Interview: Steven Wakabayashi, Creative Director, UX Lead + Founder of QTBIPOC Design

By Angela Tai

You’ve had an incredible career in the tech and product design space. What inspired you to get into this field?

I would say design has been with me all my life. I started off designing websites in middle school and GeoCities which turned into me designing websites for my friend. I had a small business creating microsites for people in high school. I was actually studying to be a doctor in college and I did everything necessary to achieve that goal of mine; I realized when I was applying for med school that I wasn’t ready. I think my advisor knew deep-down that it wasn’t the right path for me. I decided to take a gap year; I started freelancing on the professional scene. I already had a portfolio of work and had done web design throughout college. With that portfolio, I started getting hired and what was really cool was that I ended up at an agency. I fell in love with the culture and the people. It was very serendipitous that it happened and it was just this transition working across all these verticals in digital. People would truly call me a Unicorn. I decided to take a more creative direction, I’ve been doing this for 16+ years. This isn’t really work for me — it’s just doing something that I really enjoy. This has led me to what I do today — creating a platform for other folks who have a background similar to me and just allowing people to have the permission to pursue it as a career. 

In your podcast, you mentioned that you had to reexamine your relationship with work. Can you tell me what pushed you to that realization and what you did about it? 

I think especially for us designers, we have huge aspirations for ourselves. I was churning and working 20 hours a day, really only sleeping a couple of hours here and there. Plus, I was trying to stay fit and was going to the gym because I was so stressed, I figured I had to work out even harder. With that, my body just crashed and my GI tract collapsed. I was in my late 20’s and it was very hard to believe that as a matter of fact. I was in and out of the hospital for three months straight. The tests with your GI system don’t feel great and I don’t remember the details of those days since I was under anesthesia a lot of the time. It just really hit me that I had to make a change. Over the course of last year, I left everything behind and became really interested in mediation. It really changed how I look at myself and my health. I started meditation in 6 different countries. I sat for a total of two months in silence and it really changed my outlook and how I want to show up for the world. I recognized the importance of sacred spaces; I saw it quickly disappearing around the world and I realized that I wanted to help create that space. 

What are some of the mistakes you see people make when they first get into the industry?

The first one is forgetting why they got into their field to begin with; I think we get so stuck on deadlines or clients or all these things which takes the fun out of what we do. This takes the passion and pleasure out of it. Then you ask yourself: “How do I find room to play and explore?” Also, how do I stay true to why I came on a project in the first place?” Sometimes, people don’t always have your best interests in mind. Other designers struggle with evolving their processes and letting go of their old ways. There’s so many methodologies in this industry and sometimes we have to create a brand new tool. The most successful designers head into a project with a blank slate and are excited to explore. 

You’re vocal about the importance of mindfulness and meditation on your podcast, Yellow Glitter, and your weekly newsletter, Mindful Moments. Countless individuals are learning how to manage fear, anxiety, and stress related to the pandemic. In your opinion, what are some of the things that are extra important to pay attention to during COVID? 

I think a couple of things: first is just being okay, the only person who has permission to be okay is yourself and we have to forgive ourselves for feeling crummy or anxious some days. Also, having that conversation if we ever feel sad. Some people turn to alcohol or substances, I struggled with substance dependency at one point too. I think once we can be fearless and this feeling visits your “house”, you have to invite this feeling in and create this 3D model in your mind in order to understand these intangible feelings a little better. Going back to COVID — allowing that will definitely teach us more lessons about ourselves — I know we hate being alone and with ourselves sometimes. Sometimes, I would spend days or weeks without spending any time alone. If I was busy with work or spending 24/7 with a client, it just didn’t happen. It’s important just to spend time with yourself and to be doing things for yourself. 

Our industry is not very forgiving. You talked about being in the hospital for 3 months and after that you took a year hiatus. Did you have a lot of anxiety while you were “off”?

It isn’t forgiving. Where I saw it the most often is with women who leave for maternity leave or leave to take care of their children for a few years. For myself, that was definitely a concern. I had some recommendations of not leaving and I had this amazing opportunity with a big tech company in San Francisco. But I realized that if I don’t have the right physical health, I won’t be able to do the work. As I took time off, my health definitely improved. I was dabbling in the space of creating safe spaces and mindfulness but money was on my mind. I think a great recommendation I had was from one of my meditation instructors. I said I wanted to do all of these non-profit things but I’m worried about the money. So when finding that middle ground, what does that look like? I was very anti-capitalist and she was very mindful, she said you have to do what you have to do to survive in this world. For myself, I have the luxury to be able to freelance and to do some work on the side. I think the responsibility falls on the folks hiring; they have to be more compassionate people. If we keep taking people out of the talent pool, we’re not doing right by the craft. And, what are we doing right by hiring everyone who has tenure? 

In your article, “My Culture is Not Your Toy,” you discuss how excited you were to begin Queer Eye until you realized that it was not what you expected. Can you talk about what elicited such a strong reaction for those who didn’t read your article? Do you think there’s a difference of perspective from Japanese individuals in Japan versus Japanese Americans?

I think the backlash was reasonable with the activism movements. We’re trying so hard to define what’s around us when it hasn’t been defined yet. What I had to find hadn’t been laid out in the dictionary for some people. What was challenging was the way they portrayed the culture in Japan, they had this cisgender Japanese model speak on behalf of the Japanese queer community. That definitely hit on some nerves for some folks because we have this culture of celebrating celebrities over those who have platforms. In terms of perspective, I think of intolerance. I think it’s different from culture to culture. We have to celebrate everybody and be mindful of the recommendations that we do have. We’re all very different human beings and the way that we’re all raised has been very different. As a second generation Japanese man, my perspective is very different from someone who was born and raised in Japan. Culturally speaking, Asia’s queer community is far behind. A lot of folks who are born and raised in these Asian countries are taught to follow a certain path and behavior. So how do we help educate individuals in intolerant countries? Of course, not just the abuser but also for the victims. These queer Japanese folks who are 40,50,60 years old, it’s a very difficult conversation to have. I think if there are things that we sometimes don’t understand, we can be more compassionate.  We want rights and equity and everyone to be celebrated for each other. 

You’re very vocal about being a queer Japanese man. Did you come out to your family and if so, what was that like?

Definitely not good, my family’s still in denial. Aside from just struggling  to have a conversation about it, it taught me to be more compassionate with my family. My family put their blood, sweat, and tears into raising me. Over the course of my journey, I’ve definitely become more compassionate. The way I talk to people and the way I approach my family is different now, I try to come across as very understanding but it’s an ongoing process. The work I do is supposed to help folks who might be in the same boat as me and teach them to have compassion and celebrate that for other folks. 

Your nonprofit organization, QTBIPOC Design, provides free UX and UI bootcamp classes for LGBTQ+ designers of color. What gave you the inspiration to take this on?

I’ve been doing work very seriously the past year and a half. I wanted to figure out ways that I could really help the community. One of the things that stood out to me was the accessibility of jobs and being able to have that upward mobility. I’ve seen a huge deficit in color, there’s definitely a lot of White and Asian UX designers but it’s rare to find a black queer UX designer. I’ve also taught education courses for design and UX; education is the big hurdle and I started this organization to test out what people were missing. These people aren’t able to afford these boot camp courses. You have all these companies saying that they want to hire these black or queer folks but they don’t because those people don’t have the right experience. I want to help people who really haven’t had the resources. 

One of your Youtube videos focuses on dealing with unconscious bias. What are some strategies we can all use to overcome our unconscious biases? 

I would say that when things don’t align with what is right by us, we should take a moment to just reflect. We only know what we know, whether there’s maybe something that doesn’t sit right or doesn’t align with our sense of reality. But maybe it’s an opportunity for us to learn. A lot of the time, communication with different cultures or different skin colors/ethnicities is a learning experience. For someone with 60 years of living in the same country and community, of course that’s going to be different. The more open-minded we can be - that will be key in unlocking unconscious biases. 

What gives you hope these days?

Right now is a very difficult time for many folks. For many, we’re learning so much more about ourselves and the world. What we’re seeing right now is a lot of other peoples’ struggles coming to light. For folks who struggle to wear masks — what we’re seeing is an outward expression that these individuals don’t know how to deal with. The way I see it is all we’re finally seeing the bubbles come up to the surface of the water. For healing, you have to make sure it comes up to the surface to heal so this is a start. Once it comes up to the surface, we can heal together as a community.