Read on Twitter
I got interviewed about being a design leader at @DoorDash leading the design systems team: https://medium.com/@taekkim/interview-with-kathryn-gonzalez-9b2ef0c8d3e2 (I'm hiring for iOS eng!)
But, what I want to talk about is how I, a queer/trans woman of color
, came out as my authentic self & became a leader.
A thread
But, what I want to talk about is how I, a queer/trans woman of color
, came out as my authentic self & became a leader.A thread
I'll have been at DoorDash for 5(
!) years in 2 wks. I was the first FT Product Designer, and I've seen it grow from a tiny office in an old veterinary hospital (shown on week 1 ) to a hugely impactful company that is helping support an entire industry through uncertain times.
!) years in 2 wks. I was the first FT Product Designer, and I've seen it grow from a tiny office in an old veterinary hospital (shown on week 1 ) to a hugely impactful company that is helping support an entire industry through uncertain times.
I've worked on countless redesigns, brand updates, UI components, new products, and landing pages as a designer or design lead. 
But alongside that, I did more—I was also our first frontend engineer, and migrated us to React in 2015(!), back when it was relatively new.
But alongside that, I did more—I was also our first frontend engineer, and migrated us to React in 2015(!), back when it was relatively new.
In 2017, after a few years bouncing between being a designer and engineer at DoorDash and throughout my career, I wanted to find a space for the kind of person I knew I was, that wanted to live in the intersection of design and engineering.
So I made my own dream job.
So I made my own dream job.
I wrote up a job description, thought deeply about the role and what I wanted to be doing, and presented it to my boss at the time, Josh Abrams, and I told him this is what I was meant to do, and what I could do for DoorDash.
And with respect and understanding, he said yes.
And with respect and understanding, he said yes.
And so I changed roles, and started working on design systems, where I could work as both a UI designer and UI engineer on the same job. I made the space for the kind of work I wanted to do, with all the support of the org behind it. 
But I had personal challenges to face…
But I had personal challenges to face…
In 2017, I was in the closet. I had been trans and hiding for my entire life, and I had never told a soul about the fact that I knew that I wasn't living my life authentically as the gender assigned to me at birth, and it hurt—it hurt every day to know I wasn't fully myself. 
By the end of that year, I knew I had to change things. I accepted I was trans, and that I would need to come out if I wanted to be able to get up every day and live my life.
So I started coming out to the people I was closest to in early 2018, telling them my full truth.
So I started coming out to the people I was closest to in early 2018, telling them my full truth.
It was hard. It took a lot of tears, time and emotional energy to find the courage to tell people I hadn't been who I had pretended to be all this time.
I lost people along the way, but I ultimately grew closer to the people around me without the wall of my identity between us.
I lost people along the way, but I ultimately grew closer to the people around me without the wall of my identity between us.
And eventually, after spending 2018 professionally building out our design language system (DLS), growing as a leader on the design team, and hiring my first teammate (the wonderful @mattjlew!) I decided I was finally ready to come out at work in addition to my personal life 
It was so scary—I had been there for 3.5 years at that point, and so many people knew me as one person. And to change that overnight, and have an entire company change that understanding of me was daunting. It took me a long time to find the courage I needed.
Thankfully I didn't have to do it alone. Friends like @BadSauce, a manager like @albertpoon, and the fact that I knew and trusted the team around me after doing so much work to hire and shape DD culture was what helped me feel safe and ready to come out. 
So I sent an email on Friday, December 6th, 2018, coming out to everyone at work that I was trans:
And the response was amazing: my coworkers, friends, mentors all made me feel so loved and supported, and I had finally come out on all sides of my life. I had the space to be me, and happy 
And since then, so much has happened—I officially became a manager, I grew the team from me and @mattjlew to a team of 5 wonderful people across iOS, Android, Web eng and design, that includes @gerardodm, @thedragonbabe and Swaroop, and I learned so much about being a leader:
That at the foundation of it all, is the fact that we all have the capacity & courage to make hard, difficult decisions that have so much impact on ourselves and others if we have the space and support of the people around us. Real leaders make that space for others.
I'm so thankful for my managers, Josh, @albertpoon, Helena for all giving me the space to thrive in my career, and the support to be fully me at work—in different ways and at different times throughout this journey. 
And I'm hopeful I can do the same for people that want to be able to do the work that they believe in, that want to be more themselves at work, that need that space and support in any facet of what they do or who they are. That's the kind of leader I want to be. 
And so, that's how I became a design leader at @DoorDash while being authentic to myself and who I am over these last 5 years. I'm proud to be doing what I am, and I'm proud of how I get to do it.
/fin
/fin
(Also, if you want to join this wonderful group of humans and work on design systems on iOS (SwiftUI!?!) as an engineering lead, DM me/apply: https://boards.greenhouse.io/doordash/jobs/2145197retweet
or, if you know someone that is an amazing iOS engineer that cares deeply about design, please retweet/share)
or, if you know someone that is an amazing iOS engineer that cares deeply about design, please retweet/share
)
