You get transported to an entirely new world. Or really, as many new worlds as you want! You could be on top of a mountain, under the sea, defending your castle or grooming your favorite elephant.

Where do you want to go? What do you want to experience? How will you step into your next adventure and yell HERE I AM?

These are just some of the questions that a rebel named Tara Franz asks herself everyday. She wakes up wondering who what when where why and how. It’s this kind of curiosity that has made her life exciting, challenging, and definitely unpredictable.

So, are you ready to ask questions too?

A fairy tale podcast about the real-life rebel women who inspire us. In this mini series, we’re diving into stories of women who are shaping the ever-changing landscape of technology.

On this episode, Tara Franz — Director of User Experience Research at Meta who is bringing authenticity to the Metaverse.

Tara grew up as an only child, but she was never lonely. She chatted with everyone she met and always wanted to know what made people tick. She was full of questions like, if you could build your own world what color would you make the sky? And what’s something you feel is unfair and how can we change it?

With her pink hair and spiky punk outfits, Tara was excited to try on different personas and push boundaries. She was smart, rebellious, and ready to question everything.

One of the questions that Tara kept coming back to was, why do we act certain ways when we’re alone and other ways when we’re in a community? She wanted to know how we evolve as people and start social movements or even revolutions. She loved the idea that each of us is part of a greater whole and that we affect and are affected by the society in which we live.

So, Tara returned to school, and dove into the study of sociology, which is the study of society and how humans interact with each other. One of her favorite things about sociology class was that her professor focused on questions! Which questions could help us understand the world? Which questions were most useful for research? Which questions might help people open up about themselves and see things in a new way?

Each question led to more questions and Tara was thrilled to try them all.

She started working with one of her professors who was doing a large study on the migration of people from all over Canada into Alberta. Tara did interviews in people’s houses about why they moved and how it changed their lives. And one of the things that she found was that after moving, many people missed their hometowns and families. They wanted to connect, but how could they do that in a meaningful, consistent way?

The answer? The internet.

To Tara, the internet was a new frontier opening up communities that had yet to be studied. She wanted to know how people designed their lives online and how it related to their reality. Like, maybe when you’re at home, you brush your teeth in the morning, you’re in charge of taking out the garbage, and you wear glasses. But when you enter a virtual world, do you have any chores or expectations? Do you even want to have teeth to brush?

This segued very easily into her working for Meta, and researching user experience in the Metaverse and using virtual reality headsets. User experience is how a person interacts with a tool, product, or app. Tara asked customers questions about authenticity and connection. She wanted to learn how people can have meaningful interactions in these virtual worlds, and how they could be better represented there.

A lot of people told Tara they wanted more options to express themselves in virtual reality. So Tara, working with a talented team of designers, engineers, product managers and more, made sure each avatar entering the Metaverse could have different shapes, skin tones, and features. And as each user moved through this digital universe, Tara wanted them to see how they affected and transformed the imagined landscape around them. Whether they were building a castle, coaching a soccer team, or designing fancy clothes, users got to be in charge!

It was very exciting for Tara to see her work lead to people having fun and feeling empowered.

Isn’t it amazing that asking questions can do all that?

What do you think, Rebels?

This podcast is a production of Rebel Girls. It’s based on the book series Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls.

This episode was narrated by ME, Aida Reluzco. It was produced and directed by Haley Dapkus, with sound design and mixing by Mumble Media.

The story was written by Abby Sher and edited by Haley Dapkus. Our executive producers were Joy Smith and Jes Wolfe.

Original theme music was composed and performed by Elettra Bargiacchi.

A special thanks to the whole Rebel Girls team who make this podcast possible. Until next time, staaay rebel!