Her Story
About Marina
Marina Heaney is a product designer and user experience strategist whose career has been dedicated to creating thoughtful, human-centered digital experiences. After completing an intensive design bootcamp in 2017, she launched her career in New York City's fast-paced startup ecosystem, building her skills through a series of hands-on roles before joining Slingshot Health in 2018. Her expertise deepened significantly at Northwell Health, where she played a key role in designing virtual healthcare experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, including online appointment scheduling and telehealth solutions that helped patients access care during a critical time.
Today, Marina serves as a Senior User Experience Designer at Dayforce, where she focuses on product strategy, workforce management solutions, and the integration of emerging technologies into HR platforms. After gaining experience at Cigna, she followed a trusted leadership team to Dayforce in 2022, where she initially worked on redesigning recruiting and talent management experiences before transitioning to workforce management products. Her work combines strategic thinking, long-term product vision, and deep collaboration with cross-functional teams to create solutions that improve how people interact with complex systems. She is particularly interested in how artificial intelligence can enhance HR technology and create more intuitive, effective user experiences.
What distinguishes Marina's approach is her belief that successful design begins with understanding the real problem beneath the surface. Drawing from her early experience working in a drug and alcohol treatment center during college, she learned that what people say they need is often not the root issue they are experiencing. That perspective continues to shape her work today, guiding her efforts to uncover underlying user needs and design meaningful solutions that genuinely improve people's lives. Driven by creativity, independence, and a desire to help others, Marina remains committed to building products that solve real-world challenges while balancing innovation with empathy and practical business goals.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Marina
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to drive and motivation. Those two pieces are a huge part of what make me who I am. I never wanted to have to accept money from my parents, so I wanted to make it on my own. From when I was in college up until the point I got my first design job, my dad was like, how the hell are you going to make money with an art degree? Or, in the arts, how are you going to make money? And I just wanted to show, look, I found this field, I found this thing that allows me to be creative and make enough money to support myself and still do my art. That was the goal. That was the drive. I also find that a lot of the lessons I learned helping addicts at the drug and alcohol treatment center where I worked in college translate to product design, because usually what someone says is the issue is not actually the issue, and what they say they need is not actually what they need. I was trying to figure out how can I still help people, but not be on the front lines of something that intense every day, and also be able to use my creativity. When I met a woman from college who went into product design and she told me about her work, I realized UX is the perfect intersection of all the things that I want to do. Once I uncovered that, then I just did the research to figure out how to make it happen.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is: It's just HR software, it's not that deep. That idea of not getting very attached to your work - don't get too attached to your work. Sometimes it gets built, sometimes it doesn't get built. It's just HR software. It's not that deep. That's what I tell myself every day. You know, there's also projects that you work on and you put your heart and soul into, and then they don't actually go to development because things get de-scoped. So I try not to get too attached to the projects I work on, because they may or may not get developed. I have to understand that decisions are made above my pay grade.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values that guide both my work and personal life are creativity, community, service, and continuous growth. I am passionate about using the arts to bring people together and create meaningful experiences, which is reflected in my involvement in Santa Fe’s theater community as a performer, director, producer, and nonprofit leader. Since moving to Santa Fe in 2020, I have participated in numerous local productions, produced and starred in The Rocky Horror Show through my own company, served on the board of Tri-M Productions, and remained actively involved with the Santa Fe Playhouse. I also believe strongly in giving back to my community, supporting opportunities for others to grow, and staying engaged in causes that matter to me. Outside of work and theater, I value balance, relationships, and spending time outdoors with my husband, our dog, and our cat. Whether professionally or personally, I strive to approach life with purpose, collaboration, and a commitment to lifelong learning.
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