About Dara
Twenty years designing for humans. Now making AI work the same way.
I'm Dara Pressley — UX leader, product strategist, and the person teams call when they want AI adopted with taste instead of hype.
The short version
Design rigor first. AI second. In that order, on purpose.
I've spent two decades in UX and product strategy — leading teams, shipping products people actually want to use, and learning what separates work that respects its audience from work that just ships. That was the first education.
The second one started when AI got real. I spent two years as AI Business Lead at ICF, figuring out what these tools genuinely change about knowledge work — and building an AI-assisted practice years before it was a LinkedIn personality type. Not experimenting on the side. Running work through it, daily, and keeping what held up.
8co is where the two meet: design judgment applied to AI adoption. I don't speak engineer. I speak human. That's the whole point.
How I work
A few things you can count on.
Plainspoken, always
No jargon, no hype cycle, no "leverage synergies." If a recommendation can't survive being said in plain language, it isn't ready.
Your work stays yours
The taste, the judgment, the voice — those are the parts AI doesn't get to have. Everything I set up is built to protect them.
Honest fit, both ways
If a cheaper tool, a free tutorial, or "not yet" is the right answer, that's what you'll hear. I'd rather lose a project than ship you the wrong one.
Practice, not theory
My own business runs on the workflows I sell. When I recommend something, it's because it survived contact with real work — mine.
Why this matters to me
Good work has a person in it. The point of these tools is to give you more room to be that person — not less.
That's the line I hold, for my own work and for every client's.
Let's figure out your version.
Solo operator or a whole org — the conversation starts the same way. Tell me what you're working on.
Start a project