Our Mentors

Zack Reid

Product Designer at Synechron

• Design Critique
• Graphic Design
• Product Design

I am an enthusiastic, self-motivated, and friendly individual with 4+ years of experience in this field. I am still eager to learn more so I can grow as a designer and person. Outside of work you can find me working out, reading (currently reading, 'I Will Never See The World Again'), writing, and watching the latest tv show.

Leonardo Mattei

Senior Product Designer at Apple

• Branding & Identity
• Product Design
• User Centered Design
• User Interface

I’m a Senior Product Designer at Apple. Previously I built, led, and managed the Newsroom design team at the Financial Times, helped people achieve greater financial well-being at ClearScore, designed Scopus Discovery and Mendeley by Elsevier, and KWS by SuperAwesome, acquired by Epic Games. As a side gig, I founded the UX Maturity podcast and co-hosted 2 seasons. Last year I started writing stories on Medium and publishing them on UX Collective. Aside from Design, I love playing jazz music, my flat is full of guitars, and I’m currently studying piano, singing, and music production. I love traveling, cooking, and going to museums, and I care a lot about equality.

Dobrian Dobrev

Senior Product Designer at VMware

• Graphic Design
• Information Architecture
• Interaction Design
• User Experience

User Experience Designer with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. Speaker at UX conferences. A teacher at the New Bulgarian University. An author of publications on UX Design. Skilled in User Research, Information Architecture, and Interaction Design.Passionate about Immersive Experience (AR/VR/MR).

Alessandro Ribeiro

Head of Product Design at ZENVIA

• Design Leadership
• Information Architecture
• Product Design
• User Centered Design

I have been working with Product Design for 14 years and UX Leadership 7+ years.I am passionate about bringing delightful and human-centric experiences to life and applying design-driven culture.As a leader, my strengths include user-centric product strategy and organizational management at scale. Work and life balance are important for me and my team. I'm a husband, passionate dad, cook and occasional athlete. Specialties: Leading at Scale, UX strategy, Product design, User experience, Visual design, User research, Usability, Mobile Design, Design Thinking, Product development, Team building and management, Coaching and mentoring, Facilitation

Kim Li

Entrepreneur at XKL

• Entrepreneurship
• Game Design
• Product Design
• User Interface

Satyam Tiwari

Senior Product Designer at Omah

• Product Design
• User Experience

I'm a software designer living in India 👨🏻‍💻🌧️ I've designed features and experiences for many websites and online tools for a variety of customers 🌈✨ I love to debate, mentor, and learn from my peers 👩🏽‍🏫👩🏼‍⚖️ And I'd love to share my experience to help others get started or accelerate in my business 🚀

Sylas Souza

Head of Design Systems - Buy with Prime at Amazon

• Adobe
• Design Management
• Design Systems
• User Experience

Sylas here. I have more than 20 years of experience in leading design & product teams, large-scale design systems, design sprints & service design. I find energy in leading efforts dealing with large-scale solutions that value close cross-collaboration and outcomes that truly impact people's lives. Holds pride in close-collaborative efforts, democratizing design, and in championing diversity & inclusion in the workplace. Specialties: UX Management / Leadership / Design Systems / Design Thinking / Design Sprints / Web Development / Agile / Research / Information Architecture / Interaction Design / Service Design

Prashant Bhandare

UX Speacialist | HFI - CUA™ | PGP in UX from IITB at InfoCepts

• Career Advice
• Data Visualization
• User Experience
• User Research

A certified usability analyst by HFI (CUA-HFI) having 12+ years of experience in designing digital applications for mobiles, websites, and interfaces for products, solving complex user problems and turning them into simple solutions for users which are clean and minimal. A highly motivated, solution-oriented, focused on creating meaningful experiences through design by combining, UX thinking with design execution, to produce usable and intuitive user interfaces. Skilled in having hands-on experience in user research, wireframing, visual design, information architecture, low/ high fidelity designs and prototyping, usability testing, design strategy, design thinking, and customer experiences. Passionate about art, music, and travel with a knack for freehand sketching, typography, doodling, and illustrations Passion for Web & Mobile User Interface Design, ability to work well independently or in a team, willing to learn, flexible and reliable, excellent work ethic, excellent attention to detail, well-developed language and communication skills, dedication and enthusiasm for user interface design, web/mobile app design. Skills: ------ Adobe Creative Suite, Material Design Sketch, Figma, Wireframes, Mockups, Prototypes, InVision, UI/UX/Visual Design, StyleGuide Design, Material Design, Responsive Web/Mobile App Design for iOS / Android and Hybrid Application, HTML5, CSS3, Bootstrap, Cross-Platform/Browser Compatibility, Team Player, Skills in creating User-Centric Product B2B

Ayfar Khan

Communication Professional at Punjab Information Technology Board

• Art Direction
• Creative Direction
• Graphic Design
• User Interface

I am a Freelancer, Entrepreneur, Mentor, Coach, and Trainer in creative and cultural industries, who worked and learn almost every skill in creative industries with diverse clients from national and international countries’ experience in the field. I worked in almost every sector in public and private sectors including startups, medium, and enterprise-level companies) Fortune 500 companies. I did my bachelor’s in the subject of Fine arts and master’s in film and TV production from the University of Punjab. I am an accomplished hands-on and digitally-savvy Creative Strategist driven to create ideas that tell a story. I bring 20+ years of high-impact client and agency-side experience driving creativity and launching ground-breaking campaigns and digital initiatives to breakout success. Areas of Expertise: Production | Graphic design | Publishing | Web design | Mobile design | Ideation | Experiential Ideation | Brand Strategy | Digital & Social Media | Campaign development | Advertising Copywriting | Activations of Digital and Print Media| Communication & Outreach | Content Strategy | Advertising | Marketing | Management |Public Relations | Media Management | ATL/BTL/Digital

Pat Arnold

Designer / Principal at Relativity Studio

• Art Direction
• Branding & Identity
• Creative Direction
• Design Leadership

Living at the intersection of the rebellious creative mindset and the control-freak tendencies of brand, I bring a unique perspective on how to build and manage vibrant systems that thrive in the now. Over an 18+ year career I've gone from a small Midwestern agency you’ve never heard of, learning how to be an art director on an account you likely have forgotten, on to working with some of the more impressive brand names one could casually drop in conversation. During my agency time I've worked in advertising, digital, and experience marketing shops such as Digitas, George P. Johnson, Gupta Media, Jack Morton and Toth+co. Clients have included On the client side I've applied that expertise at software brands Taleo, CA Technologies, and most recently Zipcar. Along the way I've taught at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and Northeastern University, lectured, facilitated brand workshops, and bring a passion for great brand experiences to every project I lead or touch – still preferring to roll up my sleeves and ‘doing’ as much as I guide and mentor.

Belen Fernandez Madero

UX Designer at acidgreen

• Creative Direction
• Graphic Design
• Web Design

I've been working a lot as a freelance designer. I'm very interested in applying new design systems, better ways of presenting new ideas to clients and engagement. Also would love to know how other agencies manage their workflow for better solutions.

Peri Smith

Principal Product Designer & Design Manager at Sprinklr

• Design Leadership
• Design Management
• DesignOps
• Product Development Process

Principal Product Designer & Design Manager with 10 years of product development experience. Happy to provide guidance on design ops and UX career development.

Philip Fierlinger

Co-CEO at Upstock

• Information Architecture
• Interaction Design
• User Experience

Xero co-founder & former Head of Design. Built Xero into a public company with a multi-billion $ market cap, 500,000+ customers/fans and 1000+ employees worldwide. Now investor and advisor to numerous design led startups. Happy to help with product-market fit, UX design, business strategy.

Abhinav Gupta

Human Centred Design Specialist at United Nations Capital Development Fund

• Product Design
• User Centered Design
• User Research

I have 8 years of work experience in the field of human-centered design. I have formally studied Product design (Masters). I am passionate about design and delivering the best user experience. I strive to adhere to the user-centered process and remove everything that is not essential. I have a keen interest in Mobile UX, Design for behavior change, and Smart Devices.

Sreeraj VS

Lead UX Designer at Tata Consultancy Services

• Design Thinking
• Product Design
• User Experience
• User Interface

A writer, mentor, and human-first design thinker on a mission to transform the design into a business. Help organizations build a design culture to achieve true potential by applying human-first design practices. With more than a deme-decade of experience, I worked across multiple enterprises and startups to build solutions of various magnitude with the personal philosophy "Build with heart and binds with Love". I spoke in various design and startup communities, was an active columnist in medium.com and Yourstory, and an active icon design contributor in iconfinder.com and The Noun Project. Core competencies: User Research, Ideation, Conceptualization, Prototyping, Interaction Design (IxD), Evaluation (business + user), and Idea pitching.

Nithin Prakash Motupalli

User Experience Manager at Cognizant

• Design Thinking
• Product Design
• User Centered Design
• User Experience

I’m a UX, UI, and Interaction Designer with an extensive experience in branding and visual identity. I’m passionate about designing solutions to complex problems and I make products better. From design and innovation sprints to UX design sprints and marathons, I create things that work for users and brands. My approach was agile before they called it agile, finding innovation through structured ideation, prototyping, and user-testing. Over the past couple of years, I’ve dived deep into machine learning, augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality, but always with one question in mind: how does it make life better for humans?

Kirsten Burgess

Design Lead Canidae Pet Food at Canidae Pet Food

• Branding & Identity
• Career Advice
• Design Leadership
• Design Management

A creative leader who builds, inspires and directs talented, multidisciplinary teams to contribute holistically to a brands success. With a background in product development, experience in a broad range of industries as a business owner, and genuine curiosity she brings authentic connection across all creative touch points. Kirsten has repeatedly applied design strategy as a catalyst for business growth across various markets (CPG, Banking, Consulting) with strong marketing and executive partnerships. In addition, her contributions to company culture and vision are widely recognized, she thrives in environments where teams collaborate cross functionally and flourish.

Baskar Ganesan

Principal Engineer (UED) at HARMAN India

• Design Thinking
• Interaction Design
• Product Design
• User Experience

Human centric and Design Thinking Practitioner and experienced in Product Design and User Research. I enjoy building and designing products that people love to use. Work experience across a wide range of industries in B2B and B2C applications including Connected Vehicles, Cloud based Education apps. Human centric and Design Thinking Practitioner and experienced in Product Design and User Research. I enjoy building and designing products that people love to use. Work experience across a wide range of industries in B2B and B2C applications including Connected Vehicles, Cloud based Education software, Financial applications and Telematics.

Mark Congiusta

VP, UX and Design at WorkFusion

• Design Leadership
• Design Management
• Design Process
• Product Design

Managing the design process while building and empowering creative teams to effectively execute on a strategic vision is what I do best. Having fun in the process is what I love. Making great products that customers are thrilled to use is my passion. Instilling that passion into my team is my job. I have been organizing, managing, and inspiring design teams of all kinds for over 20 years, and in all that time, I’ve learned more than a few things about process, people, and products. Whether it’s a team of developers, user experience designers, product owners, or a healthy mix of all of the above, everybody wants the same thing: to create something amazing. Happy to talk shop. Happier to do it over beers. I have been organizing, managing, and inspiring design teams of all kinds for over 20 years, and in all that time, I’ve learned more than a few things about process, people, and products. Whether it’s a team of developers, user experience designers, product owners, or a healthy mix of all of the above, everybody wants the same thing: to create something amazing. I want that more than anybody, but as a leader, it’s not my job to tell these people what the phenomenal new idea is. Instead, it is to give them the space and support necessary to do what they do best and be as successful as they can possibly be. Genius is much more effective—and repeatable—when it is a team sport. I work hard at collaborating with the smartest people I can find in order to pool intuition in the pursuit of ever grander ideas and the mitigation of sameness. Because, as I see it, failure isn’t the enemy, mediocrity is.

Avi Raj

Principal - UX Design and Strategy at Slalom

• Design Thinking
• eCommerce
• Mobile Development
• User Experience

Award-winning voice of customer and proven leader working in the global environment for more than a decade with a cross-disciplinary background in business, design and technology that enables a holistic approach to strategic innovation through design thinking.

Brenda Castro

Strategic Digital Design Consultant at Pinkhoof Design Solutions

• Design Strategy
• Interaction Design
• Product Design

I have worked as a Digital Product / UX / UI / Ix Designer for 15+ years in large, medium, and small organizations; designing experiences through concepts, interfaces, and interactions with products that range from education to B2B. I love designing experiences that help people improve their lives and contributing to teams that make our world a better place! I appreciate and commit myself to great teamwork and constant feedback, as well as to align every decision with my values and with the long-term benefit of people using the products I help create.

Jason Lung

Head of Experience Design - Group Director at KPMG US

• Art Direction
• Career Advice
• Creative Direction
• Interaction Design

I am a hands-on, sleeves rolled up Creative Director / UX Director and can be your company's "Design & Innovation" visionary... as well as your Strategy team's most valued partner. My strengths are...big idea generation, designing digital experiences, running co-creation workshops, arriving at white-board solutions with you, and then working with teams and clients to convey strategic and design suggestions/solutions in decks. I research & analyze and then create concept boards, storyboards, UI/UX mockups, prototypes, personas, journey maps, product roadmaps, and ultimately production-ready assets/files. Though I may be a big-picture thinker and tech philosopher I am also a real-world doer/maker/builder with the experience that won't serve up something that can't be built. And I'll still push at the edges of technology on emerging tech... like AI / AR / Voice and IoT and while nuance-ing on the subtleties of design like micro-interactions, typography, color theory, balance, and composition. I continue to study behavioral economics, intuition, and the basics of human psychology that make products and services, useful and engaging to use. Oh, and I make everything from the apps to the presentations attractive too. Work with me and I'll be your Design and Innovation consultant who spent half a career working for large companies like Accenture / Fjord / J Walter Thompson / Draft FCB. / Abelston Taylor / McCann .... on everything from reimagining big hairy business transformations, to 30-second TV spots to website and app design to simple messaging or deep rebranding. I have been at the helm of design and customer experience on every scale you can imagine. Let's talk. Let's solve together.

Stan Rapp

Product Design Manager at Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

• Illustration
• Product Design
• User Experience
• User Interface

Two arms, two legs, and some experience in product design and design management. Born and raised in Ukraine, currently residing in San Francisco, I am building a new kind of philanthropy that’s leveraging technology to help solve some of the world’s toughest challenges – I focus on education.

Florin Matei

Senior UI/UX Designer at TotalSoft

• Branding & Identity
• Figma
• Graphic Design
• User Interface

Hi, I am Florin. Graphic designer, UI/UX designer, husband and father. And i want to learn and share my knowlege with everybody. Acelasi pentru toti, diferit pentru fiecare.

Damilola Oguns

Head of Design at Leadway Assurance

• Interaction Design
• Mobile Design
• Product Design
• Web Design

From zero to billions. By design. Product design leader with 10+ years in turning ambiguity into shipped products across media, health-tech, fintech, and public health infrastructure. Currently the sole Principal Designer at REVOLT Media & TV, Los Angeles, where I lead design across the streaming app, REVOLT House, One Music Fest, and 440 Artists, a music distribution platform I took from nothing to a live product. The REVOLT Summit App generated 3.7B+ impressions and sold out 100% of tickets in 48 hours. The podcast platform reached 24M users in its first month. Previously Head of Design at Leadway Holdings, Lagos, where I grew from Creative Designer over seven years, built the company's first design system, mentored a team to 170% YoY digital revenue growth, and integrated AI into the claims journey (87% reduction in processing time). Designed the Leadway Health app from scratch. Most-used health insurance app in Nigeria within year one, serving 90,000+ users. I've also designed health systems used across three Nigerian states, the national tuberculosis surveillance system (EWORS), the platform managing HIV data across Nigeria, and hospital management software running in Primary Health Centres. I prototype in code (HTML, CSS, React), build Figma plugins, and use AI tools daily as a core part of how I design. MBA from the Edinburgh Business School. 2019 Top 100 Nigerians in Tech (Future Awards). I design products people depend on, from streaming platforms reaching millions to financial products helping people build and protect wealth to health infrastructure serving entire states. The range is the point. damioguns.com