Mary Bulnes Vélez.
Product researcher and design strategist with 8+ yrs of experience.
I've worked in the innovation consulting, venture building, and digital product development space in Toronto, ON, Canada.
I've led the development of new business propositions and digital experiences from 0→1 through a mixed-methods approach and a "roll up my sleeves" attitude.
At lululemon, I helped kick-start their first digital innovation practice. At Highline Beta, I built ventures for the likes of Colgate Palmolive and Mattel. And at Deloitte/Doblin, I helped clients like Royal Bank of Canada, TD Wealth, and Loblaw Companies put the user at the centre of their business decisions.
Currently at Koru helping businesses build AI products that truly fit their user's workflows to ensure eventual adoption.
Selected projects
AI Enablement at Canadian Bank's call centre
→Ensuring AI features were researched appropriately through shadowing methods in order to increase their adoption and fit within agent's workflows, and recommending (or not) their eventual productization.
Building and piloting a digital changing room
→Leading the research behind a 0→1 digital product build, from testing different concepts that tap into helping lululemon guests better calibrate their size and fit online to testing a digital changing room across the retailer's NA app to understand if the conversion potential translates IRL.
Researching and piloting 3D-led virtual experiences
→Leading the research and launch of a footwear focused Virtual store to understand whether they could be a new way for brand to let their guests explore their collections and be part of their digital experiences toolkit that incentivize conversion.
Designing a new oral care category
→Researching the reason as to why people seem to not follow up with their nighttime oral care routines, as much as they do in the morning, and validating and building a new oral care category based on it.
Grocery store experiences inspired by newfound eating habits
→Investigating how COVID-19 changed the way Canadians were grocery shopping and eating differently and building new grocery experiences inspired by them.