Resume

Experience

Engineering Manager,
Design Systems

Zillow Group

Feb 21- Current

Manager, Email Design System

Zillow Group

March 2020 – Feb 2021

Sr. Visual Designer + Developer

Zillow Group

Nov 2016 – March 2020

Design/Production Consultant

Salesforce

January 2014 – November 2016

Skills

  • HTML
  • Sublime
  • Marketo Editor 2.0
  • AMPscript
  • InVision
  • Illustrator
  • CSS
  • Taxi for Email
  • Litmus Builder
  • Basic JavaScript​
  • Sketch
  • Photoshop
  • Email best practices
  • Testing and QA
  • Troubleshooting
  • Interactive media
  • Microsoft Office
  • Adaptable
  • Training
  • Presenting
  • Animation​
  • G Suite
  • Organized
  • Rebel

Speaking Engagements

EiQ 2021: Email Design Systems for Complex Organizations (& Chaos)

Podcast – Email Talk: Making Awesome Email Design Systems

A lot of work was done getting the email design system off the ground at Zillow. In this episode we’re talking about how Crystal Ledesma managed to do that and what challenges there were along the way.

stensul Webinar: How To Scale Great Email Marketing With Design Systems

Learn how an email design system will supercharge productivity, reinforce branding, and empower email superstardom.

Litmus Live 2019

If no one uses an email design system, did it ever really exist?

Summary: There’s nothing quite like the day you launch your email design system. But, far too often, promises of improved workflows are left unfulfilled as design systems are abandoned in the face of every day work. An email design system is a tool, and like any new tool, your team needs support and guidance to ensure long-term adoption and success. This session covered strategies you can use to get over the hump and foster widespread, long-term adoption amongst your team.

Email Evolution Conference 2019

Email Design Trends and Actionable Insights

Summary: Panel discussion. Video in email, dynamic content, interactive email! Can we get them implemented for next week’s campaign? This panel of seasoned email developers and designers went over the latest design techniques and tricks in their toolset as well the challenges and opportunities adopting the latest email innovations. Attendees learned how email developers adapt to the changing email landscape, stay on top of the latest trends as a freelancer and manage the email work flows for companies like Litmus, and Zillow.

Litmus Live 2018

Better Emails, Faster with Email Design Systems

Summary: Email designers are constantly overworked—trying to get campaigns out on time, on budget, and with minimal problems. Email design systems can drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to create an email, while maintaining quality standards. Attendees saw what goes into building out a successful, scalable email design system—from code and tooling to strategy and adoption—and learned how design systems can improve their workflows all while creating better experiences for your subscribers.

Education

Bachelor of Arts in Art – Multimedia

CSU East Bay, Hayward, CA

Associate of Science – Graphic Design
Platt College, San Diego, CA
Additional Studies

SFSU Extended Campus – UX/UI Design
Girl Develop It – CSS Animation

About

My professional journey has included retail, food service, reception and administrative assistant work before I decided to return to school and pursue a degree that allowed me to turn my hobby of web design and development into a career. Shortly after graduating, I “fell” into email after a chance conversation at a holiday party. Starting out as an email developer, I found the unique challenges of email to be immensely enjoyable.* As my experience grew, it led me to a design and development hybrid role with focus on email design systems. This work led to further growth and into management roles, leading design systems teams for both email and web. When I’m not working on design systems or leading teams, I can be found traveling, enjoying exercise, watching horror or sci-fi, playing video games, drawing, painting or video editing for fun.

*Outlook makes me sad sometimes