Alba Villamil
Boston
Summary
Empowers nonprofits, government agencies, and companies like Capital One, Meta, Patagonia, Hinge, and Fidelity Investments to align business goals with a more trauma-informed and equity-centered approach to design and workplace culture.
Overview
2026
2026
years of professional experience
Work History
Equity Strategy Consultant
HmntyCntrd
Boston
2020 - Current
- Led discovery research project improving racial equity of AI technology, which involved overseeing research operations, facilitating co-design workshops, and producing reports that shaped cross-functional strategic decision-making.
- Directed strategy sessions with executives to enhance org's operational efficiency, including the creation of strategy roadmaps and action plans, trauma-informed change management frameworks, decision-making and accountability processes, and a leadership L&D curriculum plan.
- Co-created DEI impact evaluation framework that integrated enterprise-level business goals with design-specific KPIs and baseline measures.
- Trained new executives on leadership skills and strategic maturity.
- Delivered remote training program for 800+ person org to encourage support for user-centric design, achieving a 4.4/5 mean satisfaction score and improving the org’s average training attendance rate by 40 percent.
UX Researcher
Freelance
Boston
2013 - Current
- Supervised team of researchers, policy advocates, and lived experts in qualitative research project with 500 families and professionals in the foster care system across three states, shaping state improvement plans for 15,000 children.
- Evaluated and optimized microwork platform serving refugees, reducing support tickets by 15 percent and increasing worker income.
- Conducted expert interviews and usability testing with ESL students, generating new features and a content strategy that reduced page abandonments and increased customer leads by 20 percent.
- Developed and documented research processes, guidelines, and best practices for pre-stage startup, establishing a foundation for effective UX research.
- Conducted ethnographic research with low income, immigrant families for education behavioral science lab. Prepared summary reports and literature reviews.
Education
Doctoral Student of Sociology - Sociology
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA01-2013
Bachelor of Arts - Sociology
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, PA01-2011
Skills
Research
User interviews
Focus groups
Ethnography
Surveys
Usability testing
Design audits
Research operations
Design
Co-design facilitation
Design thinking facilitation
Design sprints
Journey mapping
Low-fidelity prototyping
Language
English (native fluency)
Spanish (basic)
Timeline
Equity Strategy Consultant
HmntyCntrd
2020 - Current
UX Researcher
Freelance
2013 - Current
Doctoral Student of Sociology - Sociology
Harvard University
Bachelor of Arts - Sociology
Swarthmore College