Healthcare01
Care that meets people where they are.
Improving patient understanding, experiences, access, navigation, and outcomes.
About
Ariel has always been fascinated by how things could work better.
For nearly two decades, she's worked with organizations across healthcare, government, education, hospitality, insurance, consumer products, technology, and real estate — helping them understand people, navigate change, and build better.
How she got here
Curiosity led to a career of making things better.
Ariel has been endlessly curious since childhood — always asking questions, rarely satisfied with surface-level answers.
That curiosity led her to study people formally: an undergraduate degree in sociology with a concentration in psychology, alongside market research. She became fascinated with how people think, why they make the decisions they do, and how color, text, and experience shape the actions people take.
She went on to earn an MBA in business optimization and a Master of Science in human factors and applied psychology — studying how products, services, information design, and experiences can be built to work better for people.
Across every industry and every title, the throughline has been the same: help teams and organizations make things better.
The role she plays
Four ways to describe the work, often all at once.
Different engagements call for different strengths. But no matter the title, these four are usually in the room together.
- 01
Strategic thinker.
Bringing clarity to ambiguity and seeing possibilities others may miss.
- 02
Builder.
Turning ideas and strategy into something real.
- 03
Problem solver.
Finding practical paths through complicated problems.
- 04
Connector.
Connecting people, ideas, information, and opportunities.
Strategic thinker sets the direction. Problem solver untangles what's in the way. Builder makes the solution real. Connector brings the right people, ideas, and resources together. The emphasis shifts depending on the project, but the four usually reinforce each other — so the work stays grounded, useful, and actually moves forward.
Working across industries and disciplines is the advantage. A scheduling problem in healthcare and an onboarding problem in real estate are rarely the same business, but they're often the same pattern. Seeing those patterns from the outside is what makes it possible to spot opportunities that are hard to see from inside a single industry.
Selected experience
The work she's done.
Nearly two decades of engagements across healthcare, government, financial services, consumer research, hospitality, and technology. A few are expanded below.
00
Human-centered design & service design
Helped introduce human-centered design and service design practices focused on understanding the people behind healthcare decisions — their needs, behaviors, questions, and barriers — to inform a more understandable and supportive Medicare experience.
Healthcare · Government
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Provider experience research
Through observation, interviews, workflow analysis, and user research, helped uncover the pain points, workarounds, and unmet needs shaping the provider experience — informing product decisions that reduce friction and let providers focus on patient care.
Health Tech
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Decision-making research & strategy
Reframed a content engagement question into a human decision-making question. Explored how people evaluate options, process risk, gather information, and build the confidence to act on major life and financial decisions.
Financial Decisions
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Product design & behavioral insights
Redesigned how participant information was collected, surfacing why people weren't consistently wearing portable people meters. Worked alongside industrial designers, researchers, and product teams on solutions that improved participation and data quality.
Consumer Research
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Service design & customer experience
Investigated the broader ecosystem behind the customer experience — connecting perspectives across customers, employees, operations, systems, and business objectives — to address root causes instead of treating symptoms.
Hospitality
Trusted by
What others say
Over nearly two decades, the feedback has been remarkably consistent.
People don't usually talk about deliverables. They talk about how Ariel thinks.
“Ariel has an unusual ability to walk into a room full of complexity and help everyone see the same picture. She asks the questions no one else thinks to ask — and the answers change everything.”
Catharine Robertson·Former leader, Bellese Technologies (CMS) “One of the best strategic thinkers I've met when it comes to user and customer experience.”
Vakas Siddiqui·AI Transformation Expert “Ariel personifies the team player. She is diligent, smart, creative, and can always be counted on to get the job done.”
Jonathan Haigler·Colleague “Her exceptional ability to understand the interactions and processes that occur in an organization, analyze human behaviors, and identify areas of improvement leads to better experiences.”
Vakas Siddiqui·AI Transformation Expert “She understands complex matters even when outside of her direct area of expertise.”
Maria Pontanares·UX Design Specialist, Emirates
Areas of focus
Areas of focus.
A few areas where Ariel is especially interested in helping organizations create meaningful impact.
Healthcare
Learning & Education02
Helping people learn and grow.
Creating learning experiences, tools, and systems that help people learn more effectively.
Hospitality03
Designing experiences people remember.
Improving guest experiences, service design, and operations so hospitality businesses create lasting impressions and loyal relationships.
Financial Wellbeing04
Supporting better financial decisions.
Helping people make informed decisions and take meaningful action during important life moments.
Real Estate05
Helping agents and brokerages grow.
Create products, tools, and experiences that help agents build stronger client relationships, close more deals, and grow their business with confidence.
Partnering with organizations and building products that improve how people live, work, learn, heal, and grow.
Whether it's helping patients experience better healthcare, giving teachers more time back, helping entrepreneurs build wealth, or solving problems that haven't been imagined yet, the goal remains the same: create meaningful leverage that improves people's lives.