12 episodes
Sera Tajima Podcast Sera Tajima
-
- Technology
Join the conscious design movement for humanity and the planet. Hosted by Sera Tajima, Founder of The Craft, Design Partner, and Climate Investor.
Immerse yourself in raw conversations with the world's leading voices — shaping the future through intentional design. Whether you're launching your own venture, hustling on a passion project, or leveling up at a tech titan, challenge yourself to elevate with a collective of like-minded pioneers using design as a force for good. Get inspired and take action to co-create an innovative future worth getting hyped about.⚡️
-
1.12 A Reflection on Season 1
Season 1 is complete! Join me for a review of the season, who the audience is, what we learned from each guest, and overall learnings.
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Story about launch
(00:02:40) Timeline of events
(00:04:13) About the audience and performance
(00:08:00) Learnings from each episode
(00:10:34) Overall season 1 learnings
Where to find Sera:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seratajima
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SeraTajimaPodcast
Newsletter: https://seratajima.substack.com/
Website: www.seratajima.com
Business: www.the-craft.io
Become a sponsor: podcast@the-craft.io -
1.11 Carlo Liquido on Digital Equity
Carlo Liquido is Founder of Lady Bandit Studios, a local product studio dedicated to shaping a more equitable future in Hawaii. Pi’iku, his internship program, provides career-building opportunities for aspiring Hawaii-connected designers.
Chapters
(00:00:00) Get to know Carlo
(00:02:10) Spotlighting Hawaii voices
(00:03:56) Carlo’s journey into design
(00:06:35) Moving home to Hawaii
(00:07:24) Economic Impact on Kanaka Maoli
(00:09:27) How tech companies calculate pay
(00:11:19) Carlos’ work at Shopify
(00:14:07) Circular Design Internship
(00:17:08) Bridging the gap between education and jobs
(00:19:08) Cohort 3 rebrand to Pi’iku
(00:23:34) The Craft’s Product Design Accelerator
(00:25:40) Companies don’t get value from interns
(00:28:55) Bias towards hiring seniors
(00:29:40) The future of design education
(00:31:54) Financial struggles with pursuing a business
(00:34:00) Building businesses that are not extractive
(00:34:21) The 6 categories in life
(00:35:30) Be local
Where to find Carlo Liquido:
Pi`ikū Co: https://piiku.co
Pi`ikū Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/piiku-co/
Carlo LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carloliquido/
Carlo Website: https://www.carloliquido.com/
Where to find Sera Tajima:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seratajima
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SeraTajimaPodcast
Website: https://www.seratajima.com/ -
1.10 Design Like a Growth Hacker
Many designers struggle to gain buy-in for their work, to communicate with stakeholders, or to measure their impact. Join Sera in this episode to understand how to design like a growth hacker. If this interests you, the Sustainable Growth Playbook is now available (linked below).
Chapters
(00:00:00) An Introduction to growth thinking
(00:02:00) Advance your design career with business thinking
(00:03:53) The intersection of growth hacking and product design
(00:05:28) Identifying the business lever
(00:07:38) How to think about the customer lifecycle and growth frameworks
(00:09:52) Risks associated with growth hacking
(00:10:36) A strong growth strategy starts with retention
(00:12:31) Good growth practitioners are humanity centered
(00:14:48) Where your power lies as a technologist
Recommended Resources:
Sustainable Growth Playbook (The Craft)
Decentering profit (referenced)
Rethinking capitalism (referenced)
Reforge
Center for Humane Technology Design Guide
Tristan Harris on Trevor Noah Podcast
Where to find Sera Tajima:
Newsletter: https://seratajima.substack.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seratajima
Website: https://www.seratajima.com/
Business: https://www.the-craft.io/ -
1.9 Gabriela Lucía Lorenz on Ethics & Sustainability
Gabriela Lucía Lorenz is Director of UBS in Switzerland. She has an MBA in Sustainable Business, is originally from Argentina, and has worked in Switzerland for 10+ years. She is an advocate of ethical design practices, fostering sustainability and a change of paradigm — from user centric to humanity and planetary centered design.
Chapters
(00:00:00) Gabriela Introduction
(00:03:34) Design Director at UBS Zurich
(00:05:50) MBA in Sustainable Business
(00:09:38) Ethics and Sustainability
(00:12:39) Moral values for individuals and companies
(00:18:01) Talking about DEI in Europe
(00:19:00) Getting started with ethics
(00:23:41) Frameworks for design and business
(00:30:03) How to approach projects for sustainability and ethics
(00:34:14) Growth, power, and money unregulated isn’t working
(00:35:58) The definition of success
(00:36:57) Work life balance
Recommended Resources:
Don Norman, Design a Better World
Kelly Small, The Conscious Creative
Ruben Paten, Politics of design
The Center for Humane Technology
Mariana Salgado Podcast https://disenoydiaspora.org/Uxía
Arias García https://universomeraki.com/
Where to find Gabriela:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gllorenz/
Where to find Sera Tajima:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seratajima
Website: https://www.seratajima.com/
Business: https://www.the-craft.io/ -
1.8 Thijs Kraan on Writing Content
Chapters
(00:00:00) Thijs Introduction
(00:02:15) Internship with Albert Heijn
(00:06:39) Internship with medical center
(00:07:25) Why Thijs didn't pursue a 9-5
(00:10:21) Design content writing
(00:13:46) Thijs' approach to Linkedin
(00:15:58) Thijs' system for notes
(00:18:09) Writing topics
(00:20:44) Linkedin as a business model
(00:26:26) Using LI to land clients
(00:29:22) Design teams need marketing
(00:31:22) Building a business that reflects your ideal life
(00:34:48) What's the direction of Linkedin
(00:37:52) Evangelizing design
(00:40:45) Everyone is a designer
(00:41:28) The value of writing
Recommended Resources:
Tim Ferris Podcast
Founders Podcast
Paul Graham
Shane Parrish, Clear Thinking
Naval Ravikant
Where to find Thijs Kraan:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thijskraan/
Website: https://thijskraan.com/
Where to find Sera Tajima:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seratajima
Website: https://www.seratajima.com/
Business: https://www.the-craft.io/ -
1.7 Leanne Waldal on Measuring Design Value
In this episode, Leanne Waldal, Principal at ADP, shares her expertise with us on how to measure the value of design, perspectives on layoffs, career growth, and more.
Chapters
(00:00:00) Introduction
(00:03:10) How to navigate politics
(00:05:05) Set up your own board
(00:06:08) Learn from sales
(00:09:57) Find a coach
(00:11:54) Working styles
(00:13:17) Manager Training
(00:14:36) Layoffs
(00:17:00) A typical week
(00:18:25) The value is in the hands of the customer
(00:24:32) Who and how to research
(00:30:45) Is research valued?
(00:33:28) Sell yourself using data
(00:37:33) Balancing work and personal life
(00:42:44) Observe how humans operate
(00:43:26) Resources
Recommended Resources:
Follow Leanne on Linkedin
Design X
ResearchOps Community
Steve Portigal
Follow Sera on Linkedin
Get the conscious design newsletter
www.seratajima.com
To become a sponsor contact podcast@the-craft.io.