Mentoring Runming Dai through a six-month co-op at Wayfair — from onboarding to a job offer, with senior leaders across the organization asking if she'd join full-time.
Before Runming started, I created an onboarding deck to ease any first-day anxiety. It covered what to expect in the first week, her first project, and a slide specifically about why we hired her. I wanted her to walk in with confidence, not uncertainty about whether she belonged.
I also reviewed Wayfair's co-op competencies alongside the Level 1 Associate Product Designer requirements to understand what she'd need to demonstrate — then built learning objectives that would flex toward the L1 role, not just meet the co-op baseline. My manager Colby reviewed them before I shared them with Runming.
The "Why we hired you" slide — so she knew from day one exactly why she was there.
Our shared Miro board — goals, objectives, tasks, and achievements tracked together across every 1:1.
I held daily 1:1s during Runming's first month — a deliberate choice for a fully remote co-op. Every session was structured around four questions: How are you feeling? How can I best support you? What feedback do you need? Anything else on your mind? This gave her a consistent, safe space from the very beginning.
We used a shared Miro board where both of us could add thoughts before each session — so we never wasted time during 1:1s trying to remember what we needed to talk about.
Monthly career development sessions covered a lot of ground: which design path felt most right for her, job application strategies, and portfolio reviews — with me being as specific and honest as I could from my own experience navigating a design career.
Each project was chosen deliberately — starting with something achievable in one sprint and building toward genuine leadership opportunities as the co-op went on.
Runming's graphic system for the design system site — setting a consistent visual standard across all guidelines.
The Destructive Button component — where Runming led research, design, and usage guidelines from start to finish.
Early in the co-op, Runming and I joined Wayfair's DEI collective. When violence against the AAPI community rose to national attention, Runming came to me with an idea — she wanted to do something meaningful. I encouraged her to lead it herself, and she did.
She planned, organized, and designed a virtual art gallery where anyone at Wayfair could donate artwork for purchase, with proceeds going to Facing History and Ourselves and Year Up. I was a sounding board, helped remove internal blockers, and coached her through the presentation. She did the rest.
The virtual art gallery Runming planned and designed — all planning, execution, and design was entirely hers.
Peer recognition at the end of the co-op — from designers on and beyond our direct team.