Work Review with Annalisa

I am incredibly grateful to have Annalisa as my mentor. Her deep knowledge about product design, personalized guidance, and genuine enthusiasm for my growth have been invaluable. Annalisa creates a supportive and inclusive environment, turning daily problem into opportunities for learning. Her impact extends beyond my career, influencing my approach to challenges and continuous learning. I highly recommend Annalisa as a mentor if you want to have another perspective about designer role.

I sought out mentorship because I felt a bit stuck in my career not knowing how to progress into a part of business that I wanted to experience. Fortunately I came across Annalisa's highly rated profile and she provided lots of value from the start of our interactions. I needed a space where I could be open and honest with my situations, where I knew I would not be judged, but still to be provided with honest and constructive feedback in return. This was really important to me because I had plans to progress fairly quickly. In our sessions she's provided me with not only that but also valuable resources, advice, encouragement, inspiration and reassurance that I needed to move forward. The experience she has also inspires a career life that I would like to work towards, not only the parts about her full-time work, but the interesting projects she works on on the side as well. I'll return to my mentorship with her as soon as I can!

I feel extremely lucky to found Anna on Mentorcruise; she is such a wonderful, friendly and encouraging mentor. She is a real expert in user experience design, and I learned a lot from her. Anna was super supportive and understood my needs from the beginning. I had different challenges throughout this time, and she advised me on how best to deal with each situation. With her constructive feedback and professional guidance, I successfully received multiple job offers after a sudden layoff, and I’m so grateful for that. I can't recommend her enough!

Annalisa is a great mentor. She has experience bringing self-study students to an entry-level role. She listens to your questions and proposes thoughtful solutions. For example, I was struggling with creating my own components for a project. We screen shared and Annalisa walked me through using components from a design system. I like that she is always available on Whatsapp. If I have a pending question, I know it will be answered within an hour or two. Annalisa is a risk-taker too, she left a larger company to work with a startup. That should tell you a great deal about her confidence level.

Annalisa guided me through the entire career change process – from portfolio preparation to salary negotiation. I got in touch with her when I was in the early stages of breaking into product design. I was completely lost and didn't know where to start and how to establish myself in the field. She was generous and very supportive from day one. We first started with my portfolio, Annalisa continuously reviewed and provided feedback on two self-initiated case studies I began creating (to add to my portfolio). She explained what skills I needed to work on and pointed me in the direction of how to improve. When I started applying for jobs, Annalisa empowered me with positivity and reassurance. She helped me prepare for interviews, shared techniques and practised whiteboard challenges with me. I got my first job offer as a Product Designer last week, I'm over the moon, but it wouldn't ever be possible without Annalisa's assistance and encouragement :)