Nicole Johnson

Founding mentor

🌱 First session

Founder / Coach @ ndezine

Minneapolis, MN Chicago (UTC-5) 15+ yrs in design

About

Hello! I've been in UX since the late 1900s :) and have led multidisciplinary teams for 15 years at Amazon, Target and Best Buy. In 2025, I chose to step away from big corp and start my own business. As a single parent of a medically complex kiddo, I firmly believe in building sustainably across work and life, and I demonstrate my focus on spaciousness, play, and pushing back against systems of oppression.

How I can help

I remember how disorienting it felt to face big career inflection points — leadership or IC, when to push and when to protect my energy — without anyone to think it through with out loud. As an exec and burnout coach, I see design people over and over who are brilliant at their craft but stuck making career decisions in isolation, often from a place of "prove your worth" rather than "what do I actually want." I want to be the person who helps someone skip a few years of guessing alone.

Ask me about

IC to manager

Returning from a break

Agency to in-house

Layoffs

First or only designer

A reorg

Getting passed over

Influence without authority

Stakeholder standoffs

Presenting to execs

Negotiating comp

Imposter syndrome

Growing into leadership

Craft to strategy

Not the right mentor for: I'm happy to support you in your job search by providing portfolio and resume reviews, but job searching itself is not one of my focus areas.

Expertise

Sessions

Casual chatFree
30 min
A casual chat - we'll get to know each other, learn where you're at currently and where you're hoping to go next.
Portfolio Review for Leads & Leaders$50
60 min
You will walk me through 1-2 case studies in 30-45 minutes, leaving time for my questions. I may begin providing some feedback within the session if there's time. I will follow-up with feedback thorough feedback after the session. I will specifically be looking for level of complexity, ambiguity, research, what you did vs what you partnered on, how you partnered throughout the work, and how you managed stakeholders, partner and leader communication
Career Transition Coaching Session$150
60 min
I'll send you a link to my values-to-decisions blueprint tool ahead of time to complete. Then, in the session we'll review your core values, discuss the transition you'd like to make, and come up with a plan for the next 30 days.
Ongoing Career Transition Mentorship$60
30 min

English

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