Hi, I’m Anja!

I was born in Poland, raised in the USA, and now live in Canada (in beautiful, livable, and often-snowy Montréal).

I have a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Northwestern University, a B.Sc. in psychology from McGill University, and was a postdoctoral research fellow in cognitive neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania.

Over time, my work moved from the lab to the real world.

I am a maker at heart and love to put research into practice, get creative, and solve hard problems to help turn ideas into reality.

There’s no fun like work.

Currently, I do product research at Composer. With Composer, you can build trading algorithms with AI, backtest them, then execute—all in one platform.

Previously, I was a consultant doing exploratory research, product development, UX and product strategy. I was also the Director of Research at Breather, where I led UX, marketing, and behavioral insights research. You can check out a list of past positions on LinkedIn.

I used to write the Minding Design newsletter, where I shared research to help you design great products, spaces, and experiences. You can check out a list of research papers, as well as other writing for a general audience here.

Minding Design — Research to help you design great products, spaces, and experiences.