Delegated Power: The Ethics of Equitable Product Experiences - S256

Timothy Bardlavens is chaotic good in its purest form. He is a Gay, Black man from the Carolinas, the youngest son of a single mother and everything institutional trauma and oppression says you cannot be or become. He is a Design Leader, a Cultural Strategist, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) specialist, a Co-Founder, a writer and an International Speaker & Facilitator on topics of design & tech culture, equity, white supremacy and systems of oppression.

Currently, a Product Design Manager at Facebook, Timothy leads Community Relevance and Culture—whose mission is to create experiences that enable culture to emerge and thrive on Facebook. Previously, he led design for Zillow’s newest venture, Zillow Offers—building the team and product vision of an end-to-end experience for buying, selling, financing and managing a home, all within the Zillow ecosystem. In addition to Microsoft, where his leadership focused on core UX and Intelligent (AI/ML) experiences in Outlook across all endpoints, platform experiences that span the O365 Suite and core browsing experiences in Edge.

As a cultural strategist, he specializes in assessing, dismantling and rebuilding organizational cultures built on systems of oppression and white supremacy. Timothy works with leaders to develop people-centric strategies with clear, actionable steps to increase diversity, create more inclusive spaces and design more equitable systems.

Partnering with Antionette Carroll, Timothy co-founded &Design—an organization whose mission is to cultivate and activate Black, Latinx, and Indigenous Designers by providing tools, resources and training to support them on their creative career journey. 

Timothy is an active member of Adobe’s Design Circle, as well as an international speaker and facilitator, speaking on topics of Organizational Culture, DEI, Design Diversity, Racial Justice Product Design/Development, Inclusive Design and more.