I’m a first-gen American who grew up just outside of Philadelphia, speaking Polish with my parents and two siblings. My favorite hobbies include snowboarding, cooking, hiking, and photography. I love shooting concerts and festivals for Live Nation, and some of my work has even been published in Rolling Stone magazine (1)(2). For the past eight years, I’ve been living in LA with my fiancée, Nicole, and our dog, Henry.
My journey into design began while studying graphic design at Drexel University. Through Drexel’s Coop program, I worked full-time as a Jr. UX designer for six months at EPAM, a consulting agency. I continued working there for the next eight years, gaining experience across a variety of industries and Fortune 500 companies.
I discovered the potential of AR while working with Pizza Hut, which ignited my passion for leveraging XR tech to solve fundamental problems for people. This passion led me to join Facebook Reality Labs (FRL), where I worked on building the next generation of tech to help people connect, create, and explore in new ways. I spent 18 months leading designs for Meta Assistant and the gallery for the Meta View App. Unfortunately, I was impacted by the Meta layoffs in April of 2023 but went on to continue bridging hardware and software.
Spatial Labs is a start-up focusing on AR and NFC products. I led a team of designers, established the foundations of the product design practice, and worked directly with the CEO on the company’s product strategy. Within eight months, I was promoted to Director of Product Design. However, after spending just about a year contributing to building out our team and product suite, 20% of the company was impacted by a restructuring, including me.
Since then, I took the opportunity to reconnect with family, friends, and former colleagues, strengthening my support network. I've focused on updating my portfolio, reflecting on my career journey, and redefining my personal and professional goals and values.
As of July in 2024, I am happy to share that I've (re)joined Meta Reality Labs as a Senior Product Designer on the Wearables Design Team! I am thrilled to be back with a focus on building AI-powered experiences on our future suite of devices. If you're interested in connecting, please feel free to reach out to me at sozanskid@gmail.com or connect with me on LinkedIn.
Thanks for tuning in :)