Curriculum vitae

Lee Chazen

UX content designer · Conversational AI writer · Upwork Expert-Vetted (top 1%)

Davis, Californialchazen@gmail.com(916) 759-6231linkedin.com/in/chazenApp portfolio ↗

Summary

I write the words people meet inside an app, and the words a character says back to them. For nine years that has meant fintech, where every sentence has to be warm, plain, and compliant. Alongside it I build and ship conversational characters — a behavioral coach designed with a psychotherapist, a suite of character bots with 29,000+ documented uses. My specialty is the hard moment: dialogue for users who are confused, discouraged, or embarrassed. Writing as a design problem first.

Core competencies

UX writingConversational AI designContent strategyPrompt engineeringDialogue architectureUser researchSocratic questioningFintech compliance (FINRA / FinCEN)B2B SaaSLLM orchestrationCurriculum designCross-functional facilitation

Experience

2016 – 2026

Lead Content Strategist & UX Writer

Treasury Curve — Silicon Valley B2B fintech
  • Wrote all in-app content for direct-trading screens, cash and money-fund calculators, and automated liquidity tools, turning dense financial data into intuitive flows.
  • Developed a proprietary content compliance protocol (1–5 scoring matrix) meeting FINRA and FinCEN requirements, including a human-run rubric for edge cases.
  • Used plain-language metaphors to explain complex data automation across product copy, walkthroughs, and simulation videos.
  • Reframed outbound corporate communication from broadcast to conversational — a 45% increase in page views.
2015 – Present

Founder & AI Concept Architect

GliderCell
  • Independent practice in conversational design and cross-functional facilitation; 25+ AI applications shipped.
  • SF AI startup (2025–2026): designed the human-facing dialogue and scaffolding layer for a proprietary research engine, translating the research into a plain-language playbook for executives.
  • MRO Supply Co (2017): architected a company wiki turning one-off customer solutions into shared institutional memory; designed a game-based token economy for call-center upskilling.
  • Cisco Systems (2015): bridged UX designers in San Jose and developers in China with a shared design vocabulary and a HikeStorming format for faster prototyping.
2004 – 2015

Independent Consultant, Curator & Instructional Designer

Various
  • SmartEdPad / SmartEdTech (2014): product and explainer content for a special-education tablet platform; search strategy that reached #1 on Google for the primary keyword set.
  • TEDx Sacramento (2009–2012): board member and head of the speaker team; coached researchers and technologists to compress dense academic work into accessible talks.
  • K12TechReview (2013): evaluated LMS platforms for usability, learning-science alignment, and data privacy.
  • Education Unlimited (2005): taught competitive debate and Socratic argumentation at Stanford and UC Berkeley summer programs.
1992 – 1999

Teacher & Program Designer

Galena High School / Washoe County School District
  • Led a seven-year classroom experiment restructuring traditional instruction into a decentralized, student-led environment.
  • Invented the original Global Challenge simulation — treaty negotiation and budget management — with documented gains in retention and problem-solving.

Education

M.A., Education (Curriculum & Instruction)
California State University, Sacramento — thesis: “Thriving on the Edge of Chaos: An Argument for a Complex Adaptive Theory of Education”
B.A., Political Science (minor: History)
Colorado State University
Secondary Teaching Certification, Social Science
University of Nevada, Reno

Recognition

  • Upwork Expert-Vetted — top 1% globally for conversational design and content strategy.
  • Falling Walls Global Competition, Berlin — top 70 of 1,000+ entries, Future of Learning.
  • Contributing author, AI Futures: An Anthology (2024) — “When Everything Became Possible.”
  • Guest, The Soul of AI podcast, episode 12 — human-AI thought partnership.
  • Executive board, TEDx Sacramento.

If any of this fits what you're building, the fastest route is the form. Tell me where the conversation is getting stuck.

Open the form ↗