When You Have to Let Go to Make M...
When You Have to Let Go to Make More Impact, with Jen Pearce
Catt's Corner: design leadership conversations with senior, ... by Catt Small
S1 · E5
Jul 28, 2026
35:15
Episode notes

This one's for anyone who's ever pitched something five times before it landed, or wondered which things are actually worth catching when you can't catch everything. Catt sits down with Jen Pearce, a staff designer at Mercury who Catt met when she joined Dropbox — and immediately knew was someone worth talking to. Jen has spent the last two and a half years riding Mercury's rocket ship growth from 600 to over 1,000 people, switching teams twice, and figuring out what staff design actually looks like at a company where design has been built in from the very beginning.

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ℹ️ In this episode

  • What it's like to grow with a company from 600 to 1,000 people as a staff designer
  • Why vision work is a tool, not a trophy — and how to design it for the audience you're presenting to  ... 
Keywords
staff designer
design career
ux career
design leadership
design thinking
design
product designer
tech
tech industry
women in design