SUMMER INTENSIVE
CAREER CLARITY DAYS
A virtual event
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, AUGUST 22-23
12pm-4pm ET (9AM-1PM PT)
Early-bird price: $359* | Standard price: $429
*First 10 registrants get a free copy of facilitator Margo Stern’s book Good Job: Designing Interviews (and Interviewing in Design)
Own who you are.
Know where you're going. Ask for what you want.
Throughout your career, you’ve followed the prescribed path: Refine your craft. Prove your value. Chase the next promotion. But as the industry has changed, career next steps feel fuzzier. Should you stay the course? Reposition yourself? Pivot into something totally new?
You may wonder if you even have the luxury of making these kinds of decisions now with so much uncertainty everywhere.
Our answer? You do! But it’s more important than ever to be clear about what you want—and know how to position your experience in ways that make the case for you.
That vision for the next stage of your career—and the language and materials for sharing it with the world—is what you’ll develop at Career Clarity Days.
This two-day intensive program is designed to help designers get clear on what they want (and don’t want)—and learn how to tell that story to their colleagues, professional connections, and hiring managers… even if it feels new or scary. You’ll walk away not just knowing your why—but also how to communicate it through your resume, portfolio, and other job application materials.
Your FACILITATORS
Jen Dionisio
Coach, trainer, and former design manager
Margo Stern
Staff content designer and author of Good Job
Josh Silverman
Design recruiter, educator, and coach
WHAT’S INCLUDED
✓ Two half-day sessions full of clarifying, action-oriented programming held over the weekend—so work won’t be a distraction.
✓ Peer-to-peer discussions and collaboration sessions designed to help you build yourself a community of support.
✓ Hands-on time to gather and refine your best career stories and integrate them into job application materials that resonate.
✓ Optional office hours with your facilitators to answer questions and give feedback on your job search.
The workshops
THE DESIGNER’S SELF-ASSESSMENT
Facilitator: Jen Dionisio
Let go of who you’re supposed to be—and own who you really want and need
You know you’re ready for something new—but what that looks like feels fuzzy. It’s hard to imagine a future worth pursuing when your head is full of doubts: I’m not talented enough. I’m not legible enough. I’m too old. I’m too burned out. The market’s too weird.
These are all great arguments for staying stagnant. But that’s not what you want. You want a career that feels meaningful, supportive, and achievable. One that builds on all the experiences and knowledge you’ve cultivated over the years. One that doesn’t make you feel like you’re just treading water until the perfect opportunity falls into your lap—or you hit retirement.
In this session, we’ll engage in some real-talk with our inner critics to understand what fears are driving the doubts that make moving forward feel so impossible—and tap into your inner allies to get clear on what matters to you and how to pursue it.
What we’ll do:
Unpack the limiting beliefs and internal stories making you feel stuck and uncertain
Get clear on your wants and whys—beyond your “musts”and “shoulds”
Develop a clear vision for your career future
Set actionable, measurable goals for your career in the near- and long-term
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Coaching & Community
We’ll bookend the weekend with group coaching sessions—structured spaces designed to help you explore the topics more deeply and get the most out of the day.
Opening session
We’ll start by sharing our biggest hangups when it comes to making career shifts—and getting practice understanding our interests when we aren’t trying to meet anyone’s expectations but our own. You’ll enter your first workshop ready to push back against the parts of your brain telling you what you can’t do.
Closing session
At the end of the weekend, we’ll come back together to synthesize what you’ve learned and make decisions about how you want to approach your job search and evaluate opportunities that align to your career vision and goals. You’ll leave with a bank of stories ready to share and a sustainable action plan to pursue.
Throughout the weekend, you’ll also forge real connections with your peers—going past small talk and easy answers, and building relationships that will continue supporting your career development.
WHO SHOULD JOIN US
✓ You work in any flavor of UX or product design—including user research, content, design ops, or strategy
✓ You're mid-career or higher—and feeling like you’ve hit a professional wall or glass ceiling
✓ You’ve been thinking hard about what’s next, but feel too overwhelmed to take action
✓ You want to reimagine your design career—not a full pivot into a new field
✓ You want to be able to position your past experience to match what you’re seeking
✓ You feel isolated in your job search—and want to connect with other job seekers in the field
The agenda
Saturday
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We’ll start day 1 with a group coaching session that unpacks the topic and helps you connect with your fellow attendees.
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Learn how to stop playing defense and set an inspiring career vision in this workshop facilitated by Jen Dionisio.
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Identify the stories that make you stand out and support your career aspirations in this workshop facilitated by Margo Stern.
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We’ll close day 1 with a quick debrief and instructions for how to prepare for tomorrow’s sessions.
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Clarify any questions or personal challenges by jumping into office hours with Jen, Margo, or Josh.
SUNDAY
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Clarify any questions or personal challenges by jumping into office hours with Jen, Margo, or Josh.
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We’ll open day 2 with a quick recap of yesterday’s learnings and an opportunity for you to workshop the career stories you most want to share.
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Develop tactical skills for translating your stories into materials that resonate with hiring managers in this workshop facilitated by Josh Silverman.
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We’ll close day 2 with a group coaching session that will help you define how you want to put this weekend’s learnings into action.
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Clarify any questions or personal challenges by jumping into office hours with Jen, Margo, or Josh.
your facilitators
JEN DIONISIO
Director of coaching programs at Active Voice
Jen is the director of coaching programs at Active Voice, where she helps designers heal from burnout and people-pleasing and rethink their relationships to work. She is an ICF-certified coach who earned her certification from Leadership That Works. Jen has more than a decade of experience helping 1:1 clients, direct reports, and teams get clear on their career direction and growth goals.
MARGO STERN
Staff content designer and author of Good Job
Margo Stern is a staff content designer and author of the book, Good Job: Designing Interviews and Interviewing in Design. It’s a two-sided book offering practical, informed advice for hiring managers and job-seekers alike. She’s worked as a manager and IC at Google, Twitter, Facebook, and Peloton, and is currently loving her role at Lyft.
JOSH SILVERMAN
Founder at PeopleWork Partners, career coach, and former chair of the Master of Interaction Design program at CCA
Josh helps founders, CEOs, and design teams hire well, build culture, and find their footing. As Founder & CEO of PeopleWork Partners, he's placed emerging leaders at Netflix, OpenAI, Cisco, Target, and beyond—and advised early teams at Sequoia Design Lab and Sutter Hill Ventures. For 30 years he's worked at the intersection of entrepreneurship, design, and education.
Register now
Career Clarity Days will be held virtually on August 22 and 23, 2026.
Your ticket includes two half days of programming, from 12pm-4pm ET (9am-1pm PT), including:
Opening coaching session
3 hands-on workshops meant to help you start (or go deeper on!) your job search
Optional office hours where you can get personal support from your facilitators
Closing coaching session
standard Ticket
Early-bird registration lasts through July 31, and the first 10 registrants will receive a free copy of Margo Stern’s Good Job.
$359
STANDARD Ticket
Registration will close on August 20, 2026, or when we hit capacity.
$429
FAQ
Need something not answered here? Send us a note—we’d love to answer it personally.
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Registration will close on August 20, 2026, or when we hit event capacity. We’ll let you know when tickets are limited.
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We allow for ticket transfers up until 48 hours before the event, and partial refunds up to 28 days before the event. Please see our official ticketing and refund policies for details.
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Yes! Please send us an email at throughline@activevoicehq.com with any specific information you need included on your invoice and we’ll do our best to accommodate.
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Yes, at checkout you’ll have the option of paying in full or splitting your ticket into two equal payments, one at checkout and one 30 days later. There is no fee for paying in installments.
Design your career with insight, strategy, and heart. Join us ON AUGUST 22-23.
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