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Meet the Tallizen: Natasha

Get to know the people behind the company that’s on a mission to make people less stressed and better off financially. 

Tally

May 18, 2023

Meet Natasha, our Senior Product Designer based in New York City. In her role, Natasha has the opportunity to deep-dive into understanding the problems surrounding credit card debt, and to define solutions that help Tally members get ahead. Partnering closely with the Product and Engineering teams, our Product Designers lead strategic, high-impact work to improve the financial outcomes of our members.


On why she chose a career in Product Design, Natasha shares that “It feels like an immense privilege to design things that real people use every day, to learn from our users and evolve with their needs.”  In her spare time you can find Natasha playing basketball, organizing events, or grooming her two exceedingly fluffy Persian cats (Poochie & Potato).



A Day in the Life of a Tallizen


What is one of the most impactful things that you have learned at Tally?

Collaborative culture is everything. The autonomy at Tally allows you to create your own path and contribute as much as you'd like, and at the same time there is always someone there to guide or give feedback whenever you need it. It's a generative space for ideas, creativity, and different working styles. As a result, I’m able to contribute strategically to the evolution of Tally’s products.


Which of our values (DSN, OTO, CSO) resonates most with you and why?

DSN has been impactful for me because it helps foster close relationships with engineers, PMs, and leadership. In my design work, I use DSN to think outside the box and approach design projects with a wider lens. Distilling complex problems into logical and user-friendly experiences starts with asking why.


When everyone has collective ownership over creating a great product for our customers, we’re all motivated tor challenge ourselves in our daily work. DSN knocks down the virtual walls we have around our job descriptions and pushes us to ask questions and think bigger.



What would you be doing right now if you weren’t in your current role? Feel free to dream big! Celebrity? Astronaut? Pet groomer? We're excited to hear where else your interests lie.

 In another life, I would’ve loved to pursue architecture or furniture design.

I'm obsessed with chairs specifically. The design problem is simple enough: make something someone can sit on, but there is virtually no limit to how the task is executed. Shape, color, use case, weight…. you can play with how light moves through it, how the chair itself moves (wheels, rocking), what kind of materials you combine (how do they change when the chair is used?). You can even create optical illusions (perspective, size, mirrors) or experiment with what the person sitting in it feels or sees. The list goes on! It would be fun to experiment with form in this way.


Why did you pick the career that you chose? What do you love about your chosen field?

Since I was very young, I spent my time inventing things, like a way to carry textbooks and binders without a backpack, or how to get a basketball to roll back to me after it went in the hoop. My mom and grandfather are architects, so for a long time I thought I’d take the same path. I loved the idea of designing something people see, feel, and use every day.

As tech became a larger part of our daily lives, product design became the perfect career. It is an immense privilege to design things that real people use every day, to learn from users and evolve with their needs. Each product designer approaches their work in a unique way, which lends an open-ended nature to my daily work. We take complex challenges and make sense of the chaos, all while weighing engineering effort, risks, and logical steps in a product’s evolution. The bigger the problem, the bigger the impact = the more fun I have untangling it. 


If you could switch jobs with anybody else at Tally, who would you switch with and why?

If I could switch jobs with someone at Tally, I would switch with an engineer, so I could see what it's like bringing designs to life.



Tallizens Offline


What do you like to do for fun outside of work?

I play basketball on the weekends and I love photography. Other than that, I frequently host dinners for friends, go to poetry readings/movies, and attend Gotham FC and Liberty games. With the weather warming up I like to spend as much time outside as possible, and Williamsburg has some gorgeous waterfront parks that I take full advantage of!


What's your most prized possession and why?

Old family photo albums, because they give me a window to places and people I'll never see myself: my grandparents when they were my age, old Beirut, crazy fashion from the 70s... 

Those photos don't exist digitally like we have everything now, so losing them would be like losing history itself. Now that I think of it I should probably get them all scanned!


Tell us your idea of the perfect day. What would you do?

 Lounge on the Mediterranean in Batroun (Lebanon), eat a crispy fish and french-fry pita sandwich and swim in 85-degree water. No phone, no book, no camera even – just the water and sun. Maybe a jet-ski ride at sunset before heading home.


A genie gives you three wishes—what are they?

These will be a bit cheesy but they are my honest answers!

🧞‍♀️ I would wish…

1. for global access to good education & good food

2. for my cats to live as long as I do

3. that good people could have the resources & influence to make the world a better place



Lightning Round: This or That?


Sweet or Savory

Savory


Morning or Night

Morning


Summer or Winter

Summer!!!!! 


Pizza or Tacos

Tacos


Cardio or Weights

Weights