Lift Up Connections with Christine Perfetti

In this special episode, the mic gets flipped.

Christine Perfetti, founder of Lift Up and longtime UX leader, is interviewed by her son, Ben Perfetti. What follows is a deeply personal and heartfelt conversation about curiosity, career pivots, fear, growth and what it really means to build a meaningful life and career.

Ben asks thoughtful questions about Christine’s childhood goals, why she didn’t become a therapist, how she discov...

In this episode, I sit down with Maigen Thomas, accessibility advocate, UX leader, and founder of Level 11 Technology.

Maigen shares her winding journey from flight attendant to tech founder and how some brave leaps led her to a career focused on equity and purpose.

We discuss:

• The emotional side of career pivots and why tears can be a sign of growth and transformation
• How Maigen found her calling in accessibility and inclusiv...

In this solo episode, I am sharing the most personal talk I have ever given.

Two years ago, my consulting work disappeared almost overnight. After years of leading product and design teams and advising organizations like GoFundMe, Penn Medicine, and Harvard Business Review, I suddenly found myself lost and unsure of what came next.

This was my messy middle.

It turned out it was also the beginning of everything, including my own rei...

Dr. Jade Singleton is a former investment banker turned DEI strategist, researcher, and founder of the IKONI Collective, a wellness collective devoted to centering and sustaining Black women. She’s also the creator of Ninety-Two, a new documentary funded through Kickstarter (ending July 22) that tells the story of Black women quietly leading a new blueprint for liberation through healing, rest, and collective resistance. The tit...

In this episode of Lift Up Connections, Christine sits down with Melissa Appel, product leader, author of Aligned: Stakeholder Management for Product Leaders, and a longtime supporter of women forging their own paths in tech and life. Christine and Melissa first connected as mothers navigating demanding careers, and their relationship has evolved through shared vulnerability, values, and vision. They explore what it means to reima...

This week, I’m doing something a little different. I am the one in the interview seat. I am excited to share my recent conversation with longtime friend and UX pioneer Kyle Soucy on her brilliant podcast, The UX Consultants’ Lounge.

In this personal episode, Kyle and I explore how my two-decade UX consulting career laid the groundwork for Lift Up Connections to support mid- and senior-level women at career and life inflection poi...

In this episode, Christine Perfetti chats with Shanae Chapman, founder of Nerdy Diva, civic tech leader, AI innovator, and advocate for inclusive design and equity in tech.

Shanae shares her journey from growing up in North St. Louis to building an impressive career in public service, UX, and entrepreneurship.

Christine and Shanae discuss the power of role models and mentors, and how Shanae's navigating challenging industry shifts ...

Christine interviews Catherine Norman, a renowned counselor, about managing the inner critic, one of the most common challenges facing women in business and tech.

Catherine breaks down why our brains have a negativity bias and explores how inner critics develop at different ages throughout our lives: from the emotional 5-year-old who experiences all-o...

In this episode, Christine chats with Marli Mesibov, the Content Strategy Director at Verily, an Alphabet company, to explore her journey from theater stage manager to content strategy leader in health tech.

Marli opens up about the twists and turns her career has taken, the creative roots of her UX strategy and content design work, and the intentional choices that helped her redefine success.

Marli shares how her background in the...

"You will never have more of what you want until you want what you already have.” 

Christine Perfetti chats with Malaika Simmons, TEDx speaker, founder of Momentology Media, and creator of the Momentology™ Method to explore what it means to live with intention, purpose, and authenticity. Malaika shares her story as a "facilitator of discovery" where she leveraged her psychology, history, and neuroscience background to create Mome...

In this episode of Lift Up Connections, Christine sits down with Amanda Stockwell, a longtime UX consultant, Duke University professor, and co-founder of The List, a nonprofit connecting university students to startups.

We explore what it means to take big and brave career steps without knowing exactly where you will land. Amanda shares how she transitioned from corporate roles to consulting, then into teaching and nonprofit leader...

Tamara Adlin is a pioneer in the UX and product world who is widely known for her groundbreaking work on personas and her talent for speaking truthfully about the team and personal dynamics that shape and sometimes derail our work.

Tamara's the co-author of The Persona Lifecycle, a longtime independent consultant, and the host of the new podcast, Corporate Underpants.

In our conversation, Tamara and I talk about the messy middle of...

In this personal and raw episode, Christine sits down with Alla Weinberg, a design leader and expert in psychological safety, to talk about trauma, something we don’t often talk about at work. We often experience trauma in many different areas of our lives, including when we are managing workplace dynamics, parenting, or dealing with systemic barriers in our jobs. Alla shares her perspective on what trauma really is and how healin...

Christine Perfetti is joined by Amy Heymans, founder of Beneficent and co-founder of the renowned design agency Mad*Pow.

A force for good in the healthcare and design communities, Amy shares her journey from young designer and mom to building and selling her multimillion-dollar agency. At Beneficent, she is creating dignified futures through participatory design and visionary leadership.

Christine and Amy discuss how to navigate ca...