Hey, I'm Elena, or Leni if you prefer – either works for me. I live in Israel, in a lovely, quiet, and somewhat boring town called Kiryat Tivon.
Several years ago, as a young woman, right after IDF service, I started working at a bank. It was a cool job, especially after my failure as a waitress. I really enjoyed working with systems and quickly advanced through the branch's departments. My favorite part was filling out the efficiency suggestion form – I would fax requests and suggestions for improving system fields and pages to the development department.
While working, I started studying for a degree in Economics and Management at the Open University. Cause what else, since I was already in a bank?
Three years later, my branch manager arranged me a job at Makefet Insurance & Finance. I started in the operations department, but quickly promoted to the Actuarial department, where was paradise of Excel spreadsheets and data work. Tons of numbers, functions, and statistics. I loved it.
In 2009, my first child, Maya, was born. I went on maternity leave and never returned to Makefet. I thought I would stay at home and raise my children. One day, I sewed her some clothes, and less than a year later, I found myself managing a children's clothing brand named Machooka (Maya's nickname). I would watch her, observe her movements while playing, and create collections of comfortable and beautiful clothes that garnered endless compliments. It was enjoyable and challenging at the same time – being a full-time mom and a business manager.
Personal events and a change in my approach to consumption led me to close the business. I needed to rediscover myself. And then… I found digital design (UX/UI) and my world was never the same again. I found myself sucked into a universe of pixels, buttons, grids, menus, and other elements, listening to hours of podcasts about UX research and human factors. It is so fascinating, so profound, so exciting.
As I write these lines, I reflect on the journey I've been through and realize that I've always had a passion for UX/UI. My biggest wish today is to find a team that I can join, be useful for, and learn from through shared experience.
Efficiency in Action (2001, Discount Bank, Bavli Branch)
It was my first year at the bank, and I was working as a teller. Haim, a regular customer, who owned an Aroma branch on Ibn Gvirol st, walked in. He came straight to me because, as he put it, he knew he'd get the fastest and most efficient service from me, even if it meant waiting a bit. I keyed in his account and began the transaction. He asked me why I used a calculator alongside the computer. I explained that there was a missing function I really needed. Immediately after finishing his transaction, I took a dedicated "Efficiency Suggestions" form and wrote to the development, detailing exactly want I wanted, and sent it by fax.
Two years later, having rotated through many departments, I was training a new teller on the cash desk. I realized that the system had been updated with my requested feature, exactly as I had described!
The Actuarial Surprise (2009, New Makefet Insurance & Finance)
I started working in the Operations Department and, after about a year, was promoted to the Actuarial Department. The work there was both fascinating and tedious. It involved handling numerous Excel spreadsheets, understanding and sometimes creating complex formulas, and analyzing data to draw meaningful conclusions—this was the fascinating part. The tedious part involved performing extensive data checks, going through vast amounts of data, and trying to identify why certain values were missing or unrealistic.
I worked until the last day of my ninth month of pregnancy, going straight from work to the delivery room. A few days later, I received a gift collected by all the employees from various departments—everyone who knew me and wanted to participate. A close friend from the Operations Department, who organized the collection, told me there had never been such a high level of participation for a gift collection. Everyone wanted to contribute. It was a complete and very touching surprise.
Designing Comfort (2012, Tel Aviv, Manager of the kids clothing brand Machooka)
From the moment my daughter Maya could speak, she had opinions, especially about clothing. If I tried to dress her in something uncomfortable, she would refuse. I started sewing clothes for her because the comfortable options available in stores were not aesthetically pleasing enough. I noticed in playgrounds how uncomfortable clothing could restrict children's movements. Once, I saw a child struggling to climb because his pants were in the way. This inspired me to start designing children's clothes.
A few years later, I was sitting with a friend at a cozy café in Vienna when I noticed a child wearing a shirt and pants from one of my previous collections. It was an exciting moment. I pointed it out to my friend, saying, "Look, those are clothes I designed." The child's mother overheard me and told us that she had bought the clothes for her first child, who loved them until he outgrew them, and then passed them down to his younger brother. She expressed regret that I had stopped producing them.