Sara Papa is a UX/UI Designer at Cloudbreak Health. Sara’s job is to help design and develop the website, apps, and products. In addition to helping with Marketing. You can watch her full video interview below.
Cloudbreak: What is your background?
Sara: I live in Los Angeles, California––so it’s always sunny…well for the majority of the year. I have been here for seven years going on eight. Prior to LA, I was born and raised in Japan, and then moved all over the place, including the Philippines and New York. So, I’ve never really been in one place for a very long time. I think this would be the second longest place that I’ve lived in. As a result, I’ve absorbed a lot of cultures, which has led me to being interested in people. My love of people led to creating a safe place for people that talk to me.
Concern for people’s emotional safety and interest in cultures translated into my previous work in customer success. In that job, I realized often that problems aren’t rooted with the actual customer, but in lack of customer education on the products and platforms. That essentially led me into product design. I listened to the customers, determined what they needed, and balanced their needs with the company’s.
Cloudbreak: What does your current role at Cloudbreak encompass?
Sara: To start, I look for ways to build upon our existing solutions. I research what products are out there and compare it with what we currently have. Then, I find ways to improve our products. If we need to create a new product, I will conduct research to determine what is already on the market and what is needed. From there, I will help design the product.
Aside from product design, I wear several other hats. I find myself helping everyone as much as I can. Often, I assist the Marketing team with digital design. I’ll also hop over into Testing to ensure our products are running smoothly.
Cloudbreak: What drew you to product design in healthcare?
Sara: My mom is Filipino, and my dad is Japanese. As a result, my parents experience a language barrier when interacting with healthcare providers. They have difficulties communicating clearly with the provider. After seeing their struggle with healthcare providers and technology, I was driven to work in this field. The mission of Cloudbreak to expand language access in healthcare spoke to me. This mission ensures that I enjoy what I do and propels me to at least try to be the best. I strive to prevent the language access problems that my parents have.
Cloudbreak: What keeps you inspired at work?
Sara: My parent’s experience is the largest motivator and inspiration. Additionally, I pull inspiration from personal stories shared by providers, patients, and interpreters. I’ve heard stories where Martti helped save lives. It’s incredible that I help patients successfully communicate with their providers.
Cloudbreak: Do you have a favorite story you’d like to share?
Sara: When I just began here, I was getting my feet wet and not too familiar with what we were really doing at the time. Then I saw a video of a mom who gave birth at the height of the pandemic. She couldn’t see her child after the birth because the baby was immediately moved to another area of the hospital for safety reasons. While she couldn’t hold her baby, they communicated through our Martti device. I saw that and realized our product can translate into several different helpful tools. There’s not just one purpose.
Cloudbreak: What does your typical day look like?
Sara: It’s pretty chaotic, but fun.
As with a lot of people out there, I do start with coffee or tea, right now I like matcha. After that, read emails, make sure that I’m not missing anything. Then, I usually have a to-do list that I need to tackle, ready to go from the day before, which is absolutely helpful. My day is 10 times easier because I have that organized and ready to go. After I read emails, I just kind of jump right into it. Most of my day is talking to different stakeholders to determine the requirements and project scope. I’ll then do some research to later translate into design.
Cloudbreak: What does humanizing healthcare mean to you?
Sara: I think about my personal experience and interactions with my providers. I choose my providers because they put in the proper care and time. They make me feel like they’re going out of their way and spending an extra 10 minutes with me. I think that’s something that care typically lacks nowadays. Usually, you see providers running around and I don’t blame them. Their jobs are busy and stressful. So that being said, to humanize healthcare, I think it’s just to bring back to the care element––providers demonstrating their commitment to patients. I see Cloudbreak as helping that process by streamlining the care process, allowing providers have more time in their day. With more time, they can focus on care and communication with the patient. That’s how we humanize healthcare.
