Brittney Urich, a proud third-generation Spartan, graduated from Michigan State in 2015 with a degree in Professional Writing. At first, she had dreams of moving to New York and working for a publishing company. However, this changed as she was exposed to web design and coding during her time as a student.
Along with fellow Spartan Zoe Zapitell, this newfound interest would lead to the two creating an app called Connecter. The goal of Connecter was to connect students across campus with similar interests.
At its peak, Connecter captured 20% of the MSU student body at launch.
“We thought at the very worst case, it’ll be a really fun and interesting experience and I’ll see if I like UX. Best case scenario we become the next Facebook,” said Urich.
Even though Connecter didn’t become the next Facebook, the duo says it was “the single best learning experience we’ve ever had” It was the first time they took UX theory learned in class and applied it in a real-world setting.
“I think if you go into it with the mindset of this is something I’m going to learn from, and if takes off amazing, and if it doesn’t, I’ll make the next thing better,” said Urich.
Urich credits this success to the help of professors Ben Lauren and Jeff Grable.
“They were along for the ride, and willing to help us figure out how we were going to build an app,” said Urich.
After graduating, Urich started her career out west as a Product Designer at Dealer360 and then transitioned to Olgivy to work in financial services.
“If I had not been through the wringer with entrepreneurship at Michigan State and then secondarily at Ogilvy, I don’t know that I would feel so comfortable making those big decisions,” said Urich.
Cutting her teeth at Olgivy working in both writing and design, prepared her for her biggest role to date, working at Amazon as a UX designer for Amazon Business. What makes this transition more impressive is that Urich did it during the middle of the pandemic.
“The transition made for a particularly fun challenge, but it’s one that I feel really at home having made,” said Urich.
She believes the entrepreneurial mindset she gained during her time in the MSU ecosystem helped her with this transition.
“You’re flying by the seat of your pants and inventing things as you go. At Amazon that’s helped me because I’ve been able to come in and embrace the intrapreneurship model, pitch an idea, and make it happen. And I love that it makes me feel so empowered to have that level of trust early in my career at Amazon,” said Urich.
Influenced by her mentors at MSU, she also believes in the importance of giving back. In her spare time, Urich has been a keynote speaker for Adobe Creative sharing her knowledge on UX design.
“I had so many wonderful mentors at MSU and even alumni were willing to meet me for coffee and help me break into the UX industry. I know I would not be where I am today without them believing in me,” said Urich. “I want to make sure whether it’s other students or professionals in this area feel like they have someone to ask the same questions I had when I was starting out.”