​To celebrate women's month, we will be sharing some of our inspirational community members here at SODA. 

Meet Paz Arando, a Product Designer Lead born in Patagonia and based in Berlin. She has worked as a UX Designer for the last ten years, and has been in different roles and teams, from being the only designer at a startup to leading a team at the largest e-commerce in Latin America. After a sabbatical leave, she moved to Germany to keep stepping outside of her comfort zone. She has since landed at AutoScout24, where she is leading a team and crafting the experience for the buyers on AutoScout's platform.

This year’s International Women’s Day theme is ‘Embracing Equity,’ and we were keen to hear Paz’s thoughts on how we can create an equitable space at work.

‘Today we know that we cannot fit all our users inside one or two "user personas." This simplification ignores the fact that we are working for humans that are part of a diverse gradient of age, race, gender, personal stories, and much more that impacts how they interact with our designs. I believe that the shortcut for tackling this challenge is reflecting that diversity in the design teams. But as leaders, we must understand that we need to create an equitable environment where that diversity thrives. Each team member should feel welcome, heard and included without barriers.’