Mentors
Our community is supported by some of NYC's top professionals in the fields of art, design, technology, and entrepreneurship. Through monthly meetings and ongoing guidance, mentors help our members develop as creatives and future leaders.
MENTORS-IN-RESIDENCE
Bruce Nussbaum
Author, Professor of Innovation & Design
“Creative Intelligence” is Bruce Nussbaum’s latest book. Currently, he’s exploring the concepts of Volatility and Vibe in generating creativity. He’s analyzing the roles of curator and patron in editing and scaling the product of creators.
Community Mentor-in-Residence
Fiona Raby
Professor of Design and Social Inquiry, The New School
Fiona Raby explores how complex ideas can be made tangible through the design of everyday objects in ways that encourage reflection on the kind of worlds people wish to live in.
Track: Creative Science
Janet Wong
Associate Artistic Director, New York Live Arts
Janet co-curates the performance, visual arts and humanities programming with Bill T. Jones at New York Live Arts, as well as collaborates with Mr Jones on the works of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company. She sometimes designs projections for the stage.
Track: XR Bodies in Space
Karen Wong
Deputy Director, New Museum & Cofounder, IdeasCity and NEW INC
Karen Wong is the Deputy Director of the New Museum, a mid-size museum renowned for its entrepreneurial platforms and mission: new art and new ideas. She co-founded the initiatives IDEAS CITY (2010), a residency and conference exploring the future of cities with the belief that art and culture are essential to our metropolises, and NEW INC (2014), the first museum-led incubator for art, technology and design.
Community Mentor-in-Residence
Marina Garcia-Vasquez
Strategist, Writer, Editor
Connector, commentator, curator, Marina Garcia-Vasquez cultivates strategic thinking, builds communities, and creates global culture. As a journalist for over 16 years, she has worked for publications including The Wall Street Journal, Vice, Artsy, INC., Architectural Record, CORE77, and Mother Jones.
Track: Cultural Futures
Reena Jana
Head of Content Strategy for Responsible Innovation, Google
Reena Jana is Google's Head of Content Strategy for Responsible Innovation. She has focused on intersectional innovation—how designing for underrepresented groups can unlock new user experiences for all users—spanning her career as a journalist at Businessweek, as executive editor and client consultant at frog, and at IBM's Design Lab. She's the co-author of the book New Media Art (Taschen, 2006), which looked at creative uses of video games, websites, robotics, and hacking by artists (many of whom are now driving research at major universities and tech corporations).
Track: Hybrid Practice
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Rhizome
Zach Kaplan, Executive Director
Aria Dean, Editor and Curator
Dragan Espenschied, Preservation Director
Lyndsey Moulds, Software Curator
Michael Connor, Artistic Director
Rhizome champions born-digital art and culture through commissions, exhibitions, digital preservation, and software development. Founded by artist Mark Tribe as a listserve including some of the first artists to work online, Rhizome has played an integral role in the history of contemporary art engaged with digital technologies and the internet. Rhizome is a NEW INC anchor tenant and a partner on the Art & Code Track.
Track: Art & Code
DEDICATED MENTORS
Project Architect, Design Tech Specialist & Adjunct Professor, Gensler & Columbia University
OFFICE HOURS MENTORS
Assistant Director of the Computer Music Center & Sound Art Program, Columbia University & Artist-in Residence, Bell Labs
MENTOR ALUMNI
Abby Pucker, Madison Wells Media
Adam Huttler, Exponential Creativity Ventures
Adam LaVente, MikMak.tv
Adaora Udoji, RLab
Agatha Kulaga, Co-Founder, Ovenly
Agustin Schang, Architect & Cultural Producer
Alessandra DeBenedetti, Co-Founder, Wallplay
Alexander Rea, Technology ECD
Alexandra Israel, Publicist
Alexandra Serio, Nameless
Ali Goldstein Norup, CEO and Founder, kpiReady
Alice Lloyd George, Investor, RRE
Alma Lacour, Creative Director & Executive Producer
Amélie Lamont, Product Designer, Writer
Amy Andrieux, MoCADA
Anand Agarawala, Spatial
Anders Sandell, TANK & BEAR
Andrew Deitchman, Mother
Androniki Lagos, Senior Consultant, Urbane Development
Andy Rooks, Strategy Director, Theory Marketing
Angie Gentile, Rent the Runway
Anna Konstantinova, Arnold Worldwide
Arden Sherman, Hunter East Harlem Gallery
Asher Remy-Toledo, Director & Founder, Hyphen Hub
Ayodamola Tanimowo Okunseind, Parsons The New School of Design
Bahiyah Robinson, Robinson Plus
Ben Curwin, Sero Partners
Beyza Boyacioglu, Filmmaker
Bill Browning, Co-Founding Partner, Terrapin Bright Green
Brad Augustine, Mirror
Bre Pettis, MakerBot Industries
Brian Dell, Program Director, Tachyon Accelerator
Brynna Tucker, Brooklyn Public Library
Cameron Cundiff, Software Engineer/Voice, Adobe
Carly Ayres, Writer & Creative Director
Casper Franken, Shotopop
Cathleen Lewis, Museum of Arts and Design
Chad Pry, RecruitiFi
Charles Marshall, Parc Office
Cherae Robinson, Tastemakers Africa
Chris Dannen, Managing Director, Iterative Capital
Christine Turner, Filmmaker
Christopher Paretti, Prime Produce
Chrysanthe Tenentes, Brooklyn Based
Clarissa Redwine, Crowdfunding Expert
Cornell DeWitt, Publisher & Co-Founder, Daily Plinth
Craig Ward, Designer
Dana Karwas, Director, Center for Collaborative Arts & Media (CCAM)-Yale University
Daniel Doubrovkine, CTO Artsy
Daniel Fountenberry, Abundant Media
Daniel Perlin, Founder, Make_Good
Daniel Romano, Co-Founder & CEO, Good Moose
Danielle Strle, Make_Good
Dario Laverde, Senior Developer Evangelist, HTC
Dave Rife, Dave & Gabe
David Borish, neo5G
David Goligorsky, IDEO
David Schwarz, HUSH
David Sheinkopf, Pioneerworks
Dennis Szakacs, Chief Operating Officer, New Museum
Devon Dolan, Cinetic Media
Eli Kuslansky, Chief Strategist & Partner, Unified Field
Elizabeth Furze, Managing Partner, AKA NYC
Emilie Baltz, Designer
Emily Goligoski, Senior Director of Audience Research, The Atlantic
Erik Fabian, Founder, Upright Brand
Eshena D. Roman, Marketing Executive
Eugene Ahn, R/GA
Gabe Liberti, Dave & Gabe
Gabo Arora, Filmmaker
Helena Anrather, Artist
Holly Hunter, Director of Projects & Artist Residencies, National Sawdust
Ian Carnevale, Andela
Ian Sullivan, Hessel Museum
Iliya Fridman, Managing Partner, Fridman Law Group
Inga Barchan, Mooreland Partners
Jacqui Moore, Brits in the Box
James Boo, Filmmaker
James George, Scatter
Jamie Singer, CEO & Co-Founder, Ussie
Jana Jarosz, Designer, Art Director
Jason Huff
Jason Madhosingh, Founder, madgood.co
Jason Shin, Co-Founder & President, Wonderspaces
Jeanne Pinder, Founder & CEO, ClearHealthCosts
Jennifer Edwards, Better
Jennifer Grosso, Senior Project Manager, Alloy Development
Jesse Finkelstein, Print all over me
Joanna Raczkiewicz, Grants and Corporate Sponsorship Manager, New Museum
Joe Chittenden-Veal, Investor & Data Scientist, Greycroft
Jordan Magid, Founder, Unconventional Group
Julianna Morais, Vice President of Design, Henrybuilt
Julie Solovyeva, Director of Cultural Programming, NeueHouse Madison Square
Kai Bond, Catalyst Fund
Kane Hsieh, Brilliant Bicycle Co
Karen Yau Østensjø, Lead Experience Designer, BCG Digital Ventures
Karla Rodriguez, Production Manager, Firelight Media, LLC
Karolina Ziulkoski, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
Kate Singleton, Founder & Owner, Buy Some Damn Art
Kati Nawrocki, Studio Art Director, Dots
Katrina Conanan, TED
Keith White, Keith White, PLLC
Keri Elmsly, SVP Immersive Development and Production, MSG Sphere Studios
Kiarash Adl, Technical Consultant, Ossum.tv
Kim Mackenzie, Brand Strategist
Kunal Mehta, NYC Innovation Fund
Larry Ossei-Mensah, ArtNoir / MoCAD
Laura Fox, General Manager, Lyft Bikes and Scooters
Laura Kleger, Director-Interactive, Guggenheim Museum
Lauren Wagner, Product Marketing Manager, Google
Layne Braunstein, Principal/SVP Creative, ESI Design
Leandra Tejedor, Vidcode
Linda Steele, Founder & CEO, ArtUp
Lisa Niedermeyer, Fractured Atlas
Livia Veneziano, Design Director, Method
Lou Huang, Founder & CEO, Streetmix
Louis Bickford, CEO, MEMRIA
Luis A. Navia, Skypod Aerosapce & Perceptual Production
Lylan Masterman, General Partner, White Star Capital
Lynn Goldstein, Founder, GDPRsimple
Magda Tomaszewski, Brand Director, B-Reel NY
Magnus Resch, Art Market Economist, Entrepreneur, & Author
Mansi Gupta, Founder, Unconform Studio
Manuel Dilone, Form&
Manuel Miranda, Designer and Educator, Manuel Miranda Practice (MMP)
Manushka Magloire, AFROPUNK
Marc DaCosta, Co-Founder & Chairman, Enigma
Marlene Ramirez-Cancio, Fulana
Marlin Adams, Attorney
Martin Adolfsson, Photographer & Artist, InsaneLittleProjects
Masashi Kawamura, PARTY
Matias Corea, Behance
Matthew Niederhauser, Co-Founder, Sensorium
Matthew Rader, Reed + Rader
Maurice Cherry, Creative Strategist, Glitch
Melanie Kahl, Community Programs & Scaled Partnership Manager, Facebook
Meredith Finklestein, Print all over me
Mia Tramz, Editorial Director-Enterprise & Immersive Experiences, TIME
Michael Hochberg, Elenion
Milica Zec, New Reality Co
Molly Logan, Irregular Labs
Natalie Salazar, Tetro
Nelson Saldaña, Consultant, ReD Associates
Nicolas Moessner, Strategic Business Consultant, Impact Investments
Nina Dinoff, Designer
Nitzan Hermon, Founder & Consultant, Future of Agency
Noah Robischon, Fastcompany
Opeyemi Olukemi, Tribeca Film Institute
Or Fleisher, Vimeo
Pamela Reed, Reed + Rader
Paul Amitai
Paul Soulellis, Soulellis Studios
Peter M. Krask, Founder & Creative Director, The Creativity Guide
Peter Martin, SFX Studios
Phil Chang, Bondstreet
Phil Cox, Project Coordinator, Pentagram
Preeti Sodhi, Founder/Urban Planner, Downtown Planning Lab
R. Luke DuBois, New York University
Rachel Wilkins, Co-Founder & CEO, Conception Arts
Rama Allen, Executive Creative Director, The Mill
Ramphis Castro, Co-Founder, ScienceVest
Reena Agarwal, Co-Founder and COO, Center for Active Design
Ricky Chen, Catalogue.Lab
Rise Wilson, The Highline / Rauchenberg Foundation
Sabine Seymour, SUPA
Sabrina Dridje, Founder, Between
Sabriya Stukes, Assistant Director, Master's in Translational Medicine (MTM) program, The City College
Sam Cash, Betaworks
Samantha Garfield, Independent
Sebastien Park, IDEO
Seth Mcrokza, Collins
Shaka McGlotten, Professor of Media Studies and Anthropology, Purchase College-SUNY
Shana Dressler, Consultant
Shani Syphrett, Founder, Jamila Studio
Shannon Washington, inVNT
Shaun Tollerton, ustwo
Siddharth Ramakrishnan, Director of Research, BMCC, City University of New York
Simon Heather, IDEO
Sonia Shechet Epstein, Museum of the Moving Image
Sophie Kahn, Sculptor & Digital Artist
Sophie Lucas, Fair Director, The Other Art Fair
Spencer Wright, nTopology
Stanley Lumax, Teranga
Stella Kim, MIXLAB
Stephanie Dinkins, Artist
Stephanie Sherman, Strategist, UC San Diego Center for Design and Geopolitics
Stephen Rutterford, ShadowRunner
Stephen Spyropoulos, Co-Founder, Minimaforms / VP of Product Design, Compass
Sumeet Shah, Brand Foundry Ventures
Taeyoon Choi, School for Poetic Computation
Tara DePorte, Executive Director and Founder, The Human Impacts Institute
Ted Hayes, UX Designer, Artist, Educator
Tega Brain, Assistant Professor of Digital Media, New York University
Tim Nolan, HUGE
Tom Critchlow, Independent Strategy Consultant
Toni Dove, Artist
Tracey Knuckles, Practice Lead-Cultural Assets Management Team, Bloomberg Associates
Tyler Lafreniere, Senior Experience Designer, Adobe
Ulli Barta, Creative Strategist, Entrepreneurial Midwife & Founder, Studio 55
Valentin Spiess, Chairman, CEO & Founder, iart
Vance Garrett, VGP
Venetia Taylor, Google
Victoria Foster, Better Future
Victoria Stockman, Co-Founder, CROSBY
Vince Warren, Center for Constitutional Rights
Vincent Ponzo, Columbia Business School
Vincent Steurs, Lead Experience Designer, BCG Digital Ventures
Wayne Suiter Matamoros, Global Lead/ Fjord Evolution, Fjord
William Foulkes, Faculty, Rhode Island School of Design
Winslow Porter, Co-Founder & Director, New Reality Co.
Yago de Quay, Innovation Manager, Intel
Ying Quan Tan, School for Poetic Computation
Yulia YY Yakushova, WPP
Zeina Abi Assy, Director of Interactive Programs, Tribeca Film Institute
Zohar Kfir