Rebecca Nurlu is our new Marketing Specialist at Border Crossing UX. Rebecca brings a wealth of marketing experience, and has a clear passion for user experience. We sat down with her to find out more about why she joined the consultancy, and what she’s enjoying so far.

What do you do at Border Crossing UX?

I joined the team last month as the Marketing Specialist. I work with clients to bring a marketing perspective to new product launches or to accelerate existing marketing strategies. Additionally, I also work on the marketing for Border Crossing UX – including running our Social Media pages. If you don’t already, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter for exciting new updates!

How has your career path brought you here?

I have quite a varied background, not only geographically but also in terms of career. After studying Marketing in the US, I started my career with Daimler working in the marketing team of the world’s first ever all-electric car sharing start-up in San Diego. I then moved to Turkey, where I worked on the Syria Cross-Border Response with a large international NGO for four years (in various roles including proposal writing and portfolio management). I was subsequently hired by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs as a Reporting Officer, before moving back to the UK and returning to my greatest passion; Marketing.

What made you want to work in User Experience?

During my time at Daimler we focused heavily on experiential marketing to build a community around car sharing services; an entirely new market segment in Southern California. My passion for user experience started there, as I organised member events, worked on customer relations, and was a product user myself. Hence I could give first-hand experience on the pain points customers had. It was this experience that stimulated my passion for UX and a desire to explore it further.

What attracted you to becoming a Marketing Specialist at Border Crossing UX?

When I saw the job posting I was instantly interested in the consultancy. This was confirmed when I started working here. The fact that it is a small consultancy with a large roster of clients means that my job is varied and always exciting. It also means that there are endless learning opportunities and room for growth; both for me and Border Crossing UX.

My three-minute walking commute to work is only a bonus.

What has it been like moving to Edinburgh?

Climate aside, I have felt a calling to move to Edinburgh for the last few years. The mix of history and nature, along with the kindness and humour of the locals were huge draws for me. From Portobello Beach to Morningside, I have found that each neighbourhood has a very distinct feel. Though I am biased to Leith, as I live and work here. Even with the blustery weather and short winter days, I am absolutely enamoured and already starting to think that I may be a Leither for life!

What has been the biggest surprise so far?

The biggest surprise for me so far has been seeing how much my previous work had prepared me for UX. When I first applied, I had taken some UX courses but did not believe I had adequate UX experience. However, this has proven to not be true. As I now see that my experiences were perfectly aligned with Border Crossing UX’s user centred approach.

I was also surprised by the breadth of work Border Crossing UX provides to clients, which ranges from facilitating design sprints to user research to user experience design to content audits and conversation rate optimisation (CRO).

What are you enjoying the most?

While the work is fascinating, what I have enjoyed most is the great team that I work with and our fantastic office culture. While I have only been working here for a month, it feels like I have known my teammates for decades.

Is there anything that you’re particularly looking forward to?

I’m looking forward to working more on UX design projects and seeing that process from start to end. I also look forward to participating in more in-person workshops and events, as soon as COVID restrictions are lifted!