WHO EVEN IS SHREYA?
I've been designing products for ~2 years, but I've been curious about why people do what they do for much longer. My background in cognitive science taught me to look for the biases, mental models, and friction points that shape how people experience the world.
I'm drawn to the opportunities that make people use and stick to the tools that they do.
With a background in startups, I work best when I'm going all in on defining the problems early and find opportunities where thoughtful design creates real impact.
LIFE-SUPPLEMENTING EXPERIENCES
Other Ways I Show Up:
These experiences have strengthened my skills across event-planning, community engagement, and education.
Organizing Team Efforts for TEDxUCSanDiego Conferences
I discovered TEDxUCSanDiego through a pop-up event that happened right outside my dorm during the spring quarter of my freshman year. Since then, I joined and led efforts to revise speeches for TEDx eligibility, plan event flows that engaged audiences, and create long-lasting processes for organizing the team workflow for events.
Design for San Diego (D4SD) Sprint at the World Design Policy Conference
I helped organize a design challenge geared towards creating resilient solutions for housing insecurity in San Diego. I synthesized research to frame the problem for challenge participants and helped run design workshops that helped teams ideate and iterate through their ideas for solutions.
This experience was summed up at the 2024 World Design Policy Conference (WDPC) held in San Diego. I had the unique opportunity to facilitate critique and conversation with student teams and leaders in design alike!
Study Abroad Experience & Work
In the summer after my freshman year of college I took two classes in Paris: Jazz culture & Jazz and the Music of the African Diaspora. Being a former high school jazz band member and someone who had been taking French for 7 years, this experience fulfilled a lot of childhood dreams.
I later held a job at the UCSD Study Abroad office, where my role was to conduct outreach regarding study abroad opportunities by speaking in panels and organizing engagement events.
Teach for America & Tutoring
Educating and providing people with the confidence to solve problems has lingered as a passion and an important responsibility of mine. In 2022, I participated in Teach for America's Ignite Fellowship to tutor 4th grade students in phonetics. Prior to this I had been tutoring algebra and geometry to students in the library and individual clients.