Cyd Harrell (@cydharrell) has had a passion for the way things work since before user experience was a recognized field. She received her formal training from Yale University, where she studied Linguistics with a focus on socio-linguistics. Cyd’s career has included roles in Marketing, QA, Product Management, and official User Experience. Her expertise in qualitative analysis and her interpretive skill have enabled her to bring together user needs and business requirements to the benefit of both. Along the way, she made time to help found San Francisco Women on Web, an education and networking organization.

Cyd joined Bolt | Peters User Experience in July 2006 after several years at Charles Schwab. She manages B|P’s consulting arm, and has assisted clients such as Sony, Washington Post, and Harvard Business School in making major changes to their web offerings. In the rest of her life she writes poetry, practices yoga, and hangs out with her young daughter.