In the fast-paced world of tech and design, leaders often face immense pressure to deliver, sometimes at the cost of their team's humanity. How do you champion user experience without sacrificing your team's experience? In this episode of the Speak in Flow podcast, Melinda Lee is joined by Marjan Zamanian, a senior leader in UX and accessibility, who shares her empathetic framework for alleviating these tensions by empowering teams.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

Empowerment and Accountability

“If the team is not empowered, they're not going to be engaged, therefore they're not going to feel accountable.”

How shifting from a top-down approval model to a co-creation model unlocks your team's ownership and drive.

Building a Confident Voice and Presence

“It's okay to take more space.”

Marjan’s personal journey from being told she couldn't attend a technical school to leading in tech, and the surprising physical practice she uses (and recommends to her team) to project confidence and clarity.

Inclusive Leadership for Introverts and Extroverts

Why traditional meetings often fail and how using workshops and silent writing exercises ensures every team member, especially the quietest, is seen, heard, and can contribute their best ideas.

The Leadership "North Star"

How to translate a high-level company vision into a co-created team strategy. Marjan explains her process for building milestones with her team, ensuring everyone is aligned and motivated by a shared purpose.

BLOG:

Empowering your team sounds great in theory, but what does it actually look like on a Tuesday afternoon? If "fostering accountability" feels like a vague leadership cliché, you're not alone.

Read our latest article, "Empowering Your Team to Take True Ownership"

This article breaks down the exact, actionable steps to shift from a culture of finger-pointing to one of genuine ownership.

About the Guest:

Marjan Zamanian is a Senior Manager overseeing the Eligibility & Enrollment Experience at Covered California, where she leads product and design initiatives to ensure Californians can seamlessly access affordable, high-quality healthcare. With over 13 years of experience across the private and public sectors, she is a passionate leader who bridges user experience, accessibility, and service design to create digital services that are truly intuitive and human-centered.

Social Handles:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marjanzamanian/

Website: https://marjanzamanianart.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marjanzamanianart/?__pwa=1

Fun Facts:

• 🎨 The Artist-Leader: Outside of her professional work, Marjan is a contemporary mixed-media artist.
• 🛣️ A Master of Reinvention: Marjan has successfully navigated three distinct career paths, building brands in advertising and design, leading product design and management in the tech private sector, and now applying her expertise to public service in government.
• 🧘‍♀️ The Yoga of Leadership: She is a proponent of bringing mindfulness and physical presence into the workplace, even suggesting team yoga poses to clear the mind.

Melinda Lee is a Presentation Skills Expert, Speaking Coach, and nationally renowned Motivational Speaker. She holds an M.A. in Organizational Psychology, is an Insights Practitioner, and is a Certified Professional in Talent Development as well as Certified in Conflict Resolution. For over a decade, Melinda has researched and studied the state of “flow” and used it as a proven technique to help corporate leaders and business owners amplify their voices, access flow, and present their mission in a more powerful way to achieve results.

She has been the TEDx Berkeley Speaker Coach and has worked with hundreds of executives and teams from Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Caltrans, Bay Area Rapid Transit System, and more. Currently, she lives in San Francisco, California, and is breaking the ancestral lineage of silence.

Website: https://speakinflow.com/

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/speakinflow

Instagram: https://instagram.com/speakinflow

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpowerall

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.

Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!

Subscribe to the podcast

If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.

Leave us an Apple Podcast review.

Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.