Note: We recorded this one before COVID began, so some references (like to our SXSW party) did not come to fruition.

Theo Strauss is an 18-year-old product designer out of NYC who's already making waves in the community through his involvement with companies like Apple, Postmates, and Figma. As someone on the bleeding edge of a new generation of designers, we loved having him on the show to share some of his thoughts on where the industry is heading and how young people are getting involved. 

We cover:

• Creating an entire portfolio in Figma
• Growing up in New York City
• Childhood career dreams
• The evolution of design tools
• Going to college vs. entering the workforce
• The ambiguity of "designer"
• The democratization of design
• Cold emails and personal networks
• A lot more

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Note: We apologize for the audio quality. There was an issue with the microphone.

Ash Huang is a designer, illustrator, author, speaker, artist and parent who currently works at Adobe. After finding design at a young age, Ash's career has spanned a wide variety of well-known companies and different pursuits that have left her with some fascinating views on accomplishment, progress, staying curious and more. It took us a while to get this one on the books but the conversation was totally worth it. 

We cover:

• Working on the Adobe XD product team
• How to choose what you will devote time to
• Tracking progress
• How having kids changes things within your career
• Specialization vs. generalization
• Staying curious
• Management vs Individual Contributor tracks
• Alone time as a parent
• Legacy

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Helen Tran is a designer, CEO, hobbyist writer, traveler and macaroon connoisseur (amongst other things). In this wide-ranging episode, we discuss everything from software design, business ownership and bodybuilding, to wealth and weird Texan habits.

We cover:

• Growing with Shopify
• Paying dues before taking big career risks
• Figuring out what to pursue and deciding to start Jupiter
• Why there's no such thing as "business vs. personal"
• Living someone else's life for a year
• How bodybuilding affects discipline and goal setting
• Defining "wealth"
• The knowledge gap between CEO generations
• Business as more than a way to make money
• Toronto vs. Texas

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Guigo Sanchez is the Creative Director at THIRD EAR — previously known as LatinWorks — an agency that specializes in creating advertising for the U.S. Hispanic audience. Born and raised in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, he is the husband of Mari Chamoun (Managing Director at Funsize), and father to Julia Elena Sánchez Chamoun. After completing his psychology degree in Puerto Rico, Guigo moved to Austin to study advertising and decided to stay forever (for now). He enjoys dad life, music, computers, food and personal finance.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How studying psychology affects advertising
• Speaking to different audiences and cultures in advertising
• The top skills needed for creative directing
• Imagination as a skill
• Hispanic marketing and advertising
• Maintaining belief in the value of creativity
• The temporary nature of advertising and design
• What does "partner" mean in the advertising world
• Commitment in professional relationships
• The emotional operations of an organization

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Thomas Ewart is an Associate Product Designer at Funsize, where he works with startups and enterprise design teams to craft thoughtful digital experiences. With a non-traditional career path that spans accounting, tattoos and electronic music, Thomas brings a unique perspective to his work and enjoys helping others find their place in the design world. 

• Non-traditional paths to design
• The decision to spend the money on General Assembly's design intensive
• Year one as a product designer
• Enterprise vs. startup design work
• Collaboration
• The three stages of design in an organization
• Figma and the future of design tools

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Desiree Garcia is a senior designer at Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com and most recently, Tumblr. Their goal is to democratize publishing so that anyone with a story can tell it, regardless of income, gender, politics, language, or where they live in the world. She's also an editor at A List Apart, a webzine that explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on web standards and best practices.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How a psychology degree can influence design and teamwork
• What we miss about the old web
• Star Trek's Kobayashi Maru and how it applies to design
• How to respond to situations that can't be won
• The challenges of talking about your work
• Designing things that "aren't real"

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Mike Trozzo is the EVP at Tide University Laundry, a service business disrupting the laundry-norm on campuses around the country. His career trajectory took him from dreams of being an astronaut and doctor, to studying finance in college, pursuing acting in LA and eventually leading design and engineering teams in Waco, Texas.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Connecting the dots between design and P&L
• Budgeting for design
• Staffing projects
• Design roles and responsibilities
• Balancing the skillsets and goals of team members
• The shifting need for generalists and specialists
• Childhood career dreams vs. adult career reality
• Personal values and work values
• How Funsize's values emerged

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Brian Peterson is a former Funsize Associate Design Director with a passion for collaboration and intentional design. He's a close friend and talented designer whose career saw a lot of growth during his time with us. Brian is making the move back home to Chicago, but before he left, he graced us with a send-off podcast to discuss goal-setting — a subject he's particularly passionate about.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The characteristics of a good goal.
• What it means to work with intent.
• Goal-setting for teams.
• The importance of clear communication with clients.
• Understanding different stakeholders in an organization.

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Joel Beukelman is a Senior Interaction Designer at Google where he works on Chrome. He's also a prolific content creator with a popular YouTube channel and vlog. In this episode, Anthony and Joel cover everything from family life and time prioritization, to health, jacuzzis and — of course – design.

On this episode we discuss:

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Jen Dary is the founder of Plucky, a company that specializes in creating healthy dynamics at work through coaching, consulting, workshops, and education. On this episode of the Hustle she chats with Anthony about how to know if management is right for you, what challenges new and established leaders face every day, and strategies to help along the way.

On this episode we discuss:

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