Babz Jewell
Babz Jewell ’14, who is finishing her M.A. in Sociology this summer, recently started as a user experience researcher, content strategist, and tech writer for Rewired UX, a user experience design studio in Atlanta.
Rewired’s founder, Sophia V. Prater, developed her own methodology for designing User Experiences.
In her role, Jewell conducts research for articles for Rewired UX, as well as reports on best practice methodologies for user experience design. She also is content strategist, photographer, videographer, and public relations assistant.
She recently interviewed people who design the voice interactions for systems such as Amazon’s Alexa and England’s BBC and participated with leading a web development workshop with one of the nation’s top airplane carriers.
Jewell started the sociology master’s program at Ohio University after completing a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship followed by a year of service with AmeriCorps in Athens County. She earned her B.A. in Art History from the Honors Tutorial College and a minor in German at Ohio University. Tutorials in sociology laid the foundation for her interest in pursuing a graduate degree. While she was a grad student, she took time out from her studies to skate with the Appalachian Hell Betties Roller Derby Team.
She is enjoying living in the South, especially in Atlanta. In addition to diverse demographics and so many different opportunities, it has been a bonus being close to the wilderness of Appalachia and the start of the Appalachian Trail.
Jewell continues her roller derby activity and recently joined the internationally ranked Atlanta Roller Girls derby team. Her other activities include ballet, teaching swim lessons, working out in a Crossfit community gym, and participating in LGBTQ+ and communities like Ladies That UX: Atlanta.
Her OHIO Experience
Jewell says her time under Dr. Ursula Castellano’s mentorship shaped her into a capable professional across contexts, able to ask good questions, to think critically, and to write clearly.
“I recently interviewed a couple people who developed the first Amazon Alexa, as well as a man developing voice experience for the BBC!” she says. “I get to interface with stakeholders and designers, writers and developers, all the faces of tech. I’m loving it!”
Her VisCom classes prepared her for work in the user experience industry, in particular an informational graphics class with John Grimwade, and a User Experience Web Design class with Juan Thomassie.
“Without that knowledge and those critical visual skills I wouldn’t have stood a chance in the tech job market!”
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