Nandhita and her child against a light outdoor background.

Hi! I'm Nandhita Kumar, a Design and Product leader.
I build elegant and purposeful digital experiences that drive businesses forward.

I have honed my instincts and skills over the last 11 years by building products for these brands:

Heyday logo Heyday
Chainalysis logo Chainalysis
WeWork logo WeWork
Overstock logo Overstock
BitTorrent logo BitTorrent
Bank of America logo Bank of America
23andme logo 23andme
Stubhub logo Stubhub
GAP Brands logo GAP Brands
Tailored Brands logo Tailored Brands
Le Tote logo Le Tote
Kinsa logo Kinsa
Crossfit logo Crossfit
Sephora logo Sephora
Spire logo Spire
Prolific logo Prolific
HSN logo HSN
AAA Ventures logo AAA Ventures
and from my formal training at these programs:
Carnegie Mellon University logo
MS, Human Computer Interaction
Carnegie Mellon University
Anna University logo
BS, Computer Science and Engineering
Anna University

These are the values that drive my decision making:

Take the path of greatest impact

We have all encountered the dreaded “Can't we just...?”. I encourage my team to fully understand the five why's behind any request or strategy and then decide the most efficient route while considering both short and long term success.

Make every decision mean more

Knowledge is power. My team and I will always take as much data into consideration as possible while making decisions. Beautiful visuals can stun, but an intuitive UX that drives towards business goals is what we're truly after.

Care personally, challenge directly

My job as a leader is to empower and up skill my team. This often involves hard conversations, and the key to successful critique is trust. I pride myself on building teams that leave their ego at the door and focus on the work.

Here are some snapshots of my career so far:

Say hi at kumarnandhita@gmail.com to access all case studies.

Heyday

Led product, design, and dev efforts to launch Heyday's technology infrastructure including a client app, a booking experience, and an esthetician app.

Chainalysis

Led design efforts for 3 core products, brand design, as well as sales and education initiatives. Identified 2 new potential revenue streams with design-led exploration.

GAP Brands

Led research and design efforts to launch iOS apps for GAP, Old Navy, Banana Republic and Athleta within 4 months, followed by a year of optimization experiments.

Tailored Brands

Designed and launched a responsive web in-store experience to design custom suiting. Researched emerging e-commerce trends to inform digital roadmap.

23andMe

Conducted a strategy and design deep-dive into 23andMe's marketing site to create a hypothesis-driven conversion optimization roadmap for desktop and mobile

Sephora

Worked with Sephora's Innovation team over 3.5 years on cutting-edge digital and omni-channel initiatives. Case studies available for two in-store experiences.

I thrive on collaboration and teamwork.
Here is what my colleagues have to say about me:

Adam against a light background
Adam Ross Co-Founder, Heyday
I could not speak more highly of Nandhita and the impact she had at Heyday. We had a complicated business, and her ability to work and communicate cross-functionally was outstanding. She has the respect of all team members, and was a pleasure to work with. Her commercial instincts and strategic insights were invaluable to us and always resulted in raising the bar to new levels.
Michael against a light background
Michael Pollak Co-Founder, Heyday and Great Many
Nandhita is an utter joy to work with. She is a technologist, a design leader, a product person, and an engineer - but what ties it all together is that she's a curious and empathetic human. This allows her to grasp strategy quickly, understand its impact on stakeholders, and then make sound, informed business decisions that result in great, well-designed, well-built technology products.
Arielle against a light background
Arielle Mortimer COO, Heyday
Nandhita is a phenomenal product and technology leader. She is steadfast in building technology that is both customer first and supports the business in its needs. She is a strong collaborator when it comes to roadmap planning and assessing ROI for the business. As a leader, she is data driven in her decision making and thoughtful in holding her team accountable to deliverables.
Bobak against a light blue background
Bobak Emamian CEO and Co-Founder, Prolific Interactive and Debut Capital
Nandhita is a rare leader with a depth of experience in design, engineering, and business. Her ability to empathize with users and her team make her an invaluable asset to any team lucky enough to have her. I have nothing but fond memories of solving hard problems together while always having a positive outlook on what's possible in the future.
Rachel against a light background
Rachel Lubin VP of Innovation, Heyday
Nandhita is a phenomenal colleague and thought partner. She challenges those around her to consider every angle and stretches the limits of what's possible to ensure a superior client experience. She is both creative and data driven, ensuring product solutions are elegant, thoughtful and effective. Beyond her individual contributions, Nandhita is an encouraging manager who brings out the best in her team and an exceptional peer who lifts those around her. She is an asset to every conversation and project she touches.
Annabell close up
Annabell Statterfield Growth Mentor, 500 Startups
Nandhita Kumar is an extremely valuable asset to our team. I've been working with her for the last year and a half-- and from day one, Nandhita has impressed me with her seasoned professionalism, hard work, and expertise in interaction design. Nandhita is a talented designer, a strategic thinker, an articulate communicator, and a fantastic cross-team collaborator. Beyond that, she is an absolute delight to work with. She is amazing, and I would work with her again in a heartbeat.
John against a light background
John Dempsey VP of Product, Chainalysis
Nandhita stands out as one of the best hires of my career. A talented designer in her own right, she's also an adept and empathetic manager with a focus on upskilling her team. She's cool under pressure and a joy to have around the office.
Rolando against a light blue background
Rolando Galindo Design Lead, Citizen
Working with Nandhita as my design manager at Prolific was an absolute pleasure. She's super smart, always putting in the hard work, and has this incredible talent for connecting with the team on a personal level. She genuinely cares about everyone's well-being, taking the time to listen, offer support, and build trust within her team. That caring attitude not only made our team stronger but also boosted morale and made the job more satisfying overall.
Brigham against a light background
Brigham Eckrich VP of Design, Kinsa
Nandhita has a seemingly unstoppable positive attitude and work ethic. She's unquestionably collaborative and earns the trust of her peers quickly. It was amazing what a wealth of UX process skills she brought with her and was excited to share with and teach others. She's intensely focused on users and user goals and is a strong advocate for them in driving decisions. I have every confidence she's bound for great things and I wouldn't hesitate to work with her again.
Rebecca against a light background
Rebecca Chu Design Leader, LinkedIn
Nandhita's work is both sensitive and logical, always striking just the right tone. She will always challenge herself to evolve and push her limit. She always delivers more than a 100%. She also has this gift to handle the most difficult situations and people. Nandhita is an advocate for the user. Her research techniques are always creative, every scenario and design problem requires a unique solution, which she never fails to achieve that. Her passion and talent will influence everyone around her to design and build better products.