Open Book: Melody Wu
Hear from Melody about establishing a research culture at Opendoor and how her identity as a first-generation American has shaped her.
Open Book is a series of interviews where you get to meet our creative design team at Opendoor.
What do you do at Opendoor?
I’m a user experience researcher. Because we’re a lean team right now, I work across most products with an emphasis on our seller and buyer experience. My day-to-day involves helping product teams understand our customers, evangelizing customer-centric products, and building a great research culture.
As the first researcher at Opendoor, how did you establish a research culture?
Before I started at Opendoor, I chatted with a number of researchers who have been in this position before and I asked them this exact question. They all gave me a variation of the same advice: show people how research can help them be better at their job.
One way I chose to approach it was to strategically work on research projects that were fast to impact. When teams saw the positive outcome, they developed a stronger appetite for research, and the smaller projects eventually paved the way for larger foundational studies that helped with broader company initiatives and planning.
Starting a research culture is the first step. Spreading it is a close second. After establishing the foundation, one key way to maintain momentum is by giving teams easy access to research findings. That’s why I collaborated with our talented brand designer, Nicolas Solerieu, on building a research library that allows every Opendoor employee to see top findings on our customer segments.
How has being a first-generation American shaped you as a person?
Being a first-generation American taught me resilience. When I first moved to America from Hong Kong at the age of 12, I spoke barely any English. On top of learning how to express myself in a new language, I had to help my parents navigate a world that was completely strange to them.
The simple task of going to the post office to send a package wasn’t simple for my parents because of the language barrier. We’d practice different phrases relevant to their task before they would feel comfortable going themselves. If that wasn’t hard enough, my family and I lost all of our savings when our apartment was robbed shortly after we settled in. The first couple years in the U.S. were challenging and finding our footing was not easy. But seeing how my parents navigated all these hardships as gracefully as they did shaped the way I approach challenges now.
You mentioned you like to do DIY projects at home. Can you tell me more about that?
I’m a curious person, so the process of making something from scratch is really fun. My DIY projects used to be mostly functional items before, such as card holders and purses. Over the past few years, they have organically evolved to be something that helps me connect with myself and others and those are the projects I enjoy working on the most.
Recently, I found some leftover yarn for a scarf that my mother knitted me when I was younger. I remembered getting my mother to knit me that scarf took a bit of begging because she worked really long hours as a waitress back then. I loved that scarf, but unfortunately it was lost during a move. When I saw that yarn again, I knew I had to make something with it. I ended up creating this wall hanging with it and gave it to my mother for Mother’s Day. It embodies my appreciation and love for her and I hope it will put a smile on her face when she sees this little wall piece every day.
How do you want to grow in 2019?
I’m a strong believer in lifelong learning and I picked up the habit of creating a list of things to learn every year from one of my mentors. The great thing about working at a place like Opendoor is that I’m surrounded by these incredibly smart people and I can almost always find someone to help me improve. This inspired me to start a mentorship program at Opendoor to build more bonds and connections between all of us across offices. So far, almost 300 Opendoor employees are participating in this program and we’ve heard positive feedback from both mentors and mentees.
I’ve noticed that some people are reluctant to seek out mentorship or step into a mentor role because they don’t believe they have much to offer. That’s far from the truth. One of my main goals this year is to grow the mentorship program by showing more people that they have a great story to share and for someone to learn from.
P.S. If you liked what you read and are interested in learning more, check out our jobs page! We’re always hiring.
