conference.
02/12/2024: I published a Fast Company op-ed titled, “We need to look at the number of pregnant tech women being laid off right now.”
03/14/2024: Javier Bargas-Avila and Russ Wilson recommend each other on LinkedIn.
“I had the pleasure of working under Russ’ leadership at Google Cloud, where he led the entire UX organization. Russ is not just a fantastic manager, but a truly inspiring leader...” — Javier Bargas-Avila
“Javier is an exemplary leader and an accomplished expert in user experience research. When I need expert advice on customer insights from data, I call Javier first.…” — Russ Wilson
03/14/2024: Javier Bargas-Avila promotes his involvement in WUC 2024, “Are you thinking about attending World Usability Congress 2024 in Graz? I can give you a voucher…”
03/19/2024: Javier Bargas-Avila states on LinkedIn, “Empowering moms in the workplace is a cause I deeply care about. As a manager, I’ve witnessed firsthand the impact leaders can have on supporting working mothers….” #womeninleadership #workingmoms #tech #pregnancy” (PDF)
04/05/2024: UXPA International announces Eric Reiss as the winner of its Lifetime Achievement Award on uxpa.org, emphasizing his allyship to women, “He created friends.” (PDF)
04/06/2024: I publish a Fortune op-ed, “Why I’m yet another woman leaving the tech industry.”
04/10/2024: UXPA International sends an email to its members titled “Meet our Lifetime Achievement Award Winner at UXPA 2024.” This causes a public backlash. (PDF)
04/10/2024: I speak with AnitaB.org President CEO Brenda Darden Wilkerson for a recording of the AnitaB.org podcast “B The Way Forward.”
04/10/2024: Immediately after recording the AnitaB.org podcast, I discover UXPA International happenings and start writing this Medium story, which I share on LinkedIn.
04/10/2024: UXPA International President Sara Mastro responds to an email I sent her stating, “UXPA International will not be offering further comment on this matter.”
04/10/2024: The UXPA International BOD emails its members announcing the rescinding of Eric Reiss being awarded the UXPA-I Lifetime Achievement Award, vaguely citing “unforeseen circumstances.” (PDF)
04/14/2024: Steve Portigal, Jemma Ahmed, and Megan Blocker create an open letter opposing the UXPA International leadership team’s behaviors and asking for certain actions to be taken.
04/15/2024: Around this date, companies start rescinding their sponsorship of the 2024 UXPA International Conference. (example)
04/18/2024: 2024 UXPA International Conference Co-Chair Jennifer Romano publishes a LinkedIn post about the 2024 UXPA-I Conference — #uxfriends.
I comment with feedback:
“I know, as a former volunteer, that UXPA has many great volunteers who work hard to elevate the UX community. And yes, mistakes happen. That said, an important ingredient in taking accountability for mistakes is acknowledging them and apologizing so that the people impacted can heal...” (PDF)
04/21/2024: UXPA International past board member and president Cory Lebson sends me a LinkedIn message unprompted, asking me to be empathetic of UXPA International leadership team and explaining why he won’t sign Steve Portigal, Jemma Ahmed, and Megan Blocker’s open letter.
04/23/2024: Jennifer Romano comments on one of my LinkedIn posts accusing me of harassment, “I also have experienced sexual misconduct in the workplace, and I am not using my story to attack my friends…cyberbullying is…” (PDF)
04/25/2024: Jennifer Romano shares a video on LinkedIn again accusing me of cyberbullying, emphasizing that such behavior is a criminal act that could warrant jail time. (PDF, transcript)
04/26/2024: Jennifer Romano posts on LinkedIn, “Did you see my discussion about how (not) to behave with colleagues in the workplace, at conferences, and on social media? I’ll give you a hint — sexual harassment and bullying are not ok.” (PDF)
04/29/2024: Jennifer Romano comments on one of my LinkedIn posts accusing me of “single-handedly” trying to bring down the UXPA and of being “a shame” to the UX community. (PDF)
04/30/2024: The UXPA International BOD posts a statement on LinkedIn accusing people opposing the UXPA International leadership team’s behaviors of libel. (PDF)
04/30/2024: Rich Gunther, UXPA International Executive Director, sends me a LinkedIn message threatening to send me a cease and desist letter. I’m the only known person to receive such a threat from Rich. He then blocks me on LinkedIn after I share a screenshot of his message on LinkedIn.
05/09/2024: Steve Portigal, Jemma Ahmed, and Megan Blocker share on LinkedIn that their open letter reached 500 signatures. Signees include leaders from local UXPA chapters as well as current and former UXPA-I members.
05/09/2024: Cory Lebson shares a LinkedIn post about his enthusiasm for seeing his #uxfriends at the 2024 UXPA International Conference (PDF), “These are my people.” The same day, he says to me via a LinkedIn message, “You are trying to blackmail me or threaten me...”
05/13/2024: ARCS from Marketing Systems Group joins a growing number of companies in rescinding their sponsorship of the 2024 UXPA International Conference, including Centralis, the University of Miami, Key Lime Interactive, UserTesting, and Tobii. Others too?
05/14/2024: Complaint Filed (Case Number: 19-CB-342206) with National Labor Relations Board for threatening legal action against me and other UXPA International members for discussing our rights and organizing. (This might not be the proper venue given UXPA-I is a non-profit, but I hope the complaint gives me insight that points me in the right direction.)
05/13/2024 (original story)–04/14/2024 (edited to include “cyberbullied” accusation): Cory Lebson publishes a LinkedIn story titled, “I was cyberbullied; this is not ok (And why we MUST accept each other.” “After talking to UX friends…”
05/14/2024: The following UXPA International BOD vacancies are announced: Director of Chapters, Director of DEI (new), Director of Partners and Sponsorship, and Director of Publications.
05/19/2024: Fast Company publishes an expose about pregnancy discrimination and pregnant worker layoffs at Google and other tech companies, referencing my story and writings.
05/20/2024: Jennifer Romano publishes a LinkedIn post linking to sources that state cyberbullying is a criminal crime punishable by up to one year in jail per California Penal Code §653.2, among other statutes. “As someone who has recently been the victim of cyberbullying, I found this piece helpful. I’ve spent way too much time thinking about this bully and their ill intentions…I do hope they get professional help, as I think it’s a difficult way to live.” (PDF)
06/01/2024: Past UXPA International board member and UXPA Lifetime Achievement Award winner Susan Dray comments on one of my LinkedIn posts, “Asking for accountability? By whom? Reiss? Seek it from him, not UXPA! It’s time to recognize the Board’s integrity. And please stop the bullying. Jen is 100% right now-that’s exactly what you’re doing!” (PDF)
06/10/2024: Rich Gunther is no longer listed on the UXPA International website as the UXPA International Executive Director. (Although, as of 11/04/2024, his LinkedIn profile still lists him as Executive Director. From event photos like the one below, it also appears that he attended the 2024 UXPA International Conference.)
06/16–06/27/2024: Sometimes between these dates Cory Lebson removes my attribution credits from The UX Careers Handbook website. Here’s before all references to me were erased from the website, and here’s after they were removed.
“Thank you also to Jen Romano. It was a number of early conversations and other UX-related initiatives with Jen that later formed the basis for the philosophies of UX community leadership, which thread their way throughout this book.”
— Cory Lebson, UX Careers Handbook (First & Second Additions)
06/18/2024: An email is sent from office@uxpa.org announcing the BOD International ballot, “Unfortunately, the UXPA International Board and its Election Committee has determined that we are not able to run any candidates for Director of DEI. In addition, we are disappointed to announce that we had no nominations for the Director of Sponsorships role this year.”
Disappointed by what? That no one wanted to volunteer to clean up your mess, UXPA-I BOD?
06/24–27, 2024: UXPA 2024 International Conference. Russ Wilson is the opening keynote speaker.
06/28/2024: Jennifer Romano posts a picture of her at the UXPA International Conference with Hannes Robier, Clemens Lutch, Claudia Bruckschwaiger, and Russ Wilson, noting #UXFRIENDS.
06/30/2024: No announcement regarding the BOD election is made on this date, as promised.
07/05/2024: Jennifer Romano announces her reading of the book The Asshole Survivor Guide on LinkedIn, “Started this book today. Stay tuned for a synopsis! Or better yet, pick one up, and let’s have book club!” (PDF)
07/18/2024: Hannes Robier’s World Usability Congress publishes a LinkedIn post stating, “At WUC, we champion the empowerment of women in the UX field.” #womenintech
08/18/2024: I email office@uxpa.org and sara.mastro@uxpa.org asking for access to UXPA International BOD meeting notes, but never receive a response.
07/22/2024: BOD election results are announced on Twitter but apparently not elsewhere, with the two sole candidates that ran for office starting their second three-year terms as Director of Publications (Andrew Schall) and Director of Chapters (Christina Manikus).
07/26/2024: Hannes Robier announces on LinkedIn a “Design Leadership Exchange” as part of the World Usability Congress 2024, featuring a picture of himself with Russ Wilson.
07/30/2024: I submit Tax-Exempt Organization Complaint Form 13909 to the IRS.
07/30/2024: I share on LinkedIn my writing of the “Epilogue” section of this story.
08/14/2024: Jennifer Romano posts on LinkedIn about the 2025 UXPA International Conference logo contest, “This is exciting! Are you a UXPA International member? Be sure to check your email for the logo and branding competition. We had EXCELLENT submissions!” I don’t receive an email, despite my being a UXPA-I member; this is when I first notice that UXPA-I appears to have stopped sending me member updates.
08/26/2024: In accordance with Texas Business Organizations Code, I, for a second time and now with the help of an attorney, ask for access to UXPA-I books and records. The UXPA-I BOD is also notified of an obligation to preserve all tangible and electronic evidence related to certain claims.
08/31/2024: UXPA-I’s accountant Zolo and Associates is notified of an obligation to preserve all records related to certain UXPA-I claims.
09/02/2024: Today, Labor Day, I share on LinkedIn the demand letter I served UXPA-I asking for complete and unredacted records for the calendar years 2020 through 2024.
09/06/2024: UXPA-I President Sara Mastro and UXPA-I Vice President Alain Robillard-Bastien respond to my ask for certain UXPA-I records, accusing me of being in violation of UXPA-I antitrust bylaws (Article 11.2(a), specifically) and stating they will only comply with Texas statute if I first sign an agreement to pay UXPA-I special damages in the event the UXPA-I BOD further interprets my being in violation of UXPA-I’s bylaws; essentially a non-disparagement/NDA agreement, a historically common legal weapon used by organizations to hide problems related to sexual harassment, sexual assault, and discrimination.
09/06/2024: Jennifer Romano reposts one of #uxfriend Javier Andrés Bargas-Avila’s LinkedIn posts, stating, “Thanks Javier Andrés Bargas-Avila for organizing all these #UX roles!! Amazing!”
09/04-09/2024: While contemporaneously demanding that I sign a non-disparagement/NDA agreement, UXPA International announces and opens up a call for proposals for its 2025 conference, with a new track being “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).” It’s noted that, “This track is about inclusivity, diversity, and equity in the UX field.” Hannes Robier comments on LinkedIn, “i will apply. who else?” (Track was later changed to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility.)
09/17/2024: UXPA International announces its annual mentorship program, with the website emphasizing a requirement for students to purchase an annual UXPA-I membership to participate. According to sources, it’s not uncommon for organizations to try to rebuild in the aftermath of public scandal through recruiting young people.
09/20/2024: A third and final email is sent to Sara Mastro and Alain Robillard-Bastien asking for access to BOD meeting notes and other records. Cory Lebson, Jennifer Romano, and Susan Dray are also notified of their duty to retain records related to potential claims.
9/26/2024: Sara Mastro and Alain Robillard-Bastien respond to my final records request, stating that my criticisms of the organization are “undeserved” and “reckless.” I share this on LinkedIn as well as my next step of filing something called a writ of mandamus to compel UXPA-I to comply with Texas statute.
“Organizations headed for ethical collapse have two structural components that enable a culture of fear and silence…[including] their unwavering belief that their abilities require that they transcend the boundaries of law and ethics…”
— Seven Signs of Ethical Collapse
09/30/2024: Cory Lebson’s business formation and contracts attorney (the person who likely reviews Cory’s consulting agreements) emails my attorney, acknowledging Cory’s removal of my attribution credits from The UX Careers Handbook website and threatening a defamation lawsuit if I don’t delete this story, “…your client’s screed needs to be removed immediately.”
(Cory also emailed my attorney on September 26th with kind words of reparation, which I appreciated, “I would like your client to know that I have valued her friendship and every UX interaction we’ve had across the past decade plus. I want nothing more than to “make peace” with her.” But then, in a moment of deja vu, he had his attorney send the below letter before I could respond.)
10/01/2024: My attorney (who practices civil rights and defamation law) replies to Cory’s attorney, asking that Cory add my attribution credits back to his book’s website and explaining Cory’s obligation to do so, “[Y]our client accepted the contribution of my client with the expectation that her contribution would be acknowledged. She was not asked to ghost-write a section of Mr. Lebson’s book, which he sells for profit. My client just wants the acknowledgement that she had before.”
Cory’s attorney responds stating Cory will only reinstate my attribution if I first delete this story, warning, “I urge Ms. Glasson to consider her position carefully” or else “nothing but a lawsuit for defamation can fall into place.”
“Women in science are less likely than their male counterparts to receive authorship credit for the work they do…”
— Women in Science Receive Less Credit for Their Contributions
10/02/2024: Jennifer Romano and Sara Mastro are listed on the “Board of Directors” page of uxpa.org as co-chairs of the 2025 UXPA International Conference.
10/02/2024: The UXPA International BOD sends me a cease and desist letter, threatening legal action if I share the letter publicly: “We would like to make it clear that posting online the contents of this letter, or that a cease and desist letter has been delivered to her, will be considered to be a violation of this cease and desist request, and will be followed by legal action to enforce this cease and desist.” (Note: cease and desist letters aren’t something that can be legally violated, nor are they legally enforceable.)
Repeating Jennifer Romano’s previously used rhetoric that I’m a criminal as a means of coercion, the letter additionally states that I “blackmailed” UXPA International sponsors, exhibitors, and members, and am therefore responsible for them withdrawing from the 2024 UXPA International Conference and the “quantifiable financial” loss and “reputational harm” that followed.
It doesn’t appear the letter was written by an attorney. Regardless, you don’t have to be an attorney to look up that blackmail is a crime that is generally defined by federal and state statutes as demanding money or valuable items in exchange for not exposing a damaging secret, something I most definitely haven’t done. Not to mention it’s illogical to claim that one person could somehow successfully blackmail so many people.
I wonder what retaliation-threat spaghetti UXPA-I #uxfriends will throw at the wall next in an attempt to silence members and others asking for increased transparency and accountability?
10/04/2024: Today’s deadline for speaker submissions for the 2025 UXPA International Conference was extended to October 11th.
10/09/2024: I write a LinkedIn post about the UXPA-I BOD threatening to rescind my membership after learning of my upcoming writ of mandamus filing, “UXPA International BOD, you don’t get to decide or interpret my professional identity as a woman...” As I’ve publicly discussed in the past, my next career goal is to combine a legal education with my UX knowledge to help make legal support more accessible for those navigating organizational misconduct.
Regarding the false speculation that I wasn’t a student as of April 2024, I officially became an enrolled law school student on February 28th of this year, with my program including many UX-related courses: contracts, AI and the law, IP and copyright, etc. How can the UXPA-I BOD be trusted to conduct an unbiased membership review for obvious reasons combined with no effort to verify basic objective facts like this?
10/15–17/2024: Hannes Robier’s World Usability Congress 2024, sponsored by UXPA and its UX Accreditation program, occurs this week. Clemens Lutsch, Claudia Bruckschwaiger, Sara Mastro, Hannah Kholer, Javier Bargas-Avila, and Russ Wilson are all leading workshops and talks. Aligning with UXPA International’s sudden interest in DEI, there’s a “Whats new at WUC24?” emphasis on “Woman Leadership.”
“Don’t lose the opportunity to talk with real high level female experts.”
Real females? As opposed to what? And let’s not forget the robust body of literature that discusses why referring to women as females demeans them to sexual objects. Someone even wrote an entire thesis saying as much, “Disrespectful Female: The Problem with Calling Women Females.”
The language above —e.g. “don’t lose the opportunity” — also highlights how women are being used to sell more WUC 2024 tickets, a conference that Hannes’s UX consultancy youpsi, staffed mostly by men, runs and profits from. More explicitly, Hannes is treating women as a commodity, a behavior that’s been well studied as a contributor to the objectification and abuse of women.
10/23/2024: As I share on LinkedIn today, my writ of mandamus was filed asking Texas judiciary to order the UXPA-I BOD to share their books and records, as members are entitled to inspect per Texas statute. Here’s a copy of the lawsuit. The UXPA-I BOD has until 11/18 to file an answer or otherwise appear in court.
10/24/2024: UXPA International posts Russ Wilson’s 2024 UXPA Conference keynote on YouTube:
“One of the most important things you can do is identify what your values are. It blows my mind that it took me so many decades to articulate my values. When I talk to other people, I’m shocked because they are in the same boat: I don’t know, honestly [they state]? No, what is really important to you at the core? Because when you understand that, you start to understand more about yourself and what’s more important…that’s when you’re going to build confidence and get to tremendous advances in success. Trust me.”
— Russ Wilson, Head of Design, Fidelity Investments
10/31/2024: Documenting that my UXPA membership status is still active as of this date.
11/15/2024: The UXPA International BOD files their answer to my writ of mandamus, spending member and sponsorship funds to continue fighting against sharing their books and records with members for inspection, despite reporting “quantifiable financial” loss this year:
“UXPA is not required to present its books and records to Plaintiff for inspection because Plaintiff is not entitled to the relief sought in the lawsuit. The governing documents of UXPA sets criteria for membership in the organization. Upon information and belief, Plaintiff may not meet the criteria for membership. UXPA demands strict proof of Plaintiff’s qualifications for membership as outlined in UXPA’s bylaws.”
I guess this means the UXPA-I BOD wasn’t successful in gathering the two-thirds vote required to rescind my membership per the membership review they stated they were conducting in response to my allegedly being in violation of several UXPA-I bylaws? And so now they’re demanding in response that I prove my membership qualifications?
11/19/2024: UXPA International releases the results of its global salary survey, which ran for seven months from April through October of this year. Measuring Usability, the company that administered the survey, noted on its blog, “the sample size was the smallest we’ve ever collected for this survey.”
