Hello, I’m Preethi — a Product Design Leader with over 12 years of experience building mission-driven products. Most recently, I was leading four Growth Design teams at Facebook HQ in the Bay Area.
+ 0-1 Products
Led design for several 0-1 flagship Growth products for Facebook such as Locked Profile, Community Help, FB on KaiOS, Crisis Hub, Audio Assistance and more.
+ Research & Strategy focus
I thrive in ambiguous problem spaces. My areas of strength lie in foundational research and creating clarity around strategy/solutions by using a qualitative and quantitative approach.
+ Supporting Teams
I enjoy building and fostering high-performing design teams where designers feel supported yet autonomous.
+ Expertise in Emerging Markets
Solid background in building for the next billion in India & other emerging markets on Android/mobile, mWeb, and KaiOS.
+ Mission-driven work
Working on causes and products that are focused on creating a positive social impact has been a central theme in my career.
At Facebook I chose to work on teams such as the Social Good team, Women in Emerging Markets, Special Countries, etc. where the focus was creating a positive social outcome for marginalized groups of people. Prior to Facebook, I worked on education products for K-12 schools and did design for non-profit/foundation clients like Save the Children, UNDP, The Elders, etc. Designing for meaningful causes and finding teams that are mission-driven have been important attributes of the work I seek out.
Highlighted Work
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A privacy product to combat photo misuse on Facebook in emerging markets and improve retention/engagement metrics for women.
Impact: Locked Profile has been a huge success in India so far and it has lifted every topline growth and engagement metric for women. Most recently, this privacy tool was launched on Facebook in Afghanistan during the Taliban takeover and in Ukraine during Russian attacks to help citizens, especially women, protect their content.
My role: I was the Design Lead and helped define strategy, conceptualize the solution, and design the user experience from inception to launch. I also directly supported and managed the designers who continued to execute on the project beyond launch to optimize and grow the impact of the product.
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A tool on Facebook that gets triggered in the aftermath of a crisis to help people in the affected area connect with goods and services within their community. They can post requesting for help with basic needs like food, shelter, clothing, etc. and this tool helps match you with someone who is offering that help near you.
Impact: This product leverages the power of social media to create tangible value for people in extenuating circumstances. Early on when we launched in 2016, the goal was to prove product market fit and we did this by measuring product-level metrics like adoption, retention, match rate, etc. These metrics far exceeded the teams goals in the first few months and proved that this product was creating value for users.
In recent times, Community Help has been expanded and launched as a standalone globally accessible feature for the first time in response to the pandemic. Called the ‘Covid-19 Community Help Hub’, it allows people to request or offer help to those impacted by the coronavirus outbreak, as well as donate to nonprofit fundraisers.
My Role: I was the Design Lead on the team responsible for envisioning the future of the Safety Check product (where people mark themselves safe in crisis situations). I pitched the idea for Community Help to stakeholders / leadership and got buy-in to prioritize this 0-1 project. After foundational research, I helped define the strategy and subsequently designed & shipped the MVP experience of Community Help in 2016.
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Redesigning the Facebook app for the KaiOS platform (an OS used heavily in emerging markets on non-touch devices; i.e. smart phones with T9 keypads).
Impact: Rigorous experimentation helped us prove that creating a native app for this OS was a huge usability win which showed significant impact on topline growth metrics for India (largest user base for KaiOS currently). This helped the org prioritize this massive redesign/rebuilding effort and staff a team around it.
My Role: I was directly managing and supporting the design team working on this project. I also acted as a lead and conducted design sprints to help us strategize our approach to this massive redesign.
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Regional language audio support introduced at critical moments for new users on Facebook in emerging markets to help improve comprehension/usability and retain them better.
Impact: What started as a small experiment on a login flow ended up becoming one of the most promising new growth levers for India and emerging markets. This impacted our roadmap and we shifted gears to create an entire audio support layer over our new user experience.
My Role: I managed and supported the design team working on this project. I oversaw design strategy/execution and helped the design team get leadership buy-in across orgs.
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Writing on Medium @preethichethan
Mentor at FB’s University program
Set up & co-taught “Designing for Emerging Markets” class at Facebook / 2018 - 2021
Featured on the Weather Channel’s AMHQ Morning News to discuss Facebook Community Help / 2017
Speaker at SF Design Week / 2016
Infographics published in Lonely Planet’s guide “How to Land a Jumbo Jet.” / 2011
Paper titled “Communicating With Color” exhibited at Aronson Gallery, NY / 2009
Outside of Work
On a constant adventure with my 3-year-old daughter. Currently designing a line of toys with her and working on getting them manufactured and ready for market.
A recent sabbatical helped me take time off to spend time with friends and family, move countries, travel, and work on personal projects – an absolute privilege that put life into perspective in these crazy times we live in.