Achieving My Dreams as a UX Designer with CBC

This post is part of a series on “Interns and Co-ops Joining CBC”. In each blog post we invite people to take a courageous step and tell the story of their journey, highlighting the support they received as interns, co-op students and opportunities discovered along the way that have sometimes resulted in a full time position with CBC.

To join our teams at CBC, check out our current full-time openings here.

By Stephanie Le, Intern Product Designer, Digital Strategy & Product, CBC

The Olympics have always had a special place in my heart. Some of my favourite memories were watching the opening ceremonies and cheering on the athletes when they broke new records. I loved how much the international sporting event would unite the nation and how inspiring it was to see an athlete’s lifelong dedication and hard work really pay off. It didn’t matter if it was the winter or summer olympics, I would be glued to the TV screen regardless, making sure that I would catch all the highlights. I keep these memories very close to my heart and the absolute joy the Olympics have given me is indescribable.

I never in a million years thought that I would be able to join the efforts in designing the digital user experience (UX) for the broadcasting of the Olympics. In undergrad, I double majored in Genome Biology & Fundamental Genetics at the University of Toronto, taking on Bioinformatic research positions during the summer and school year to gain experience to become a full-fledged Bioinformatician. Although what I was doing was extremely fascinating, I felt unfulfilled; there was something missing from the profession that left me feeling empty, and I couldn’t see myself continuing down this lifepath. Thankfully I came to this realization while still in my studies, so I had time to explore other career paths while still in school. I took on different social media and communication work study roles but again, they weren’t the right fit. In 2020, when the Pandemic hit and everyone quarantined at home, like everyone else, I revisited some of my past hobbies and I got to explore more graphic design. I felt so giddy being able to delve into my creative side and decided that I wanted to see if I could find a career that involved some part of this happiness, that would also make use of my other professional and soft skills. While searching different career industries, I stumbled upon UX and found out about Google’s UX Design Certificate. Excited to learn more I tried and completed the certificate and knew it was the right choice for me. I took the leap of faith, deciding to finally pursue UX officially, and returned to my alma mater for a Master of Information, in UX Design.

2022 and 2023 were rough years for Tech; headlines of layoffs were everywhere. Companies were cutting back and many internship programs were cancelled. I was also struggling to land a co-op position during my summer in grad school through cold applications, so I turned to LinkedIn to network and learn from more experienced UX professionals. While scrolling on my feed, someone in my network had liked a post from a Senior Design Manager, Frank Ferrao, at the CBC. The post was about an opening for a role to be a Product Designer for the Olympics. Mustering up all the courage I had, I sent back the original post to Frank Ferrao and reached out. In my introduction, I had let him know that I’d volunteered for the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto and asked if there was any way I could help with the efforts in designing the UX for the Paris 2024 Olympics because it was something I was passionate about. To my amazement, Frank was very open to speaking with me to discuss what my involvement would look like at the CBC.

As the first intern to ever join the Experience Design Team, there was no established intern program to reference so I took the opportunity to explore around. Adam Bacsalmasi, the Director of Design, and Frank also encouraged me to do so, and I got to learn about the different Design silos (ex. CBC Kids, CBC Listen, CBC Sports, Individual Contributors) within the Team and speak with Designers from each focus. They both wanted to ensure that my time here would be well-spent; I would have the chance to build on my professional development during my internship, based on my interests! Everyone I spoke to was extremely supportive of my introduction to the Team and I learned a lot about what being a designer at the CBC was like through their different perspectives. Since my initial interest was on the Olympics, it was decided that I would be working alongside Mimi Liu, the dedicated Olympics Product Designer, as her mentee (thank you for always supporting me in every way Mimi!).

During my exploration phase of the Team, I also dug around to look at the professional development resources provided across the organization. As a designer, I believe it’s my responsibility, as the liaison for the users I’m representing and designing for, to use my abilities to create the most accessible and universal experiences I can; it’s a lifelong learning process that I’ve proudly dedicated myself to. Based on this value, I joined multiple slack channels, including the Accessibility channel, and coincidentally Niki Ramesh, the Senior Manager of Digital Accessibility & Inclusive Design, had posted about availability for CBC employees to attend the 2023 A11Y Toronto conference. I thought it would be a great opportunity to attend my first conference and learn more about the Accessibility space and network here in Toronto. At my next check-in with Frank, I let him know about my excitement to attend the conference and he probed me more about my motivations. We ended up discussing what this kind of interest in Accessibility could mean for my involvement here at the CBC, which led to the talk about the CBC’s preparation for the Paralympics.

For those unfamiliar with the event, the Paralympics are an international sporting event akin to the Olympics, for athletes with a range of differing disabilities. Along with being a professional sporting event, the Paralympics are also a highlight in the Accessibility community as international representation for diversity and disabilities in the media. Unfortunately, the event historically has not received the special recognition from the media or audience it deserves. This year, the CBC became the official rightsholder and broadcaster for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. I knew I wanted to be a part of giving the event the planning and design on par with the efforts of the Olympics, so I took the plunge. Through the guidance of the Digital Accessibility & Inclusive Design Team (Niki Ramesh and Olivier Fortin) and the UX Research Team (especially Senior Manager, Beth Robins), I was able to figure out the responsibilities I would need to accomplish to solidify my project domain for the Paralympics.

During my time here at the CBC, I wanted to make sure that I would be creating impact with my efforts, ensuring that both the Olympics and Paralympic experiences received equally as much time and care while advocating for Paralympics whenever I could in meetings across the company. As the first in-house designed experience for the Paralympics, there were a few bumps that I had to figure out but this was the coolest co-op I couldn’t have imagined that I would be a part of. As my internship comes to an end, I’m proud of my efforts to create and highlight diversity while working on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, all starting from a bit of confidence! I’d once again like to thank everyone that I got to work with on the English Services Experience Design Team, my managers Frank and Adam, my mentor Mimi, Beth, Niki, Olivier, Director of Sports Steve Macht, Product Manager for WebX Patricia Mauro, Product Manager for Web Player Products Sarah Pugsley, Program Manager Brittany Eldridge, Art Director Frydun Mehrzad, and the French Services Digital Media Design Team (hopefully I didn’t leave anyone out!). To anyone reading this, please check out some of my design efforts this upcoming summer for the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, through our CBC website on desktop or mobile. Go Canada, go!