#35: Julie Huynh - The Path to UX Designer, Mastering Your Craft, and Upgrading Our Life to 2.0 - One Thousand Gurus Podcast

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
J.R. (00:00):
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of 1000
Gurus with me, your host, jrYonacruz.
Today's guest is a return guest, julie Huynh.
Julie is passionate aboutlifelong learning and bringing
people together.
She's originally from Chicagobut grew up in Orange County.
She spends all of her wakinghours dividing time between
full-time work as a userexperience designer, freelance

(00:23):
graphic designing, volunteering,working on various hobbies and
being there for family andfriends.
So Julie is quite literally oneof my favorite people in life,
which is no surprise that shewas my first random show guest
and I was glad we were able tohave her come back for her own
special guru episode.
I might say this about a lot ofepisodes, but I really enjoyed

(00:43):
this one a lot, as it is withone of my close friends that
I've had on the show.
But more than that, I foundmyself taking a copious amount
of notes while I was editingthis one.
Julie had so many good andinsightful points that I wanted
to note down and reference lateron.
Hopefully that translates intohow much I admire Julie and is a
testament to how insightful sheis.
So, without further ado, hopeyou enjoy this episode with

(01:05):
Julie Huynh.
Hello everyone and welcome backto 1000 Gurus.
Please welcome my guest, julieHuynh.
Yay, or welcome back my guest.
Actually.
Yeah, cool, all right.
So, julie, you were here forepisode 20, our random show.
So the first time the audiencehas heard of you, we were both

(01:27):
drinking, so now we are bothsober and now we get a full,
actual guru episode.
So I think it's exciting, cool.
So let's go into how I know you.
So we've danced together.
We danced together on cop atECI.
They keep k-pop team eci asco-chords back in 2012, 2013,
but we were on the team beforethen as well, so that was like

(01:50):
our fourth year, right?
Yeah, pretty sure, I'm prettysure.
And then we've been friendssince then.
We have dinner semi-regularlyand long chats and people should
check out episode 20, ourrandom show episode.
We were also housemates for ayear or so, like that.
Yeah, that was a lot of fun.
Any, I know we have a lot toget into and the audience
already knows your bio and allyour links, but anything else

(02:10):
that you're up to that you wantto share right now.

Julie (02:13):
No, we'll just see what happens next hour.
See what happens, we'll justfreestyle cool.

J.R. (02:19):
All right, we'll go into.
Actually, can we play the firstvideo?
This is a casey in 2011,.
I believe with Cop.
This is my boy.

Julie (02:29):
We're both splitting center here Great job hey hey.
I was like I wanted that part,but then there's also the body
weight.

J.R. (02:44):
Well, really, certain face .
Thanks so much 13 14 years agoI feel like I feel like we could
pull this off.
Hey, like I feel like we couldpull this off.

(03:07):
Hey, how do you feel about this?
Watching your old self?

Julie (03:11):
oh, I am more of.
I can't believe how much energywe had.
Yeah, so fit, we took it forgranted that's what I think
about yeah is how much I took itfor granted back then always
thought about, about, oh, I wishI could be more XYZ.
But then when you look backyou're like I already was more,
I just didn't know it.

J.R. (03:31):
Yeah, I think I feel the same.
I feel like when I was watchingthat I'm like dang, I'm so like
full out into it, becausenowadays I'm just like all right
, I'm here, I'm dancing, likeI'm pretty unmotivated.
I showed up.

Julie (03:42):
Yeah, I showed up.

J.R. (03:43):
I did it.
I'm dancing, but yeah, soanyways, that was a lot of fun.

Julie (03:47):
I'll link to it so if you guys want to check out the full
video.

J.R. (03:51):
It's like a 14 minute or something like that long
performance, all right.
First topic, as usual originstory, career journey,
aspirations.
So, julie, could you just giveus like a like where you grew up
?
What were your main influences,like people, events,
experiences that eventually ledto where you are today?
I know it's a little bit of achunky question, but anything
come to mind of what shaped youto who you are today.

Julie (04:13):
Yeah, okay.
Well, let's talk what came tomy head the moment you asked
those questions.
Well, my hometown's, chicago.
That's where I was born andraised my people that I looked
up to mostly celebrities at thetime so michael jordan, michelle
kwan and then, at some time,kim possible from the cartoon so
those were my three.
Michael jordan yeah, michellekwan and kim possible.

(04:36):
Yes, those were my role modelsa great intersection of people,
but definitely michael jordanand michelle kwan.
Oh yeah, so when I was younger,I regularly, always followed
athletes and their biographies alot.
I mean, I think at the time,for some reason, they were
frequently on the backs ofcereal boxes too, I remember

(04:56):
Colin Powell was also on theback of a cereal box or
something.
So stuff like that was veryinfluential to me.
And then events, let's see, Imoved to the west coast when I
was about, I think, 12 or 13years old.
So that was a huge shift in mylife, because chicago was really
different from orange county soI didn't want to.

(05:19):
And then I mean I've been inorange county, I think for at
least 20 years now since then.
Yeah, wait, didn't you live inTexas?
No, I just only went thereseveral months of the year to
visit my parents.

J.R. (05:29):
Oh, I see, I see, I see.
Okay, gotcha.
So just to take a step back.
So why athletes Like?
Why Michael Jordan?
Why Michelle Kwan?

Julie (05:38):
I don't know.
I think during that time, whenI was maybe between the ages of
six to ten-ish, the Bulls werekilling it.
And then, plus, michael Jordanwas so famous and I mean my
father really liked to watchMichael Jordan games and I just
think something about how goodhe was at his craft.
That and also Michelle Kwan atthe time, too, she was.

(06:00):
I don't know their statisticsor anything in terms of how many
Olympics they were in andthings like that, but those two
people I thought they were suchlegends in their sport that that
was a level of excellence thatI wanted to be like.
Those were my aspirations.

J.R. (06:18):
That was like late 90s right.
Mm-hmm, yeah, 1990s, yeah, I'mtrying to place us in time.

Julie (06:24):
Yeah, Plus I really like to play sports as a kid too, so
there was that what sports didyou play?
So yeah, really, the three werevolleyball, soccer and
basketball.
Those are the three that I likethe most.
I mean, I of course wanted tobe a figure skater.
I will say what about figures?
But but I that's not a secretagent secret agent.
Yeah, I mean, actually that'sone of the career choices I wish

(06:45):
I could have gone into, butonly if I didn't have any
friends or family or somethingyou know.

J.R. (06:52):
See, there's your weakness .

Julie (06:53):
You have friends and family.

J.R. (06:54):
Yeah, Otherwise you could have been a secret agent, yeah,
yeah.
All right.
So then from there youeventually went to UCI, where we
both went.

Julie (07:06):
And to UCI, where we both went, and then you correct me
if I'm wrong double majored inpublic health and Asian American
studies, correct?
But you know, when I went tocollege it was really just
biology for biological sciences,and then the reason Asian
American studies came into themix was I just felt at some
point during college I wasgetting fatigued from just too
much of the left-sided science,stem work, like I wanted

(07:31):
something more creative.

J.R. (07:32):
Oh, I see Left-sided meaning like more science.

Julie (07:35):
Yes, and so I really wanted just something else in
tandem.
So I was like, why don't I justtake on another major?
It only was just happening tobe Asian American studies,
because I was already takingcertain electives towards it.
So I'm like, oh, I only needsix more classes, why not?
And it was great.
I loved having that balance ofthat mix of both left and right

(07:57):
science and art, I see.

J.R. (07:58):
So then, what informed you to first go for bio and then
also I know you said, thecreative side, but why asian,
american studies, like what drewyou towards those two?

Julie (08:09):
yes, okay, well, I was bio because my family was
determined that I would become adentist.
Okay, because I mean in adentistry, because they thought
I would be my own bossafterwards.
I would make so much money, akilling after just extracting a
tooth and then I would have somuch free time.
That was the dream, right Forthem.

(08:30):
For me, the creative part wasjust I grew up an only child so
I spent a lot of my alone timejust drawing and watching
television, reading, writing allthose things the Asian American
Studies was growing up, myrelatives were really involved
in the Vietnamese community andjust community work in general.

(08:53):
So I would go to the Vietnameseschools.
There was always those types ofyou know, when orgs get
together there's just eventsthat you I mean I didn't grow up
going, spending a lot of timein temples with kids or youth
groups like that.
So I guess Vietnamese communitywas my youth group in a way and
those events led me to learn alot about my Vietnamese history.

(09:16):
And then I think, because ofalways knowing that history when
I was younger, when I finallygot to school, and seeing that
history in textbooks andacademia, it was very
interesting to me to see it insuch a formalized way recognized
.
I really wanted to see more ofhow that was being taught and

(09:38):
analyzed yeah.

J.R. (09:41):
Okay, so it's like a curiosity, but also links to
your heritage and whatnot andyour experience growing up.

Julie (09:46):
I mean ironically, I think I only took one history of
like Vietnamese history classin college.
The rest was, I think, more ofthe other Asian diaspora, just
all the other cultures.

J.R. (09:58):
So that was cool.
What were some of the?

Julie (10:01):
were there any that stood out to you that you remember a
lot, that you got a lot fromthat you learned about, you know
I didn't really know anythingabout Filipino, japanese,
chinese-american history and themigration from Asia to America
and how it was like for theearly Asian generations when
they first came here.
What it was like at all, I hadno idea.

(10:21):
I think this was maybe beforethe 50s, so that was.
That was because Vietnamesehistory for me a lot of what I
learned it really all startedaround the fall of Saigon, which
is the 70s and 80s and prettymuch after 90s and all of the
war, and that's really differentfrom the life of Asian

(10:42):
Americans before, whenFilipipinos, japanese, chinese
all migrated.

J.R. (10:47):
it's completely different so yeah, nothing I knew about
yeah, did learning about allthat stuff inform you?
Well, it informed you, but didit change the way you saw
present day or the communitiesaround you in any way?

Julie (11:01):
not too much anything.
It just helps me learn moreabout context.
Yes, roots context, but nothingsuper deep in terms of if I
were to interact with someone, Idon't think it would have any
it would go back to what Ilearned.

J.R. (11:16):
Oh, did you know that your family back in the thirties,
exactly so that's our culturalheritage.

Julie (11:21):
Yeah, so that doesn't happen at all.
So that's cultural heritage.

J.R. (11:24):
Yeah, so that doesn't happen at all.
So taking a step back, sodouble majoring eventually and
finishing how have your careeraspirations evolved over time,
from when you were a kid untilgetting settled into your
current career fields?

Julie (11:36):
Oh yes.
So in college there were somany signs that I really didn't
want to be a dentist.
But you know, I was reallytrying to.
Just I grew up in a verytraditional BDB's household, so
I'm being as an only child.
I was raised in such a way thatI really wanted to be filial

(11:57):
and respect my family's wishes,so I really had to make it
through and see if I could be adentist.
But I mean, I just I really didnot want to and it was in my
free time.
I spent so much of my free timedoing stuff like designing
websites, spending over 12 hoursa day on the computer just

(12:19):
tinkering on the internet.
So how I got to where I am amwhich I'm a user experience
designer slash also well, it'snot the same thing, but also
graphic designer was becauseafter college I just got an
offer to work at a creativemarketing firm and.
I at that point was alreadythinking this was when those

(12:41):
software development boot campsare coming out like.
I actually don't want to gointo too much detail about all
the Silicon Valley and all thatat the time, but I know at the
time it was really hot and oneof my relatives told me that
they could really see that I wasreally not wanting to be half a
million dollars in debt indental school and I was like,
well, yes.
So they said, you know, there'sanother way out of this.

(13:03):
You could actually just finishschool now and then go back to
school, take the software, thecoding, all the classes you want
to take for softwareengineering, and just start over
in a way.
And it was a post baccalaureatekind of second bachelor's
program and I was like, reallyLike you could do.
That, I think, is that for me,growing up, there was just one

(13:24):
way to live is you go to, you'rein high school, you go to
college, you have your careerand that's it.
Everything was already mappedout in that way, so it didn't
occur to me to take the windyway around and that there were
second options and things likethat.
So, yeah, in college I wasstarting to take information and
computer science classes,building those prereqs.

(13:46):
So if anything, I was trying togo for that triple major.

J.R. (13:48):
It was not a good idea.

Julie (13:49):
So by the time I graduated, yeah, I took that job
as a graphic designer part time.
I was trying to take softwareengineering classes as well, but
I don't think I was passionateabout coding because I would
procrastinate so much and Iwould definitely was just always
spending more time designingand doing things like that.

(14:10):
And also a lot of my time wasspent doing community work a lot
of non-profit, vsa, vietnamesecommunity work.
Eventually, yeah, I didn'tthink software engineering was
going to be my calling because Iwas not spending time building
projects, and that's why now Ibecame a UX designer, because
after a certain period of time,that field had the culmination

(14:32):
of everything that I alreadyknew how to do, and it had all
the values that I had, too, as aperson.
So I'm sure we'll talk moreabout that later.
Yeah, we will.

J.R. (14:40):
I'm sure we'll talk more about that later.
Yeah, we will.
So I guess my question is whatabout, I guess computer science,
but also the dentistry routeDid you was not appealing to you
?
And then why was?
Why were you finding yourselfdoing all this community stuff
and then eventually going tolike UX, ui and graphic design?
I guess what inherently aboutthat or about you drew you to

(15:04):
those things.

Julie (15:05):
Ooh, you know the community stuff.
A lot of the events that we didfor the Vietnamese Student
Associations was a lot ofculture nights and just
community events in general.
And when I saw all of peopleour age at the time they just
come together, they plansomething and I see the fruits
of their labor that energy wasso attractive to me.

(15:28):
I was like I want to be a partof something for the community
because at the time I was in theaudience and I was so inspired
by it and I wanted to repeatthat cycle, but instead I wanted
to be part of the behind thescenes to do that work.
So that was the appeal for mein community work.
And also another thing was inbeing in the planning or

(15:50):
organizing teams for thosecommunity work.
I got to exercise a lot of mycreative skills too.
You get to practice being ameeting facilitator, how to be a
mentor to others.
Eventually you learn a lot ofleadership building skills.
So public speaking, all thosethings was.
I got to practice and learnthose things without high stakes

(16:12):
of being fired for example,you're allowed to make mistakes
and learn in those environments,so that was also a really great
way for me to pick up all ofthese skills.

J.R. (16:20):
So that's the community work aspect was that, like the
intent was to develop thoseskills, or is it just like you
wanted to be in an environmentbut as a benefit you got all
those like experiences?

Julie (16:29):
at first it started as oh , I wanted to be part of
something and then later on Isaw all those benefits and then
they reversed.
I stayed because I realizedthis was a great way to was it?
What's that word?
Incubate?
It's like an incubator, yeah,like that.
So that was that became.
My priority is testing outideas.

J.R. (16:49):
Yeah I like that a lot because I find that sometimes
when people are in this sort ofcareer identity crisis and
they're not really sure what todo and they're going on this
traditional path like what youwere doing, in a sense, they're
trying to find jobs but thenthose jobs don't hire because
you don't have any experienceand how do you get the jobs?
But it's you found this spaceor these opportunities to get

(17:10):
those skills, to do it in thelower stakes environment and it
like incubate, like you said,but also I'm sure that helped
you to figure out what youactually like doing your, what
you're passionate about andbeing in those spaces.
That gives you energy.
Yeah, I feel like it's a reallygood takeaway and so I guess
I'm safe.
Is it safe to assume that itwas just those signs that you

(17:30):
weren't into softwaredevelopment and then you weren't
really into like dentistry orlike the bio field?
You're just like I'm not reallyfeeling this, but then all
these other oh yeah, thedentistry.

Julie (17:40):
I mean, I honestly really like teeth.
I mean people smile and I'mlike wow, what a beautiful, safe
teeth.

J.R. (17:47):
You know I like the aesthetics of your face, yeah.

Julie (17:50):
Yeah, but the reason I think I wasn't appealed by it
was the idea of I would have todo it every single day.
Oh, I see I see Going to work,and I mean obviously I didn't
become a dentist, so I coulddefinitely be misconstrued.
No-transcript.

J.R. (18:12):
Like you're like I'm not sure if I want that.

Julie (18:14):
And also I had interned at a dentist's office for some
time and, man, I already knew itwas a bad idea.
But I was already asking thedentist questions like do you
think it's possible I could havea second career in addition to
being a dentist?
And they're just like I was,like, can I also be an artist in
addition to my full-time job asa dentist?

(18:36):
You just know at that timeyou're just asking for help like
to escape, you know yeah I likethat, okay.

J.R. (18:43):
So now going into ui ux, graphic design, marketing,
baking.
This is like the sandwich, themeat part of it.
So how did you get?
I guess you already told us howyou got into it.
You're doing these things andyou figured out I don't like
these things, I'm going to thesethings.
Any other way that you coulddescribe how you got into what
you're doing right now?
Like specifically yeah, my jobright now, yeah specifically

(19:06):
your job right now like thepathway to that?

Julie (19:08):
okay, yes, and my my path was long since I told you, you
know, not taking my codingclasses like I was supposed to,
all the way through I I did worka long time at the creative
marketing firm as the graphicdesigner, so I got to meet a lot
of small business owners,people who worked in nonprofits
and government agencies at thetime.

(19:29):
So that was my exposure toseeing what it's like to help
with marketing and design forsmall businesses.
And then, but with userexperience UX that I took a
class in, just one class at UCIwhen I was doing my prereqs and
it was called human computerinteraction and there was just

(19:49):
this one chapter at the timethat was talking about user
experience.
And this was so early on I don'treally think there were that
many jobs in that field so Iwouldn't even have known not,
nobody really knew that muchabout it unless you were really
embedded in that industry at thetime, at the time when I
learned all of the heuristicswhich are the principles of a

(20:11):
really good user experience isyou know, some of the things
would be principles of how youwould know that a website or a
product is a good userexperience, and when I read
through those principles Ithought I'm like, oh, these are
such.
It seemed like common sense,something I recognized a lot
when I was a kid.

(20:31):
I used to design websites onGeoCities and those website
builders as a kid and I was like, oh, like I feel like this is
second nature for a lot ofpeople, but I just never thought
of it as a job because in myhead I'm like no one's going to
know what this is.
It's, you know, fluff orwhatever.
So that was probably 2012 or 13.

(20:52):
I never thought about it againafter that, but I knew it was an
up and coming field five yearslater.
But then, yeah, I just superslept on it, super slept on it,
and it wasn't until I was maybein my mid to late 20s that I
realized, yeah, like, this pathto being an engineer is not
working out and the skill sets Ialready had that I was

(21:13):
constantly working on in what isit just passively was because I
had that graphic design job.
I just saw that the field wasgetting picking up more and I
think I said this is probablythe most viable career right now
.
They have skill sets, theyalready have.
Why don't I just I'll take thebootcamp?

(21:34):
So I signed up for our bootcampbecause I specifically wanted a
mentor to help me guide through.
How do you get your foot inthis field?
Because when you're looking atthe requirements to get your
foot in this field, because whenyou're looking at the
requirements to get a job inthis field, it seems not what's
the word Not very concrete.
Oh, I see A lot of.
It has to do with being able tohave a lot of empathy in order

(21:57):
to succeed in this field, butyou know that's not something
you can really quantify whensomeone's interviewing you Show
me you're empathetic.

J.R. (22:03):
How does empathy play a role in this field?
Because you buy UX right.

Julie (22:07):
Yes, and when you're doing user experience, you're
thinking about someone else'sexperience the entire time, I
see, yeah.
So you have to be able to notlet your own biases affect what
you want to make.
It's not about you, it's abouthumans, and one of our
principles is human-centereddesign.

(22:28):
All the problems you're tryingto solve are to solve other
humans problems, and so I thinkyou know when, for example, if
someone asks you like what doyou think of this design or this
product experience, it's veryeasy to be like oh well, I
thought this was problematic.
This was frustrating for me, me, me, me.
But in my field you have to doresearch to see what, how it
affects everybody else,especially representation too.

(22:49):
Everyone uses digital thingsvery differently.
Depends on if you arecolorblind, if you can't use a
keyboard or a mouse or what elseis there.
You don't have access tocertain devices that we have to
think about how people can getaccess to this information in
all those different ways, notjust the most tech-savvy user.

J.R. (23:10):
I see, okay, taking a step back, would you mind defining
user experience and userinterface, or UI, ux for the
audience and how they'redifferent and how they're
intertwined?

Julie (23:19):
I should have brought my worksheet.

J.R. (23:22):
You can link to it if you have something online.
Yeah, that's true.

Julie (23:25):
I think the link actually is ux.
It's not uicom.
I don't know.

J.R. (23:29):
Anyway.

Julie (23:30):
So user experience, don't take it verbatim.

J.R. (23:34):
Take it verbatim.

Julie (23:35):
I think it's a very fluid definition, depending on which
school of thought you're goinginto.

J.R. (23:40):
So it's a good question.

Julie (23:41):
then let's just start with UI, user interface.
That's the look of yourinterface.
For example, let's just saywhen you're driving your car now
a lot of cars have that consolewhere you press the buttons.
That's the interface, that'swhat you're working with, the
buttons, how they look.
Someone thought about all thecolors, the sizes and things,
which is what you're seeing.

(24:02):
Yes, this interface, even whenyou're in an ATM machine, all
the buttons you're pressing on.
That's the interface, that'syour user interface.
But user experience is how youinteract with a thing itself.
So if we actually take it backto times before there was
computers, it would be theexperience of how you use this
cup.
That would be the userexperience.

(24:23):
Like a teak, was it a kettle ora pot or something with the
handles?
Those are things we call well,maybe I'm getting too technical,
I was going to call itaffordances.
But let's imagine if your cupdidn't have that handle.
Then you would just, I don'tknow, maybe it's less easy for
you to grab onto it, but thathandle gives you that affordance

(24:44):
.
Someone who designs theseproducts, these physical
products, are thinking about theuser's experience.

J.R. (24:49):
So, it's the how, essentially of how, the product
works, gotcha, so it's more ofthat how you interact with the
thing, as opposed to just theuser interface, which is like
what you're seeing.

Julie (24:59):
Yes, correct, the beauty of it.
That's the beauty.
So, going back to the digital,but nowadays, because our world
is very technological, nowthere's the field for user
experience, design in a digitalsense, and so whenever you're
using a website or a product, anapplication, a piece of
software, we think about,obviously, how it looks too, but
how you use the thing, so thatwe take you through it and make

(25:24):
sure it doesn't it gets you toyour end goal.
We need to get people to get towhat they need as quickly or as
pleasantly as possible or likeintuitively, ideally right.
Yeah, and you know, honestly, myfield it doesn't.
It's not limited to justdigital experiences.
When you're going to theairport and how you navigate
around the airport, and signage,all of those things are all

(25:46):
part of the user experience.

J.R. (25:48):
I see, okay, I guess to follow up to that, it's a
two-parter, but what are thebiggest challenges of being a UI
UX designer or being in thefield, and maybe what are some
lessons or takeaways that youwould give to someone in the
field or coming into the fieldor want to be in this field?

Julie (26:06):
Okay, so first part is what's most difficult about my
field?
Okay, I think it depends onwhat level you're at, but let's
say, since I've been in thefield for about five years now,
specifically as a userexperience designer, in the
beginning it was reallydifficult to know what the right
quote, unquote, the rightsolution or problem was.

(26:28):
There's always so many ways tosolve a problem.
It's like art, right?
Yeah, what do you think?
What do you think of that?

J.R. (26:34):
Yeah, yeah, because it's not a.
Yeah, what do you think?
What do you think of that?
Yeah, yeah, because it's not a.
This is the exact way to do thething.
It's not from A to B.
It's kind of like there'sdifferent ways, but an
experience is subjective.

Julie (26:43):
Yes, yes, and also because I didn't have as much
experience at the time, Iprobably didn't have all the
tools in my toolkit to know howto get to that, how to narrow it
down as quickly as possible, soI think I was just constantly
paralyzed by how do I know whatwould be the best experience for

(27:05):
people.
But then, later on, research isprobably what helps the most
Getting all the qualitative andquantitative data and analyzing
it to truly understand youraudience and your target people
that you're trying to help.
That really informs a lot ofwhat the solution should be.
Yes, but nowadays I think mynew challenge is strategizing

(27:32):
and thinking about the long term, what's sustainable in terms of
solving problems and, yeah,thinking about big picture stuff
a lot of big picture.
At the time, it was more aboutlike, how do I do the thing but
now it's more of like how do Imake an impact with what I'm
doing?

J.R. (27:48):
Do you have any examples of that sort of strategy level
challenges that you're thinkingof?

Julie (27:54):
I think okay, well, let's just start with limiting it to
the workplace.
Like the product you're workingon, A lot of it now is thinking
about how it'll affect thebusiness.
So my title actually at work isproduct design.
So I'm not actually called auser experience designer.
That's just what our field andcraft is, but my title is

(28:15):
product design because productalso includes thinking of the
business aspect is how is thisall going to help the product
grow?
And I don't know, helpful tothe business itself.
Yeah, so when I make decisionsand think about the solution,
it's thinking about both thebusiness and the user.

(28:37):
Now too, how it will benefitthe business, but how it will
also be feasible technically interms of development.
Is this even possible to createat this time with the tech that
we have available?
Will it be within budget?
And will it meet our timelinesor will it go over story points

(28:58):
or something?
I'm going way too much intodetail right now.
But and then also, just yeah,is it desirable, is this going
to do well in the marketplace?
But let's say we're not talkingbusiness anymore, and workplace
, let's just say it's just ahuman problem.
You know, if we're trying tocome up with an idea to help
people get from place to placemaybe someone who needs

(29:18):
transportation access becausethey cannot drive themselves, or
something.
I'm thinking long-termstrategizing is that?
What resources do we haveavailable?
And let's just say we come upwith an idea, are we going to
have money?
Is this going to be an impactto the environment?
Those are just long-term thingsthat we got to think about that
I normally wouldn't think aboutif I was just trying to get my
feet wet.

J.R. (29:37):
I see.
So now you have all thisexperience and I think you had a
higher level of connecting thebusiness side of it and the I
guess, the product side of itand user experience.
What about any takeaways orlessons that you would pass on
to someone aspiring to get to?
Let's say where you are today.

Julie (29:53):
Yeah, well, right now the job market for my industry is
very bad.
So in the sense that it's bad,just because you know there were
I'm sure you know about all thelayoffs in the tech industry
the last two to three years.
So there's a lot morecandidates in the job market now
and less jobs, and alsoemployers are currently really

(30:14):
selective too, too.
Because there's such an influxof people who are applying for
jobs, not everyone'sapplications are getting seen.
There's just no way.
There's thousands of applicantsin the pool.
Right now.
I've heard that the only reallyway is if you know someone,
referrals and things like that,but right now I think it's just

(30:37):
practice Practice.
That's what I'm currently doingright now, too, in order to
stay competitive and sharp,because I've met with mentors
over the years and I always ask,like, how do I stay competitive
, how do I get to the next level?
And it really always comes downto doing the reps and
practicing, and that was aconcept that has followed me

(30:58):
ever since college.
I'm a huge procrastinator andthe reasons I failed in certain
things was because I did not dothe work, I did not practice.
I didn't do well in O campbecause I didn't do the practice
.
Math I could have done better,but I didn't do my homework.
So it still follows me to thisday.
If I wanted to excel inanything, you just have to put
in the work every single day,and maybe you don't have to be

(31:21):
obsessed, but you just have toput in the work, and I think
that's really what it comes downto.

J.R. (31:27):
That's it.
So then, just to keep workingon your craft, put in the reps
and continuously try to getbetter.
Yeah.

Julie (31:34):
And just getting started.
I'm someone who's paralyzed alot about getting started and I
just keep avoiding putting itoff.
But maybe just take a chip atit little by little.

J.R. (31:46):
What do you think causes people to procrastinate and put
it off?

Julie (31:50):
Me.

J.R. (31:50):
Like people in general, but maybe you I guess People I
don't know.

Julie (31:53):
I won't speak for people You're not people.
Yeah, I would have to doresearch and interview people,
just like how I would do at work.
That's the method.
But if I would draw from my ownexperiences, fear, fear is what
keeps me from getting startedand really tackling the problem

(32:14):
head on.
Fear of failure and not meetingexpectations that are usually
that.
I've created a narrative formyself being so hard on oneself.
That's maybe another factorthat goes into it.

J.R. (32:24):
But you've done a lot of things, so how did you overcome
it in those instances?

Julie (32:29):
Oh, what do you mean by a lot of things?

J.R. (32:30):
Well, I mean, you've gotten somewhere in life.

Julie (32:33):
Oh, right, right, so you've done a lot of things and
you've achieved a lot of things.

J.R. (32:34):
You've gotten somewhere in life, oh, right, right.
So you've done a lot of thingsand you've achieved a lot of
things.
So if fear stops people andfear failure or something like
that, how have you managed tostill make progress on the
things that you are doing?

Julie (32:46):
I think a lot of it.
One certain things that Ialready was intrinsically
motivated to do, so that one isnot as uncomfortable because you
want to do that, you want topursue those things, but the
things that you don't want to doare the ones that are hard and
can we just do things we want todo, then right, but if you just
do that all the time, I don'tthink you'll be as apt to grow,

(33:09):
and that was something that Ihad heard a really long time ago
, when I was in my early 20s.
Was you know?
If you're feeling uncomfortable, that's when you know you're
growing and you know not.
A lot of people, I think, liketo be uncomfortable, meaning not
saying that they aren't beinguncomfortable, but it's not.
No one likes to feel that wayright.
So pleasant like I would like tobe uncomfortable today yeah,
you don't voluntarily want to,but it's just constantly putting

(33:32):
yourself in that position inorder to just what's that thing?
I heard recently that I reallylike iron.
What is it?
Iron sharpens iron yes, thatone yeah, so it's okay, it's not
the same.

J.R. (33:42):
But it's a great saying though yeah, it is right.

Julie (33:45):
Yeah, I, I do have to force myself sometimes to be on
put myself in positions I don'tlike, because I know that it's
going to build my character.

J.R. (33:54):
You know it's worth it in the long run.

Julie (33:55):
Yeah, but I'm not at that level where I do it enough that
I'm growing exponentially.
It's just baby steps for mestill, because at the end of the
day I just I'm a bit lazy andgiven to you know certain things
that I really think arecomfortable.
But you know, I think what wasthe question?
Original question again.
Just wait, what was thequestion?
Original question again justwait.

J.R. (34:17):
What was the original question?

Julie (34:18):
yeah, I felt like I was rambling no, I think you got it.

J.R. (34:21):
I think I was like okay, we hit it, but everything else
is great oh yeah, what stopspeople?
Yeah, yeah, I guess from fear,because you mentioned yeah, like
, what stops people from puttingin the reps and doing the thing
maybe.

Julie (34:30):
Just not knowing what's, there's no guarantee.
I think that's another one toothere's no guarantee.

J.R. (34:35):
So you're saying we need guarantees to take action.

Julie (34:38):
I don't think we need guarantees.
It's the unknown.
You don't know if you're goingto get the results you want and
you're paralyzed.
Is it even worth it?

J.R. (34:47):
I have a great question for you later during rapid fire.
Then All right, so we're goingto have to pick and choose the
next topic.
So I have three for you.
One is baking, Two is helpingsmall businesses and community
and connecting people withresources, et cetera.
And three is communityorganizing and volunteering,
Like what I guess we made it.

(35:08):
We might've answered thatalready, but the question was
like what draws you to thosethings and what can you share
about those areas with theaudience?
So one of those three topics-we can do baking.

Julie (35:21):
Maybe it'll be a little holistic, a little more
invigorating or different.

J.R. (35:23):
It will apply to yeah, okay, so then how did you get
into baking?
What fascinates you most aboutbaking and what do you think
people get wrong about baking?

Julie (35:29):
all right.
Well, I got into baking becauseas a kid my auntie she loved to
bake and and I think I was likefour or five and those were the
activities she would teach meto do how to cut fruit, pick
berries from the neighbor'shouse, come home, make carrot
cake, berry cakes, and so I wasjust always in that environment

(35:50):
growing up with my aunt.
And then growing up, I reallylike the texture of how frosting
is spread and also like how,when you scoop ice cream and it
just looks perfectly sphericaland has the beautiful fringe.
Thank you, breyers, for youramazing photography.

(36:10):
Yeah, oh, my God, I don't knowif you saw that growing up
Hagen-Dazs commercials.
I was like, wow, that'sperfection in, in in our human
lives so I can see why you dowhat you do now.

J.R. (36:21):
Yeah, you like the beauty of things and the experience of
things yeah, oh my gosh.

Julie (36:25):
Yes, yeah, so with cake baking, it's that aspiration to
be able to recreate that.
But the third question was wasit?
How do I get into what?

J.R. (36:35):
fascinates you about it.
And then, what do you thinkpeople I don't know
misunderstand or might not knowabout baking like an insider's
perspective.

Julie (36:43):
I hear a lot about people saying that baking is a very
precise art.
You have to get all of themeasurements correct, et cetera,
et cetera.

J.R. (36:52):
Like cooking, but I guess baking is a little bit….

Julie (36:54):
More precise than cooking , because people like to compare
it to cooking, saying that withcooking you can eyeball things,
throw it in and it'll be fine,I see, and baking, they say
you're.
It's not like that, is itbecause?

J.R. (37:04):
baking is essentially a more I don't want to say more
aesthetic, but chemistry.

Julie (37:08):
Okay, yeah, right, okay, makes sense because you have to
get it right.
Yes, because if, let's, if youget measurements off, the timing
, the heat, all those thingswill it will affect it.
Oh, you know, and the thing Ido dislike about baking that you
and I get a lot of anxiety frombaking actually.
So I do it because I think it'stherapeutic, but the process is

(37:31):
so anxiety inducing for mebecause I have so many
expectations.
Exciting, do you see, for me,because I have so many
expectations, is it's you haveto be very patient because
you're putting in all of thiswork to put, make the batter,
get all your materials ready.
It's such what's that word whenyou're putting in everything in
the beginning and you wait forthe payoff, front loading it I
guess, something like that, yeah, and so you don't know what the

(37:53):
end result is going to be untillike hours later and you have
to eat the thing to also knowthat, oh, I did a good job, you
know.
So that's.
The most frustrating part isthat you don't know.
You have to eat it.
Yeah, that's true Sometimes, oris it?

J.R. (38:05):
part of the data gathering .

Julie (38:07):
What do you mean?

J.R. (38:08):
Like meaning.
The question is why do you?

Julie (38:11):
have to eat it.
Well, I mean, presumably youwould eat the thing you cook,
right, but a lot of times youdon't either it could just be
for someone else.
And that's even more worryingbecause now it's subject to
someone else's taste okay, soit's the eating.
It is not necessarily becauseit's a reward, but it's because
you get to experience the endresult yes, not only the look of
it, but yeah that's true, Iguess, depending on your

(38:31):
priorities, if you're doing itbecause you want it to make
something beautiful.
For me in the in the lastcouple years, I did not focus on
the aesthetics at all.
I really just wanted to make aquality cake.

J.R. (38:40):
Quality meaning taste.

Julie (38:42):
Yes, yeah, because I mean , I think it's a little easier
to make something look good thanto actually focus on the
substance itself.

J.R. (38:48):
Oh, I see.
So then now you've pivotedtowards also caring about the….

Julie (38:54):
Yeah, because I think I've put in enough practice that
I am comfortable with achievingthat level of quality a certain
level of quality, like thetaste, yeah, yeah.
And like I know what I like nowand so now I can start
practicing the other thing.
But your original question waswhat people get maybe
misconstrued about baking is, Ithink I realized lately is that,

(39:15):
having put in a lot of practice, more and more you actually
feel like you could freestyle alittle.
It's not so much that I'mstarting to put in more
ingredients than or eyeballingthings I mean people cooks,
professional chefs can do thattoo but it's the ease and
comfortability, knowing that ifsomething goes wrong, know how

(39:36):
to mitigate that's thesuperpower I feel like with
baking now.
Is that before if somethingwent wrong, I burned it.
It's like all of your hard work.
I was just like man.
I just put in two and a halfhours and like it's, the thing's
not edible or whatever.
But now I can basically patchup and do a lot of damage
control and for me I thinkthat's makes me feel really

(39:57):
empowered when it comes toproblem solving and other areas
of life too is that if you spendenough time practicing and
being comfortable with whateverit is that you're working on in
your craft, you'll know your ownloopholes and the ways, ins and
outs.
You can wield that sword in yourway really well as opposed to

(40:20):
feeling oh, if this way doesn'twork, you're just like okay.

J.R. (40:23):
I mean that's it.

Julie (40:24):
I have no other plan A's, B's, C's or anything.

J.R. (40:29):
So let's correct me if I'm wrong.
Once you get to that level ofskill in something, you're more
able to be flexible and adaptand handle those situations that
you're not expecting, becauseyou have that level of skill to
freestyle it and, yes, and beflexible yes, and that's
honestly the, the marker ormilestone that I'm seeking.

Julie (40:48):
Whenever, like with work, for example, like when I
finally got to a level where Ifelt comfortable, I was like, oh
my gosh, thank goodness, youknow.
Now I feel like I'm at the topof some at least.
Maybe not the top of themountain, but I've made it to a
point where I can see everything, because I spent so much time
trying to get up, like I couldnot see what was happening, what
the point was, the big picture.
So getting to that point whereyou can really take in like, wow

(41:11):
, this is how much I've beenable to do so far.
And now I know, in the nextladder up, how to re-strategize
and make it more efficient.

J.R. (41:20):
I like that.
I feel like that's applicableto a lot of things.
Right, it's try to get thatlevel of skill where you're
comfortable and then now youhave the more flexibility to
figure out your own style andapproach to things.
But you have to learn the rulesinside the box and develop a
certain level of competency.

Julie (41:35):
Yeah.

J.R. (41:35):
I like that a lot.
Okay, let's move on.
I guess it's on the same vein,but the few things that I want
to touch on, or I guess you canpick and choose.
One is you mentioned upgradingyour life's operating system
from Julie 1.0 to Julie 2.0.
To explain what that means?
Or two, how does one get betterat their craft?
I guess we talked about that.

Julie (42:05):
And then three.
Could you elaborate on this?
I know nothing.
Mentality yes, I'll do thefirst and third, yeah, so I'm
creating a my life's operatingsystem I need.
Back in the day, maybe duringcollege, I used to name my
calendars like julie 1.0, julie2.0, because I had this
expectation for myself at thetime is that my 2.0 is just a
better version of myself thanthe last one, and so in its
calendars, because it's old,this year I want to have reached

(42:26):
a certain level of what is itlike being maybe like a better
public speaker or maybe I'm moremature in certain areas of
thinking things like that, andalso because I know that at the
time I was trying to be likeinto tech and all that, and so
that's just how my mind worked,you know, just upgrading the

(42:46):
systems and everything, but it'syeah.
After, during high school, allthroughout after that, I was
really just so deeply interested.
I invested in self-developmentand productivity sort of, but a
lot of self-development.

J.R. (43:03):
I don't know why.

Julie (43:04):
It's not because it's some trend that I just picked up
, it was just, I think I wasalready programmed to always
want to become a better personin some way, be a better human
really, and so I loved readingbooks like Chicken Soup for the
Soul and all those thingsreading about people's life
experiences and stories inpursuit of lifelong learning.

(43:25):
I just wanted to know what wasout there and how to just not be
ignorant.
And what's that other C wordthat I really being complacent?
I think that was the one thingI really feared was being
complacent of a person.
I really feared was beingcomplacent of a person.
So that's, why it all kind offunnels into me trying to
upgrade my system is that oh,maybe I was just trying to be

(43:48):
like a chat DBT at the time.
Just know everything.
Well, yeah, just pursuit ofknowledge, that's where it comes
from.
But the third thing you askedwas about I know nothing.
Mentality is yeah, I thoughtthat if I approached life as if
I didn't know anything, I wouldbe more receptive to learning
things because Like an empty cup.
Yes, and also I would credit myfather for teaching me this,

(44:11):
because as a kid I don't knowwhy I said I know, I know, you
know your parents are alwaysnagging you and you're just like
I know.
And so he told me he was justlike.
You need to shut that down,because you're not going to
learn anything in life if youkeep saying I know, because
someone will obviously knowsomething that you don't and
you've already cut them off.
You're already cutting yourselfoff from that pool of knowledge
.
And I was like of course I know, I'm just kidding.

J.R. (44:34):
Obviously, I know that, Dad yeah.

Julie (44:36):
So, yes, and it's absolutely true.
Yes, and it's absolutely true.
Whenever I meet people, or justanyone in general, I really try
to just act as if I knownothing, because most of the
time I really don't.
I want to know how life is fromtheir perspective, and that is
what informs me about quality oflife in general.
What else is out there?
Yeah?

J.R. (44:57):
I like that a lot.
It reminds me of that one.
Saying where it's the mostexpensive thing you can own is a
closed mind.
Similar vein.

Julie (45:06):
Oh.

J.R. (45:06):
Because it like closes off opportunities and potential to
grow, like what you're saying.
If you have that closed mind ofI already know everything or I
know all this stuff, yeah, butbeing open-minded or having that
empty cup allows you to grow alot more and improve your life
in many ways.
Oh yeah.

Julie (45:24):
Having an open mind is one of the most important things
to me.
It's just living in this life.
I mean, obviously I'm notperfect at it, but it's just
that pillar that I'm reallyconstantly trying to live by.
I like it.

J.R. (45:38):
Cool.
Anything else on that topic youwant to?
Before we jump into rapid firequestions.
Cool, all right.
So we have maybe 10 ish minutes, so we'll see how fast this
goes.
Rapid fire questions you ready?
Okay first question, billboardquestion.
I can say this without looking.
If you could put up a sign formillions of people to see, what
would it say?

Julie (45:56):
everyone is different.
That's what I would put, andthen maybe in small isish taller
text underneath, to let peopleknow that not everyone's
experience is the same.
Their perspective will bedifferent, so you can't judge
your experience or judge whythings happen the way they do by
your own experience only.
Everyone is going to experienceit differently.

J.R. (46:15):
Yeah, be open-minded.
It's like you're a userexperience expert.

Julie (46:20):
It's about empathy.
There you go, there you go.

J.R. (46:23):
What is one of the hardest challenges you face and what
did you learn from?

Julie (46:25):
it.
One of the hardest things was,I mentioned early on, I grew up
in a very traditional Asianhousehold and being able to
marry the values in Americanlife and traditional Vietnamese
life was really difficult withmy family.
Yeah, that was probably one ofthe hardest things I had to

(46:46):
navigate with parents andwithout going into too much
detail.
Yeah, it was a little bitpsychologically damaging, so
yeah, so that was.
Yeah, that was probably one ofthe hardest things ever makes
sense.

J.R. (46:59):
I'm sure a lot of people can relate to that.

Julie (47:00):
Oh yeah, yeah, you know, of course, a self-inflicted
wound'm sure a lot of people canrelate to that.

J.R. (47:02):
Oh yeah, yeah, you know, of course, a self-inflicted
wound.
Do you have a story or a lessonabout something that's gone
wrong and it was your fault?

Julie (47:09):
Yeah, just all the times where, like I mentioned, you
know, failing classes or justnot, it's because I didn't do
the work.
I didn't were you.
That's probably one of the mostlike, lamest and shameful
things is, you know you shouldbe doing something but you're
not doing it, and yeah, that'sthe self-inflicted wound.
So I know like I could haveachieved xyz, but I didn't,

(47:32):
because I just want to dosomething else instead.
That I don't know.
I don't know why, but maybe Ishould stop saying laziness, but
it's just.

J.R. (47:41):
It's just be a lack of motivation.

Julie (47:43):
Yeah.

J.R. (47:44):
I feel like some people.
Well, in that vein we shouldgive ourself grace because we do
.
There's a lot of things wedon't want to do, but also what
intrinsically motivates us.
I feel is a big part of that,because when I think about
motivation for people, they caneasily do the things they want
to do, but when I notice someonenot doing the thing that they
say they want to do, I just tellthem straight up.

(48:04):
Then you clearly don't want todo it because you're not doing
it.
If you wanted to do it, youwould be doing it right now,
like when people in collegewould be like hey, jr, teach me
how to dance.
And like I appreciate yoursentiment, but I know you don't
want to learn, because if youactually wanted to learn how to
dance you'd be learning rightnow, but that sort of thing.
But I totally get that.
So these might be the same, butit might be different.

(48:26):
First one is if you could redoone thing, what would you do
differently?
And the second one is if youcould give your younger self
advice, what would it?

Julie (48:33):
be Okay.
First one is what I would dodifferently is probably have
gotten started career-wiseearlier, because I had mentioned
earlier I took a long route toget to my things I'm doing now.
But had I done those thingsearlier because I was already
just doing it for fun?
If I had just done it earlier,it would have helped a lot in

(48:54):
tangible ways Like, of course,job, growth, finances, all those
things would have beenCompounded earlier.
Yes, correct Things, havingstarted earlier.
But in terms of advice to myyounger self is you had
mentioned it earlier is to giveyourself grace, not being so
hard on yourself, that I'm doingfine and being kinder to myself

(49:15):
.
Yeah, that would have beensomething I would have needed
back then.

J.R. (49:18):
I like it.
In the last few years, what newbelief, behavior or habit has
improved your life?

Julie (49:23):
Ooh, a breathing.

J.R. (49:26):
Not just breathing, yeah, not passively breathing, oh like
Julie, I feel like you shouldhave been doing that a long time
ago.
For the first 30 years of herlife, she's just yes.

Julie (49:38):
My first breath chair.
Yes, actively breathing andslowing down those two things
Not being so quick to react Imean, I'm already slow at
certain things these days, likeeating more slowly and being
slow to make conclusions andstuff.
My physiological sense isslowing down the reactions and

(50:04):
those thought processes so thatI'm not quick to jump to other
conclusions and things, butbreathing.
I think that that helps a lotwith calming the anxiety and the
spiraling, all that stuff.

J.R. (50:14):
I like that.
If you wait, how do you definesuccess?

Julie (50:22):
Well, right, and the first thing that popped in my
head was happiness, peace,balance.
That's something I've alwaysbeen trying to strive for in the
last 10 or so years is abalance between everything that
I want to feel have, pursue allof that.
Everything that I want to feelhave, pursue all of that.

(50:45):
You know, I heard some adviceabout a year or two ago when I
was going through a really hardtime and I was told that, you
know, balance was what it takesto achieve that contentment.
Because sometimes, when you'reworking so hard to be I don't
know, let's say, a certain goaland you're seeking extreme

(51:06):
values like being really reallyhappy, or you're feeling really,
really sad, but if you're justbalanced at all times, you will
feel neither of those thingsbecause you're always at
equilibrium.
It's kind of a really weirdconcept that I can't do justice
in explaining it equilibriumit's kind of a really weird
concept that I can't do justicein explaining it, but that's
where I want to be in terms ofcontrolling my emotions and

(51:28):
thought processes.

J.R. (51:31):
Maybe more on that next time, yeah, yeah no, I get what
you're saying, but I do likethat thought at the moment.
Okay, next one too.
It's another both sides of thecoin.
If you knew you couldn't fail,what would you be doing right
now?
Oh and if you knew you wouldabsolutely fail, what would you
be doing?

Julie (51:46):
wait.
Okay, I'll start with the firstone.
If I knew I wouldn't fail, whatI would be doing?
Oh man, maybe trying to be aceo of something like some big
company, or why I?

J.R. (51:56):
don't.
Why do you want to be a ceo ofa big company?

Julie (51:58):
about okay.
So I actually always wanted tojust build my own empire.
I just don't know what it isall the time, because you just
don't know how well it's goingto do what draws you to wanting
to be at the top of this empire?

J.R. (52:09):
what thoughts drive you towards that?

Julie (52:13):
well, maybe.
Well, if I was building my ownempire, I don't have to, I guess
, work for somebody else, right,I'll be in total control of my
projects and ideas and how?
The freedom to create thingsthat's what it is freedom to
create things yes I'm not powerhungry at all, I'm not that type

(52:36):
of person.
It's just having the freedom to, to, to make things and see how
it goes, I see.

J.R. (52:44):
So if you knew you absolutely would fail, what
would you be doing anyways?

Julie (52:48):
Oh, something like just making art or something like
that.
I think with that one, that'salso another new lesson I've
been trying to instill.
When I'm doing it is not tryingto make it reach a certain
standard or level, it's justdoing it for the sake of feeling
the process and being happywith each movement, motion,

(53:09):
being grateful that I can evendo this right now, having this
moment to make this brush strokeor have the time to draw or
paint, and being present.
Yeah, that's what art providesme right now, and there's no
failure in that.
Really, I think the onlyfailure is not being able to do
it at all.

J.R. (53:27):
Okay, you can pick or choose what is something that
you've been pondering deeply orwhat is one of your favorite hot
takes.

Julie (53:34):
One of my favorite hot takes.
I'm not answering that one,you're like nope, dodging that
trap.

J.R. (53:41):
It could be like the way I approach it is something that I
believe is true and I don'tmind saying it, but I think
other people won't necessarilyagree with it.
So it's not necessarily likecontroversial, it's just
probably most people don't agree.
But I think it's true.
But it doesn't have to be that.

Julie (53:55):
You could also be pondering deeply yeah, I don't
have anything ready for thatsecond question but, it's a good
question.
I don't have anything ready forit, but what's something I've
been pondering deeply?
You know, I think about mypurpose all of the time.
I saw that one of your previousepisodes was about finding your
ikigai as well, so I know I'vetalked to you about that.
But I think my purpose eventhough you know generally what

(54:19):
you gravitate towards I'm tryingto figure out what it could
look like in a lot of differentforms and ways.
Yeah, I'm just always thinkingabout that, my purpose.
What do I do now with thatknowledge?
I don't think just because Ihave to make that decision now.
I just want to know what I canjust do with it now and let it
just be a work in progress.
Being okay with that yeah, Iwas just telling my partner

(54:49):
earlier on the way here isrealizing that it's okay to not
have to have arrived at theanswers right away.
It's just being in the middleand pondering.
Someone told me smart peoplejust say I don't know.

J.R. (54:54):
So oh, I like.
So you're smart.
Then, since you always thinkabout I know nothing, cool.
What is one of the best or mostworthwhile investments you've
ever made in either time, money,energy or et cetera?

Julie (55:06):
Time, money, energy, et cetera.

J.R. (55:09):
Any sort of investment.

Julie (55:12):
Investment.
You know I get a lot of flackfor being too nice of a person.
You're nice, yes, yes, andsometimes I could do things to
my own detriment, even my fatherused to say you should really
help yourself out first beforeyou help others.
But I really don't regret all ofthe energy I put into being

(55:35):
there for someone else.
I mean I've lately been tryingto work on overextending and
things to having boundaries ofboundaries, of course, but I
mean that's just really who I amat my core.
I don't think that's somethingI should be ashamed of or take
back.
Even at the time, you know, Icould feel really stupid, but at
the end of the day I'm likejust just me being my truest
self and I should be proud ofthat, okay.

J.R. (55:58):
Favorite recent purchase in the 50 to 100 range that has
impacted your life the mostrecently in the last six months
or so.
It's a consumerism question.

Julie (56:08):
You know my QuietComfort Bose headphones.
I've always wanted alwayscanceling headphones.
But my head is quite large soyou know hats and things like
that.
It really constricts my head.
But the quiet comfort ones,they feel like a pillow on my
head.
It's so comfortable and thecancellation is super effective.

(56:32):
So nowadays I constantly lookat it.
I'm like what did I ever dowithout?
Like how could I have livedthis long?

J.R. (56:38):
without you.
I needed you my whole life.
Yeah, how much are they?

Julie (56:42):
Probably like 250 or something like on during a black
Friday sale.

J.R. (56:46):
Yeah, Okay, gotcha.

Julie (56:48):
Hopefully.
Oh, I think Costco has it lessless cute color.

J.R. (56:51):
It's Solomon saying it's a lot more.

Julie (56:52):
But I think it is, I really think it is more if it's
worth it, right, all right.

J.R. (56:58):
Last one Any media recommendations you can give to
the audience Books, movies,videos, music, et cetera.

Julie (57:04):
Oh, books.
I just watched the Accountant.
That was really good.
I also recommend it.
Books, no, not books right now.
Oh man, I wish I had a reallygood answer for this.

J.R. (57:15):
Okay, man, you can stick with that.

Julie (57:17):
I'm normally really passionate about this stuff, but
I don't have it it.

J.R. (57:19):
I'm normally really passionate about this stuff, but
I don't have it.
It's all good, if you want tosend me it, I'll put it in the
links.
Here's Julie's reaction.
She did not mention the episode.

Julie (57:25):
Right right, right Cool.

J.R. (57:27):
All right, that's in a rapid fire so we can go into
ending.
So thank you so much.
First off is gratitude Shoutout to my mom.
What are you grateful for?

Julie (57:40):
my partner.

J.R. (57:41):
Oh, where is he right now?

Julie (57:43):
Somewhere.

J.R. (57:44):
Somewhere in your shot In a five foot radius of us.

Julie (57:49):
Yeah, I think my partner, he has taught me so many
lessons about life.
He's, you know, in my head alittle transcendent in terms of
like, like like how you'rethinking.

J.R. (58:05):
You know I go, you know I'm a very, very nice way to say
it next time like oh yeah, myfriend, they're very trends
transcendent you know.

Julie (58:10):
Yeah, in in the ways of thinking very philosophical
person and just yeah, when I'mhaving trouble with me in my
head and thinking about stuff Ican always count on my partner
to.
Maybe not having all theanswers is the right way of
saying it.
I'm sure there's a more preciseway of describing this, but
it's.

J.R. (58:30):
Like giving you perspective, taking yourself out
of your head.
Very wise.

Julie (58:34):
He's just a very wise person, yeah.

J.R. (58:36):
Nice, cool.
Second question Any final askfrom the audience or any final
takeaways you'd like them tohave from the show.

Julie (58:44):
No man, I really wish I had a cool answer too, but I'm
someone who just really likes tokeep things really simple and,
yeah, honestly, I think that'ssomething to I value.
Well, maybe that's the hot takeis sometimes there's you don't
need less is more.
Oh, I see Actually, a recentguest said that too.

J.R. (59:02):
Just keeping it simple is sometimes the best you don't
need less is more.
Oh, I see, actually a recentguest said that too.
Just keeping it simple issometimes the best thing you can
do.
Yeah, I like it all right.
Last one, julie, where can wefind you social media handles,
websites, etc.
If you want to check out whatyou're up to, or connect or
anything like that okay, I'lllink it, so it'll all be there.

Julie (59:18):
But yeah, if you want to shout it out yeah, I'm not super
active on this account, becausethis is where I keep all my
designs, designs once in a while, but it's just because I have
account, an account fordifferent things I do, like
baking, and then my personal oneis just for friends and things
too.
I mean, professionally speaking, I am on linkedin, so there's
that.
That's a good way, but to keepup with actually I don't post on

(59:40):
that either maybe the best wayis to contact me in person to
meet up, hang out or video calls.
I'm really big on virtual chatstoo, so I really am a big
proponent of connecting in thehuman physical in-person way

(01:00:00):
these days.

J.R. (01:00:02):
So they have to catch you in person to connect with you,
or in real life, yeah, yeah, Ihear catch 22 in my head.

Julie (01:00:10):
It's like all right, you can connect with me, you just
gotta find me first, yeah yeah,I think I really like one-on-one
settings and being able to justlearn from people, hear their
story, and just there was.
I don't think there was time,but during the pandemic there
was this service.
It was called like Lunch Clubor whatever it is.
Oh I see, but people would makeappointments to just talk to

(01:00:31):
someone randomly at the timebecause we couldn't see anyone.

J.R. (01:00:34):
That was cool.
I think I was on that and I hadtwo meetings.
Oh yeah yeah, it was fun.
I just kind of whatever.

Julie (01:00:39):
Yeah, they don't have it anymore Lunchclubai.
I think that it was nice.

J.R. (01:00:43):
Okay, julie.
Well, that is it.
Thank you so much for beinghere.
I really appreciate it.
Obviously, there's a lot ofwhat you said I resonate with
and I think that's why I reallyadmire and respect you as a
person and also your careerjourney, and I feel like that's
why we vibe really well, becauseI feel like we have similar
values.
You're a very human person andvery creative, so I think that's
one of the big things I admireabout you Cool.

(01:01:05):
So if nothing else, then I'll domy final sign off.
This is where the music startsplaying.
So thank you guys for beinghere.
I really appreciate it.
Follow, comment, like,subscribe all that cool stuff.
I don't usually plug, but Ishould probably start doing that
now.
And just a reminder to be kindto other people, especially
yourself, and remember that youcan always learn something from
someone if you take the time tolisten.
Thanks for being here.

All Episodes

#35: Julie Huynh - The Path to UX Designer, Mastering Your Craft, and Upgrading Our Life to 2.0

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

The Breakfast Club

The Joe Rogan Experience

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}#35: Julie Huynh - The Path to UX Designer, Mastering Your Craft, and Upgrading Our Life to 2.0