Our Team
We’re a distributed team of creators & doers located across the globe.
Harish Venkatesan
Founder/CEO
Built product at Venmo & Grubwithus; graduated from UPenn
Things I like:๐ ๐ ๐ท
Daniel Shapiro
Founder/CTO
Previously full-stack developer at YCharts; graduated from Duke
Things I like:๐ฅ โท ๐ฎ
Patrick Multani
Design & Mentorship
Studied Concept Design; worked at Less & Better to listen and understand
Things I like:๐ ๐ ๐
Madi Waggoner
Director of Operations
Studied at University of Colorado (UCCS); also a UX Academy graduate
Things I like:๐ โฝ๏ธ ๐
Sara Vilas Santiago
Mentorship & Curriculum
Award-winning innovation in FinTech and government; graphic design graduate
Things I like:๐ ๐ค ๐
Andrew Wilshere
Content & Design
PhD in Philosophy from University of Manchester; previously project manager
Things I like:๐ง ๐ด ๐ฑ
Kara Donaldson
Support & Community
Studied at Creighton University; support and engagement at Meetup.com
Things I like:๐ ๐บ โพ๏ธ
Recovering asst. professor-turned-UX Academy graduate (Fall 2017)!
Things I like:โต ๐บ โ
Edgar Salazar
Software Development
Builds products for nonprofits and startups; graduated from MIT & University of Manchester
Things I like:๐ ๐ธ ๐ต
Will Anderson
Growth & Sales
Graduated from Transylvania University in History; previously led partnerships at Crew
Things I like:๐ฑ โ๏ธ ๐ฎ
Studied Psych at University of Alaska; brings perceptive fine-tuning to startup ops
Things I like:๐จ ๐ ๐ง
UX Designer turned Developer; studied at Florida State & New York University
Things I like:๐ธ ๐ค ๐ฆ
Digital product design strategy, mentorship; MFA from Parsons Design & Technology
Things I like:๐ท ๐ข ๐บ
Lauren Lankford
Student Success
Studied at New York University; created partnerships at Digiday
Things I like:๐ ๐ฌ โ๏ธ
Michelle Lin
Mentor Community
Archaeologist turned Designer; previously UX & UI Design at eBay
Things I like:๐ฝ โ๏ธ ๐ถ
Manuela Odell
Business Development
BD & Partnerships at Luxe & CardFlight; graduated from Bates College
Things I like:โท ๐จ ๐
CJ Dreiss
Software Development
Boston University Grad; Graphic Designer turned Full-Stack Developer
Things I like:๐ ๐ฎ ๐บ
Studied Art and Design at CCNY; obsessed with Customer Happiness
Things I like:๐โ๏ธ๐จ
Designlab by the numbers
Thousands of students have taken our courses.
Students Enrolled
3,000+
Project Submissions
55,000+
1-on-1 Mentor Sessions
14,000+
Mentor Feedback Comments
70,000+
Students
Our international student community is formed of driven, aspiring designers who work together to achieve their career goals
Peter Javorkai
UI Designer at Adidas
“I got a job offer from Adidas just before I started my second capstone project on UX Academy!”
Read Peter's story
Sammy de Joya
UX Designer at Comrade Agency
“UX Academy was great. It helped give me the kick start that I needed to learn all the basic design concepts.”
Read Sammy's story
Wendy Pei
Product Designer at Microsoft
“The confidence I came out with really propelled me into the job hunt. I received several offers in just a month.”
Read Wendy's story
Celeste North
UX Designer at Backbase
“I learned sketching, wireframing, prototyping, UI kits, personas, and user flows. These are all key skills for my work.”
Read Celeste's story
“What I really liked about the Designlab course were the assignments and the weekly mentor calls.”
Read Marko's story
Tracy Lin
UX/UI Designer at TechStyle Fashion Group
“Those who encouraged and affirmed me turned out to be right, because I graduated and I got the job.”
Read Tracy's story
Jonathan Netek
UX / Visual Designer at Flightaware
“I already had 13 years in the design industry, but I still learned valuable new skills in UXA.”
Read Jonathan's story
YOU
What is your dream job?
We offer short courses and an intensive UX Academy. Whether you want to upskill or build a new career, Designlab is for you.
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