I research. Design with words. Tell stories.
UX, HCI, communications, lecturing, and presentation training. This is what I do.
At present, I work as a UX/HCI Researcher at Q (now Apple).
You can find me at the intersection of human behavior and moonshot technology, collaborating with diverse tech teams, product teams, and management stakeholders to advocate for the user in everything we build.
My background mixes three decades of journalism and communications expertise with HCI/UX rigor. I love exploring how people use tools and how they communicate with them.
I collaborate with cross-functional teams to:
• Lead projects and synthesize research insights that bridge the gap between complex tech and human behavior.
• Move emerging tech out of the lab/prototype stage and into the real world as intuitive, socially legible products.
• Identify pain points (emotional, cognitive, physical) to ensure technology feels natural.
• Translate complex technical concepts for stakeholders and users without the jargon.
• Advocate for the user to ensure that emerging technology stays human-centered.
I hold an MA in Human-Computer Interaction (cum laude) and a BJH in Journalism and English Literature (honors). My thesis research explored the role of humor in HCI and HHCI, specifically as a tool to mitigate social awkwardness.
I am a published author of academic papers, an educational resource book, and thousands of journalism articles. My career includes senior editorial and production roles at major media agencies and HCI/UX/Product roles at startups in VUI, AI, med-tech, and cyber.
You can also find me at Reichman University, where I lecture for the cross-platform investigative journalism workshop. Additionally, I teach a writing workshop at HUJI for science students. And I give tailor-made lectures.
I am a mom of three (all teens), a Scrabble fan, a traveler when possible, and ever curious.
Services
UX/HCI Research
I help teams figure out how people think and behave when they use technology. As an HCI and UX researcher, I translate between both sides and act as a bridge between what the engineers want to build and what the users need for the tech to succeed.
I’m here to find the frictions and help fix them. I bring the research and the rationale to help you make sense of the data points and build interfaces that not only feel intuitive and human but will be used by the people you hope will use them.
Content, Communications
As an ex-journalist, blogger, editor, and lecturer, I use my expertise to write, create, and design with words in the corporate and academic arenas.
At the university level, I teach students how to write journalistic articles and academic papers.
In high-tech, I write conversational scripts and prompts to train LLM models at scale. I help tell a company's story with impact. I can also write content (blogs, posts, articles, etc.) that takes complex ideas and makes them easy to understand.
Am I worried about AI taking over? Nope. Sure, it is so easy to turn to AI for written content. But ask yourself this: why are AI companies turning to writers to shape nuance, intent, and clarity?
Public Speaking, Presentation Training
I give talks to everyone -- from founders to local groups to students looking for something new. Each of my talks is tailor-made and built from scratch to fit the room.
I have given talks on Israel's Innovation Stories, lessons of Failing Forward in different societies, and Stories of Resilience since October 7, 2023.
My talks are all research-backed and tell the stories you don't hear enough about in the news. I also show others how to do it in my How to Give a Talk workshops.
Journalism Work
I spent nearly three decades as a journalist: finding the facts and telling the stories. Whether reporting for TV, newspapers, radio, or online, my career taught me to master high-pressure environments and the fast-paced, ever-changing world of media.
Reporting the news is a balance of securing the story and contextualizing the coverage. I have covered general news, wars, politics, health, entertainment, social action, culture, innovation, travel, and more.
Over the years, I have interviewed prime ministers and presidents, rock stars and archaeologists, professors, CEOs, innovators, activists, Paralympians, and Olympians... and everyone in between.
Below you'll find links to a selection of the articles I have written.
While I have moved to a new career path, an ex-journalist never truly leaves the craft behind. I still apply my curiosity and my commitment to rigor as an HCI/UX Researcher and Interaction Writer.
2500+ Articles. 200+ Video Reports.
Testimonials
I had the pleasure of working closely with Viva at Q.ai, following her fantastic coverage of OrCam. She is highly intelligent, creative in her thinking, and consistently brings fresh perspectives to the challenges she tackles. Just as importantly, Viva is a joy to work with -- collaborative, thoughtful, and always positive. I would gladly work with her again.
Yonatan Wexler
Co-Founder, CTO of Q.ai (acquired by Apple)
Viva is a remarkable speaker!
I have attended two of her talks - one for adults and another for teens. Her style is highly engaging and her materials are relevant, audience-specific, on-point and contemporary. She is absolutely riveting!
Diane Friedman
Co-chair, King David High School PAC, Vancouver
"ויוה עזרה לי המון בהכנה לפרזנטציה בכנס בינלאומי שבו הצגתי בפעם הראשונה. לאורך בניית המצגת והאימונים של ההצגה עצמה, ויוה נתנה לי המון טיפים מועילים אשר בסופו של דבר עזרו לי להרגיש בטוחה ובנוח עם התוכן שאני מעבירה, היא ידעה לזהות ברגישות רבה מהן החולשות שלי ואיך ניתן לחזק אותן ואפילו להתגבר עליהן. אני בטוחה שהמצגת שלי הייתה נראת אחרת ומרגישה אחרת ללא ויוה. קיבלתי ממנה המון ביטחון ותמיכה לצד מקצועיות שלא מתפשרת."
Adi Manor
User Experience Researcher
If you are looking for someone who can bridge the gap between innovative technology and user experience, Viva is the right person you want by your side.
I had the immense pleasure of working with Viva at Q (recently acquired by Apple), where we collaborated to bring a brand new technological capability to life - a task that required solving for dozens of unknowns and establishing an entirely new concept for user experience.
Besides being a pleasure to work with and bringing a smile to everyone in the office, Viva is a true professional. She has a unique capability to understand and deconstruct deep technical issues, sometimes with high ambiguity, and translate them to applicable concepts, user studies, experiments and product requirements.
Viva is a world-class collaborator and a true asset to any forward-thinking organization.
Asaf Kagan
VP bits at Q.ai (acquired by Apple)
For those seeking a different perspective on contemporary Israel than the one which usually makes the headlines, Viva Press provides it. Our community very much enjoyed hearing about all the amazing high-tech advances that have made Israel into a "start-up" nation. Viva's engaging presentation style helped make accessible to our community the complex technologies that form the core of her expertise.
Rabbi Ed Elkin
First Narayever Congregation, Toronto
I had the pleasure of working with Viva for a year at a stealth startup called Q.ai that was recently acquired by Apple. Viva was the only UX person in the Israel HQ office, and she wore a lot of hats. She did everything from storyboarding ideas to get buy in from stakeholders, to running in-house and external research. She also partnered closely with the machine learning team to improve data collection. She was the conduit between my local team in California and what was going on in HQ. She interacted with everyone from the CEO to HR to interns, always digging in to the most challenging assumptions and questions. Being a stealth startup, we had to get creative on how to do research and testing, and she always found ways to get things done. With her background in journalism, she knew the right questions to ask, and how to engage with people.
On stage, Viva Sarah Press demonstrates a commanding and compelling grasp of Israeli technology and innovation and the ways they influence and impact a broader global society. She is a skilled storyteller who is able to turn complex narratives into relatable anecdotes that both engage the audience and leave people eager to hear more. Her wealth of experience and expertise is complemented by her dry wit and straightforward approach, all of which make her the perfect panelist or keynote speaker for any audience or occasion."
Alison Goldstein Lebovitz
PBS host,
Chattanooga, Tennessee
The scientific writing workshop is helpful and prepares us for writing. The workshop also shows us how to connect the dots. As a lecturer, Viva is great!
Student (Anonymous Feedback Survey, 2024)
The Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, HUJI
Viva Sarah Press joined Jewish National Fund’s Women for Israel Annual Luncheon in South Florida. The women came away commenting she was one of the most dynamic and interesting speakers they had heard in a long time! She gave a unique and entertaining perspective on Women, Innovation and Business intertwining great personal stories. Viva has a wealth of knowledge on this topic as well as giving a wonderful Positively Israel message that would be great for any group!
Laura Sherry & Lee Lebovich
Palm Beach County, Jewish National Fund
I had the privilege of working with Viva at Q, where she served as a UX researcher during one of the most ambitious product explorations I’ve ever been part of.
Viva is one of the strongest researchers I’ve worked with. What sets her apart is her ability to operate in territory where the product, the interface, and sometimes even the user behavior don’t fully exist yet. Our team was building technology that required imagining entirely new ways for humans to interact with devices. Viva had the rare ability to step into that uncertainty and bring clarity.
She designs research that uncovers the real 'why' behind behavior. She talks to users with curiosity and precision, extracts the signal from messy data, and translates those insights into clear direction for the team.
Equally important, she bridges worlds that rarely connect smoothly. Viva can sit with engineers and explain why a feature matters so they can build the 'how' correctly. She can work with leadership to shape product storytelling for investors and stakeholders. And she can guide research participants in a way that makes them comfortable enough to reveal honest, valuable insights.
During our time together, she helped elevate how we collect and interpret data, guided complex research and data-collection efforts, and contributed to everything from early product exploration to high-level storytelling about the future of the product.
But beyond the professional excellence, Viva brings something equally valuable: presence. She’s calm, thoughtful, endlessly curious, and incredibly good with people. Whether she was working with participants, engineers, executives, or investors, people trusted her quickly and enjoyed collaborating with her.
If I had to summarize Viva in one sentence: she approaches research like a samurai approaches a craft - disciplined, thoughtful, and precise - except instead of a sword, she wields a pen.
One of the best UX pros I've known, a true human-tech whisperer.
Any team trying to understand how humans will interact with the next generation of technology would be lucky to have her.
Yuval Kramer,
Head of Product, Q.ai (acquied by Apple)
ויוה מרצה תותחית. אחד הקורסים היותר טובים שעשיתי בתואר אם לא הכי טוב - הכי מקצועית שראיתי
Student (Anonymous Feedback Survey, 2025)
Art of Journalism, RUNI
Viva is highly professional, very kind and precise, always taking into account the wider context of things. I had a pleasure working with her and I will be happy to work with her in the future.
