SPEAKERS

Antonio Perez is a graduate from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in the Fine Arts program. He is an experiential and installation artist who creates immersive spaces utilizing creative ways to combine sounds, lights, textures, visuals and objects. Antonio’s work comprises of a play on lights, natural objects and environments that mimic nature and space. Recently, he worked as a scenic painter for the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge land on Disneyland in Anaheim, California. He also worked as an experiential artist for the 2015 and 2019 Coachella Music Festival as well as brands like Puma x Fenti with Rihanna and Fox Television. He is currently pursuing an advanced degree in Architecture and Interior Design at University of California, Los Angeles.

Ash Sobhe is the Chairman and CEO at R6S, an exclusive high-end marketing company with only 3 clients accepted per year. He is a well-recognized futurist in developing award-winning contemporary marketing campaigns utilizing advanced technologies such as AI (Artificial Intelligence).

Ash has been a pioneer in the tech space; from being recognized by Bill Gates to sitting on Google’s Business Council in the early 2000’s, he has been a founding father of many online trends we all use today. He has been awarded as one of the top 40 executives under the age of 40 for their business success and more importantly the work they do in the community to give back.

Dave is a communication design professor at California State University, Northridge and the Area Head for Communication Design. Prior to his current appointments, he served as chair of the Art Department and Interim Dean of CSUN’s Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication. Dave founded or co-founded a number of student-based creative, marketing, and strategy enterprises, including IntersectLA, the Center for Visual Communication (VISCOM), DesignHub, META+LAB, and RADIUS 2.0. He has always been focused on student learning and creating innovative spaces that encourage collaborative learning via a “learn-by-doing” model, and he has developed a handbook to assist other educational institutions in replicating the model to bridge the skills gap and connect education with industry. Dave is a highly effective educator who has developed a brand strategy course and recently published a book to accompany his new course. In addition to teaching, his expertise is in the area of entrepreneurship and as a consultant providing creative strategy solutions for businesses and organizations.

Erick Olivares is a VISCOM alumni and graduated from California State University, Northridge in 2014. His first job out of the gates was a small creative agency in Pleasant Grove, Utah called RiSER. RiSER was the proving grounds where he was able to specialize in front end development while working with brands such FX, Disney, and Kraft. A year and a half later, Erick was able to get a job at CalArts while working for the internal communications department. Seeking for a greater challenge, I started my own business and called it Turn7 Digital.  Now, he decides when, where, and with who he works with. Erick has been able to cultivate relationships with his clients which in turn has allowed him to work on exciting projects.  Erick is very thankful to have the flexibility to focus on his personal goals.

Jamie Cristal is a Designer & Artist based in San Francisco, CA. Her cross-functional alliances and knack for taking concepts from ideation to execution is accredited to being a scrappy multi-disciplinary designer.

Prior to designing inclusive digital experiences at Airbnb, Jamie led design at Facebook as a Design Operations Manager and Product Designer—previously, she was one of Yahoo’s first Design Associates where she worked with executives to build products and spearhead design culture initiatives. With an insatiable quench for hustle, she enjoys keeping her hands dirty and living her life in permanent beta.

Jessica Arana is a passionate storyteller with an insatiable curiosity for brand, company, and social culture. She has experience with brand strategy, identity design systems, and editorial and book design. Her background in cultural studies, art, social justice, education, and activism set her apart as a designer with passion and a purpose. Jessica has lead design work for: Disney, Yahoo!, McCann Erickson, IPG MediaBrands, Transamerica, and Ergobaby, among others. She is also an artist, educator, and a committee lead for AIGA National’s Diversity and Inclusion taskforce.

Jessica Strelioff is an award-winning, multidisciplinary designer and creative director building strategic brands and digital experiences large and small. Previously she was Creative Director at Upperquad, Brand Designer at Asana, Visual Designer at Yahoo, and Art Director at Farm Design. Originally from sunny Los Angeles, Jessica now lives in a slightly foggier San Francisco with her partner, Brandon, and their cat, Pixel.

Joe Bautista is a Los Angeles based designer and educator. His passion is helping clients, students, designers, and entrepreneurs reach their goals. His design work deals with the research, concept, design and development of user experiences (UX) and user interfaces (UI). His personal art work revolves around user collaboration and contribution to create new and expressive art forms that connect users and viewers by a network. Joe has over 17 years of experience at creative agencies in the Los Angeles area and an educator for over 13 years in the Art Department at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). As Assistant Professor of art and design at CSUN, he currently serves as director of Intersect LA, formerly the Center for Visual Communication (VISCOM), an on-campus, student-driven creative strategy agency.

MMagdy Rizk is a Motion Graphics and Design Professor at California State University, Northridge. He believes that an instructor has to be instrumental in students’ understanding of the responsibilities and opportunities of a graphic designer. The world of graphic design is constantly in flux, as it is the responsibility of the instructor to bring current ideas and technologies to their courses and building an awareness of historical references. Magdy Rizk uses his impressive knowledge of all aspects of graphic design to be able to apply his knowledge in his classes to better prepare his students for their careers. Teaching graphic design should foster problem-solving techniques and habits that instill a productive and effective work ethic, as well as reinforcing fundamental principles and elements of design. Without In this field, designers tend to elevate technology far too high and give less regard to strong conceptual skills. There must be balance, where craft and concept function harmoniously. When completed, the resulting successes paints a beautiful image of the power of technology in the modern era.

I’m a 3x entrepreneur having built and sold 3 technology companies. I’m also a business advisor, speaker, musician, writer, life coach, and a lifetime practitioner of Yoga, which I credit as the driving force and reason for my success. With a voracious appetite for learning, I’ve been blessed to work in many different fields— Music, Non-Profit, Real Estate, Social Commerce, Urban Infrastructure and even Casual Digital Gaming. I enjoy all aspects of building products and companies for the ground up: Product, Strategy, Business Modeling, Branding, Messaging, Technology, and so on.

As the Founder & CEO of Triumph, I’m helping entrepreneurs and other growth-oriented individuals/teams live closer to their full potential. Our flagship The Triumphant Self program leans on Yoga Science to uncover the key to Self Intelligence—finding your true, authentic self and living in accordance with it. It helps you take your game to a whole new level—live an inspired life of action, meaning and fulfillment.

The Edge Martial Arts is owned by Master Patrick Prager, a 5^th dan master in Tang Soo Do who has been training for more than 20 years in various martial arts, including Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Judo, and Hapkido. He has 15 years of experience teaching children, youth, and adults. Master Prager is also a NESTA certified personal trainer and has a degree from California State University, Northridge in Recreation and Tourism Management. While Master Prager teaches the majority of classes he also invites masters from schools in the American Tang Soo Do Alliance to lead various workshops as guest instructors.

“I think that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.” – Elon Musk

Raychel is the community director at our local co-working space. She has 11 years of experience in the marketing field, and she has experience in many different forms of marketing. She has worked in digital marketing strategy development and implementation, ad campaign management, optimization for buying and selling CPC, CPM, CPA, CPL, CPI, business development, strategic partnerships, brand awareness and development, performance-based marketing campaigns, media outreach and PR opportunities, creating and implementing media plans, ad copywriting, video content creation, video marketing, social media marketing, influencer marketing, and email marketing. I’ve had the pleasure of working with companies such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, AEG, iHeartRadio, ESPN, Sprint, LA CANVAS, Beck Media, Spin Media, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, The Recording Academy, CBS Radio, Venice Music Crawl, and more.

I value all relationships I’ve had the pleasure of cultivating throughout my career, as that is one of my core beliefs; value people over things.

Shirin Raban is an instructor at CSUN and UCLA Extension, where she teaches courses in the history and practice of graphic design. She is the recipient of the UCLA Extension Design Communication Art’s 2010 and 2017 Outstanding Instructor Award and has served as the UCLA Extension-AIGA Student Group Faculty Adviser. Shirin has an extensive background in designing integrated branding and packaging for established and budding companies such as Mattel, Fox Family Channel, Korbel Champagne, Fuji San Asian Foods and Serengeti tea Company. She received her BA in Graphic Design from CSUN and MA in Visual Anthropology from USC. Shirin is currently creating ethnographic documentaries.

Vesna Petrovic is a co-founder and a partner at Picnic Design studio, a multi-disciplinary design firm that focuses on design for art and cultural organizations and companies. She thought graphic design classes at UCLA Extension and at California State University Northridge. Vesna participated at portfolio reviews for AIGA LA, California State University Northridge, Otis College of Art and Design, and UCLA Extension. She also served as a board member of AIGA Cross-Cultural Design, AIGA Los Angeles, and AIGA Orange County. Her design work was published and shown in several graphic design exhibitions and has been part of LACMA’s permanent collection of graphic design. She organized and curated graphic design exhibitions in the US and abroad such as L.A. Design in Belgrade (AIGA), Everyday Design From Around the World (AIGA), and Grown in California (AIGA). Vesna served as a judge on the several design competitions including at the design competition for Art Directors Club of America. She was trained both as an architect and a graphic designer and holds her B.A./M.Arch degree from the University of Belgrade School of Architecture.