A Path of Her Own

Niya Watkins ’11

By Rita Deurdulian

Asking the right questions is critical when navigating the professional world, and Niya Watkins ’11 takes thinking about people and processes to a whole new level. In her job as a product designer who specializes in user experience (UX) at The Atlantic, Niya is immersed in studying people to understand where they’re coming from, what their habits are, and what will work best for them.

Think about what it’s like to navigate an unfamiliar website, experiencing all the photos and stories, the products and services, the comments and testimonials. Do you ever stop to think, “How did I get here?” (and not in the philosophical sense). But what was your path to the particular page you find yourself looking at? How were you led there? Was it your intention to find what you are now seeing? Why did you leave one page and go on to something else? This is where Niya comes in. As a product designer working on the digital presence of an internationally known and highly respected publication, she focuses on crafting the perfect user experience, or user/customer journey, working to improve the site’s design and create web features that add value for visitors.

One of Niya’s current projects focuses on helping to make the digital publication more useful as an academic resource, and this involves creating user personas for subscribers. She explains, “I’ve been conducting interviews with people who fit demographics we want to learn more about, such as educators and students. We create personas based on this research – templates that give us a high-level idea of each group’s needs, motivations, and frustrations.”

While UX digs into site visitors’ needs, Niya and her team must also consider the publication’s intentions and goals: What path would The Atlantic ideally want users to take as they wend their way through the publication’s voluminous digital content and resources? Niya reflects, “Understanding the human experience is essential for creating useful and effective products. I enjoy using my skills to empower people to accomplish their goals. What could be better than creating digital experiences that make life easier?”

Her own path was created in a similarly thoughtful way. At Potomac, Niya’s favorite classes centered around history – so much so that she credits them with sparking her curiosity about a career in diplomacy and international affairs. She interned at the U.S. Department of State during all four years of college at The George Washington University before becoming a full-time State Department employee after graduation.

While working in the Office of Foreign Missions as an operations specialist, Niya provided guidance to the foreign diplomatic community on benefits, immunities, and privileges. She also had a role in ensuring that U.S. companies were honoring those privileges. She says, “That job involved a lot of negotiating, and clear communication was essential. The experience really set me up to go into user-centered design.”

It was during her time in federal service that Niya realized what a hindrance inefficient, poorly-designed websites can be to productivity. She reflects, “I often found myself using creative work-arounds to save time, energy, and money. I came to understand that user-centric design is a vital means of helping people get where they want and need to go in a digital world.”

As she began to research UX design, Niya was amazed to discover a career path that combined many of her interests, including visual design, technology, and anthropology. Feeling that the government was not where she was supposed to be at that time in her life, Niya took a leap of faith. She resigned from the State Department, signed up for a four-month Designlab bootcamp, then landed her first job as a UX designer at the National Geographic Society, just two weeks after completing the course! There, she combined user research and visual design skills to create digital products that facilitate the work and amplify the impact of National Geographic’s community of Explorers – funding recipients who illuminate and protect our world through their work in science, exploration, education, and storytelling.

Niya confides, “I was very content at Nat Geo, but when The Atlantic reached out to me about a product design position, my curiosity was piqued. I was a big fan of The Atlantic, especially after listening to their Floodlines podcast [the story of Hurricane Katrina as told by journalist Vann Newkirk II]. Working for mission-focused companies that align with my values has always been a priority for me.” She continues, “I love that I have the freedom to be experimental when it comes to using digital media to amplify journalism.”

Niya works closely with Atlantic writers to create an online experience that matches the outlet’s brand of storytelling. She says, “Our stories are socially conscious, unapologetic, and well-researched. These qualities are especially important at a time when we’re seeing increased censorship and misinformation.”

Outside of work, Niya loves to travel. This summer she enjoyed a trip to Senegal. She reflects, “Traveling brings me an appreciation of local culture, art, history, and food. I love to see things that are different from what I’m used to.”

Niya’s passion for learning is clear. She has a deep desire to understand where people come from, what they value, and what they need. Reflecting on the journey that brought her to a career in user-centric design, she observes, “We’re constantly evolving, and opportunities to branch off into something else are all around us. There’s a lot of pressure to ‘follow your passion,’ but I think you can discover your passion in the process of doing something else. It comes down to being open to opportunities and finding a fit that feels right for you.”

This article originally appeared in the winter 2023 issue of Potomac’s alumni e-newsletter, Llama Notes. It has been updated for The Term. To read more stories, visit potomacschool.org/llama.

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