• Championed the emotional core of Arbor’s mission—designing a storytelling experience that felt intimate, safe and culturally resonant. While other leaders focused on growth metrics, I ensured our visuals, tone and user journey honored the vulnerability of sharing personal histories at every touchpoint.
• Drove foundational alignment between product, brand and business goals during rapid launch sprints
• Unified a lean, cross-disciplinary team—spanning data, customer insights, e-commerce, video production, and marketing—through a shared brand and storytelling vision. My design leadership aligned strategy, execution, and KPIs across functions to drive clarity and momentum in a fast-moving startup environment.
• Pitched visual, marketing and content strategy to early investors and advisors
• Established creative team culture and rituals across remote teams under tight startup timelines and weekly pivots
• Mentored creatives and managed freelance contributors

I led the development of Arbor’s foundational brand and visual identity, narrative voice, marketing strategy and e-commerce website, while also co-designing the MVP for a media tech platform that allowed families to securely document and share stories within private accounts. From core value proposition and market position to user research to go-to-market strategy, I drove the creative vision across brand and creative vision and closely collaborated on product development and production workflows to translate emotion into meaningful, scalable storytelling experiences.

Our core offering centered on guided story documentation and short-film production, giving customers access to a team of filmmakers, story producers, multilingual biographers, editors, and designers to shape their personal or family legacies. In its early stages, Arbor focused on capturing stories within Bangladeshi American and Jewish American communities—both cultures shaped by trauma, migration, resilience and rebuilding.

While the CEO and CFO focused on growth metrics and investor benchmarks, I championed the emotional core of Arbor’s mission—ensuring that every design decision honored the deep intimacy of personal and family storytelling. I led with empathy, shaping not just visuals but a narrative experience that felt safe, beautiful and culturally resonant. From communication design to onboarding flows to video production templates, I integrated warm, human-centered touchpoints that helped users feel seen and heard, not sold to. My design direction guided the tone of voice, title treatments, image and b-roll curation, sound design and music and UX gestures often advocating for slower, reflective moments in contrast to speed and scale. This emotional groundwork became essential for community trust and ultimately made the product more meaningful and memorable.

How might we design a digital legacy platform that is emotionally resonant, culturally inclusive and product-ready for scale?

We sought to:

• Explore additional formats, including illustrated children’s books and AI-generated b-roll, to expand storytelling outputs and create meaningful, multi-format keepsakes that deepen emotional connection and delight.
• Identify what stories people wanted to share and preserve—and why
• Understand what was missing from existing platforms like Ancestry.com, StoryCorps and Storyworth
• Build brand trust and usability for multigenerational households, especially tech-wary elders
• Test pathways to monetization (subscriptions, DIY kits, community partnerships)
• Inspire millennial and Gen Z users to help document their parents’ and grandparents’ stories
• Focus on refining the storytelling interview-to-production workflow to consistently generate high-quality short films at scale. 

We followed a structured but agile process over a 9-month timeline:

Discover

• Social listening and competitive research on platforms like Storyworth, StoryCorps and Ancestry
  
• 1:1 user interviews with families, individuals and caregivers across cultural groups
  
• Persona development and market segmentation (with emphasis on intergenerational tech use, language and emotional barriers)
  
• Insights synthesis into emotional and functional user needs:
  
  • “We don’t want another photo dump—we want context, emotion, voices.”
  • “My grandma’s life deserves more than a footnote.”
  • “We have boxes full of precious photos and VHS tapes collecting dust.”
  • “My grandfather is the last of his generation to be able to tell these harrowing stories.”
  • A desire for legacy, not just memory: “I want my kids to know who my parents were—not just names in a photo album, but their voice, their laugh, their story.”
  • Validation of personal and cultural experience: “So much of our history isn’t in books. It matters to have our stories told beautifully—like they’re worth something.”
  • A safe space for vulnerability: “Talking about war or leaving home is hard. But it helps when someone’s there to listen and shape it into something meaningful.”

Describe

• Defined where to play (digital legacy and archiving, intergenerational media, life story and DNA testing economy, short films, generative AI)
  
• Articulated what to disrupt: the cold data approach of Ancestry and the limitations of written-only or published book based storytelling
  
• Established how to win: by blending professional production with DIY accessibility on a private social platform
  • Guided, low-lift storytelling: Users want clear prompts, hand-holding, and optional language support—especially when tech literacy or emotional energy is low.
    
  • Flexible, shareable formats: Ability to easily share stories with family across generations and geographies—in formats they can watch, read, or hold.
    
  • Clarity on process and privacy: Users want to know how their story will be shaped, who will see it, and what control they have over edits and sharing.
    
• Created detailed journey maps, MVP feature sets and weekly KPIs to guide design and UX, marketing and pricing decisions
  

Design + Test

Developed Media Archive workflow and Tech Stack: Digital Asset Management system (DAM), Metadata tagging, Transcription, Content indexing, Rights management, Preservation and Future-proofing, User training + Access Control

Developed Arbor’s foundational visual identity: logo, brand guidelines, UI kit
Created a cohesive brand voice and tone that conveyed warmth, clarity and dignity
Designed MVP flows and wireframes in Figma

Developed journey mapping and audience insight tracking systems
Tested onboarding journeys and pricing models through observation, personal interviews and market research
Designed, built and launched the first e-commerce website for storytelling package sales and lead generation
Produced video content assets and tech platform prototypes: short films, story trailers, titles and bumpers and demos

Conducted low-fidelity prototyping and weekly design sprints with key stakeholders and first crop of users: story development and production process, personal accounts, chat function, desktop and app versions

• Brand & Platform Launch: Successfully developed and launched Arbor’s MVP brand, visual identity, e-commerce site, video production workflow and content ecosystem within 2 months.
• Audience Resonance: Video stories generated strong emotional feedback, ease of recording and editing process and high viewership during early testing.

Conversion & Engagement:

• Paid Media: Initial tests on Meta yielded a 32% increase in conversion post-launch. 
• Community Activation: Target communities including Bangladeshi American and Jewish American users actively engaged in Arbor’s early video storytelling process, with over 55% of story participants opting into short film production after personal, customized onboarding.
• Lead Conversions: Within the first 8 weeks of digital outreach, Arbor saw a 37% signup rate for interest in story documentation services through short-form video, exceeding projected lead gen benchmarks.
• Emotional Resonance & Sharing: User-generated stories had a high share rate, with 63% of video participants sharing their story via private links, leading to a network effect that generated new leads within families and communities organically.
• Retention Touchpoints: Of those who submitted interest in story production, 68% followed through to participate in interviews or submit media, indicating strong intent and emotional buy-in from users.
• Customer Insights Loop: Story video prototypes became a core tool for continuous feedback and were shown to increase emotional connection to the platform—users who viewed a sample story were 5x more likely to begin the onboarding process.
• User-Centered Design: Weekly feedback loops helped us flesh out fully premium and DIY kit models with personalized story producing and multilingual biographer options.
• System Building: Established production team workflows, content management systems, e-commerce flow and brand infrastructure for scale—critical for attracting larger number of users, future hires and partners.

Design & Product: Figma, Adobe CC, After Effects, Vimeo

Research & Strategy: Notion, Miro, Airtable

Workflow Automations & Tech Stack: Slack, Jira, Google Suite, Vimeo, Iconik DAM, LucidLink, MEGA cloud storage

Methods: Design sprints, journey and empathy mapping, media tech platform wireframing, brand platform strategies, audience segmentation, go-to-market playbooks, community toolkits, UX + UI testing, website layout and language A/B testing, marketing videos and user testimonials

Objective: Understand the emotional and logistical path users take from discovering Arbor to completing a personal story video, identifying pain points, motivations and culturally relevant design opportunities.

1. Awareness

• User Insight:
  • “I wish there was an easy way to preserve my parents’ stories from back home before it’s too late.
  • ”There are many stories of the war they’ve never told us because they’re too painful and wanted to remove us from the trauma.”
  • “This is a great idea that we really need as this generation ages, but my parents wouldn’t pay for it.”
    
• Touchpoints: Community events and local organizations, social posts in English and Bangla, WhatsApp auntie groups
  
• Design Opportunity: Culturally resonant messaging + visuals; bilingual assets to build trust across generations; showing familiar faces in example videos

2. Interest

• User Insight: “I’ve seen services like Storyworth, but they feel corny or too much work.”
  
• Touchpoints: Soft launch website, short emotional story trailers in Bangla, founder and staff interviews
  
• Design Opportunity: Highlight cultural specificity in visuals and copy and intergenerational tone; showcase real families and preview stories
  • Show Rahman family platform prototype

3. Consideration

• User Insight: “Will my parents actually do this? Will they understand how it works?”
  
• Touchpoints: Onboarding flow, FAQs, demo video in Bangla/English, sessions with personal story producers, biographers, tech support and customer service representatives
  
• Design Opportunity: Streamline onboarding, simplify technical steps into visual instructions, offer interview and tech support in familiar language

4. Participation

• User Insight: “Talking about trauma and migration is hard. But we want to pass it down.”
  
• Touchpoints: Story producer sessions, photo/video/document uploads, coaching from Arbor staff
  
• Design Opportunity: Build rituals into the experience; include gentle prompts, somatic practices, music and comfort visuals to support vulnerability

5. Sharing, Advocacy and Evolving Stories

• User Insight: “I didn’t expect to cry watching it—but I’m so glad we did this and I can’t wait to get the rest of the family to record.”
  
• Touchpoints: Final video, social sharing assets, private family page and chat function, personal text messages

Design Opportunity: Offer easy download and sharing options; embed moments for reflection, celebration and pride; opportunity for other family members to respond with their own video take

Goal:

Build Arbor’s early trust and visibility within Bangladeshi-American communities in NYC and NJ through culturally-aligned channels and partnerships.

1. Community Anchors First

• Partnered with Bengali cultural orgs, mosque groups and South Asian mutual aid collectives
• Built lists of personal contacts (CFO and Head of Design are Bangladeshi American)
• Designed visuals and marketing, onboarding flow and staff guidelines and storytelling templates that respected customs, language, sensitive topics and intergenerational dynamics

2. Multi-language Content Marketing

• Ran bilingual paid and organic content on Facebook and Instagram targeting diasporic adults (ages 27–65)
• Translated emotional hooks into Bangla, tested variations in tone (nostalgic vs. celebratory)
• Curated photos and developed design assets relevant to cultural motifs and heritage

3. Referral & Word-of-Mouth Loop

• Piloted program for intergenerational families to create and share stories together
• Built incentives for referrals that encouraged family and friend networks to participate
• Worked with local community organizations and meetups to produce storytelling events
• Created easy communication methods for aunties to encourage friends and family members on Whatsapp and phone

4. Influencer & Creator Alignment

• Created list of influencers, artists, writers and storytellers, community leaders and advocates
• Collaborated with South Asian American micro-influencers, especially those who focus on heritage, family and identity
• Created short-form videos showing behind-the-scenes of story production, interviews and emotional moments
• Created shareable video with culturally relevant imagery to capture audiences at a glance

5. Soft Launch with Emotional Focus

• Mapped existing cultural and religious holidays for group storytelling opportunities and offers
• Launched a limited early access program framed as a “Legacy Project” rather than a tech product
• Hosted digital storytelling events featuring participant stories, food, fashion and music to engage new audiences

Cross-functional collaboration was central to our speed and innovation:

• CEO + CFO – fundraising, vision, business model
  
• Customer Insights Lead – user research and persona development
  
• Brand Design, Marketing & Social (me) – brand, product, marketing, social, creative ops
  
• E-Commerce + Partnerships– demand generation and content planning
  
• Creative Production – filmmakers, story producers, biographers, editors and videographers
  
• Consultants – media tech, cultural advisors, UX
  

Investors & Advisors – premium product testing, pitch storytelling and growth milestones