Leobardo Gudino
Describe a day in your life at Beam. How do you interact with our partners, students, and staff?
A day in the life begins with a cup of coffee and a quick scan of our design team Trello board to track priorities. As a Product Designer working across both of our verticals, an average day includes touch points across work streams to ensure we're aligned on user, partner, and business needs. We’re in an exciting growth stage, from conducting research with applicants and program staff to collaborating with developers on robust solutions – our day-to-day differs! When it comes to UI work, I like to carve out intentional time to go heads down, which I’ve found to be the best way to get into a flow and deliver thoughtful solutions. Being a smaller startup means there’s no shortage of exciting projects. Whether marketing, implementation, partner success, or otherwise, we are thoughtful partners ready to support and deliver on user, partner, and business needs on any given day across a wide range of work streams.
What do you like most about your role?
I love having the opportunity to collaborate with my team to help redesign the safety net to provide cash for all Americans in need. I thrive working on real human problems that bring life-changing outcomes. It’s not every day that you get to create impactful and accessible solutions to deliver cash assistance to individuals who are at risk of dropping out of college and/or being evicted from their homes. I feel content knowing we’re at the forefront of solving these issues with outcome-driven and human-centered solutions. I believe my role is a valuable component of making it possible to address the lack of accessible technology that exists today, and I think we're well equipped to address them at Beam! Shout out to the #design-team slack channel!
Why did you join the Beam team?
It was simple – Beam's values of doing the right thing, practicing empathy, promoting equity, and being anti-racist align with who I am as a person and the products that I’m looking to help build as a designer. I, too, believe there is a future where financially at-risk people are getting the cash assistance they deserve. I found the team to be equally aligned and passionate to begin tackling these problems during my interview process, which solidified my desire to join.
How would you describe the culture at Beam?
It’s a very passionate and diverse group of folx at Beam ready to address the financial problems that exist for Americans with the best use of technology. There is a high level of support across departments with everyone doing their part and living our company values along the way to make sure no one is left behind with what we build.
Name three skills you bring to your role.
Problem-solving, product-thinking, and collaboration.
What's your favorite thing to do outside of work?
I cherish time with my loved ones the most since it’s a pretty big group of us!
What's your favorite tech or the last app you downloaded?
I recently downloaded Volaris to book and manage a trip to Mexico. It’s an amazing app for planning a trip outside of the country. I would highly recommend it to anyone!
What are some of your favorite ways to give back? Any charities that are personal to you?
I grew up on the Eastern side of the Coachella Valley in Southern California where agricultural farms are abundant. I’ve made it a habit to donate to groups that are working hard to improve the working and pay conditions for the thousands of people working these lands. Many of them harvest the fruits and vegetables that we get to put on our tables today. I have also made it a habit to donate to Native American and Indigenous groups. One way that I’ve been working to give back to my community is by being a resource to folx that want to break into tech. I dedicate several hours a week to this effort via Techqueria - LatinX in Tech! Please check them out if you want to join or become an ally!
