I’m Hillary Black 👋 You probably met me online.
How did I get here?
I started my first blog in 7th grade and never looked back. Since then, I’ve had a long career blogging for brands and various publications, and an even longer career in social media for brands like Vine and University of Michigan. When Vine shut down in 2016, I began my journey as an entrepreneur, turned conversation design expert, speaker, educator, community host, mentor, strategic advisor and content creator.
What started as social media consulting for brands led me to my next passion - Conversational AI.
In the same year I started my first business, I also designed my first chatbot.
A few months after that, I wrote my first blog post about my experience. That blog post may have introduced you to me years ago, or even led you to this website. I also started cultivating a community that has now grown to nearly 3000 members. It’s called Conversation Designers Internet Club.
In 2017 I joined Mav, a conversational AI consultancy as their head of marketing and design. We’ve since launched our product by the same name, Mav, the AI SMS assistant for sales and lead generation.
My experience and community in conversation design has continued to grow over the last 6 years, which led me to develop an online course with UX Content Collective called Chatbot Writing & Design, regularly create content with partners like Amazon and Voiceflow, and speak on many podcasts and at conferences.
In 2021 I launched a candidate-matching job board specifically for conversation designers, ConversationDesignerJobs.com, the first of its kind with the largest network of vetted conversation design talent in the world!
I also started coaching designers and companies, hosting free group mentorship sessions and sharing my expertise on Substack to give more people access to support as they navigate their careers in the industry. Helping others succeed has by far been the most rewarding part of my work in this industry.
I’m currently based in Las Vegas. For more about me and my day-to-day, check out my Instagram.