“When you look at what's happening with the population, boomers aren't getting any younger and they've got plenty of discretionary income and a lot of the solutions that are out there aren't very friendly feeling to that population. And it's hard to design for a group that you've never been a part of or that you don't know anything about. It became really important to me to be part of teams where there was a wide variety, not just of backgrounds and races and genders and that sort of thing, but also across the age spectrum that you had people who had lived experience of all of the customers that we might be facing, not just the ones who looked like us.” -Jennifer Houlihan

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Jennifer Houlihan about her experience transitioning into the UX Design industry later in her career and teaching other adult learners.  She starts with how a project working at a local Non Profit exposed her up to UX Design.  Later, Jennifer discusses the importance of lifelong learning and keeping a beginners mindset.  We then discuss how and why to include play at work and while learning.  Listen in for tips on how to activate different learning models for your students and yourself.