Dyani Catori
Dyani C. is a UX and product designer with nearly six years of experience building intuitive, research-driven digital experiences that simplify complex systems for real people. She is a Full Sail University student and Full Sail alum with a foundation in web development, UX design, and human-centered product strategy. Her work is deeply influenced by her neurodiversity-informed design perspective, focusing on reducing cognitive load, supporting real-world decision-making, and creating products that people actually want to return to and use. As an Afro-Latina designer, she brings both lived experience and technical expertise to designing across B2C, B2B, and SaaS environments.
Dyani’s journey into design began while working in HR and customer service roles at Paychex, where she realized she wanted a more creative and impactful career path. She returned to school through a corporate partnership with DeVry University, where she discovered her passion for both design and coding. After earning a design certificate, she immediately continued her education at Full Sail University, ultimately earning her associate’s degree in UX while later returning to complete her bachelor’s degree. Her early career persistence also extended into her professional life; after initially being rejected from Paylocity, she strategically reapproached the opportunity by refining her positioning, reapplying, and directly networking with leadership, ultimately earning an interview and being hired within a week.
Currently, Dyani works as a UX Designer at Paylocity, where she spent several years contributing to digital engagement and product communication experiences before company restructuring led to her team’s layoff. Rather than reenter a less creative direction, she chose to pursue work aligned with her long-term passion for meaningful design impact. Today, she is focused on developing products that support neurodivergent users, including a grounding application for individuals experiencing emotional triggers and the Organized Home Hub, a modular organizational system designed to support busy, multi-role lifestyles. As a mother of five and an individual living with ADHD, Dyani is driven by designing experiences that incorporate motivation, accessibility, and behavioral psychology to help users stay engaged, supported, and empowered in their daily lives.
• Certification, Web Development
• Full Sail University - BTech, User Experience
• Academic Honors from DeVry University
• National Collegiate Honor Society (NCSC)
What do you attribute your success to?
Persistence and continual learning: going back to school, pivoting deliberately, and proactively reaching out (for example, reapplying and contacting people directly on LinkedIn). Also credits creative insight and moments of inspiration that drive solutions.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Let yourself be seen and share your work; don’t hide out of fear of judgment. Pursue what makes you happy and seek collaborators who resonate with your mission.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge in my field right now is that it's really saturated. For every one job, there's probably hundreds of designers competing. The other major challenge is AI. I feel like it's either not being used correctly, or it's just wrecking everything. I believe you can use AI in ways to benefit the human experience over optimization, but unfortunately, most companies just want to optimize. There's not enough places that want to use AI to make being human better. For example, there's a company called Eleven Labs using AI for voice to increase representation and accessibility for people that need a voice. They're adding languages, so a little girl in a village somewhere who's only ever heard her language in her own village will now be able to hear it from people globally, or people who don't have a voice and can't speak for whatever reason will be able to use that technology in multiple languages and scenarios. That's using AI for accessibility and representation, bringing connections between people, instead of just using AI to make workflows work better. Unfortunately, companies aren't utilizing it that way. They just want optimization, so it's frustrating to want to make a difference and feel like you're the only one.
Locations
Orlando, FL 32828