Alumni
From its world-class faculty, to its rigorous curriculum, to its community and culture of innovation, the MS in Strategic Design and Management at Parsons assists its graduates to begin new and exciting projects or enhance their current professional careers, and there is no better testament to the quality of the program than the words of its graduates. On this page, view or read one of the Alumni Stories to learn how the MS SDM program and design thinking, in general, have an impact on graduates’ lives. For a broader overview, visit Alumni Careers for a list of MS SDM graduates and their sector employment. Visit Alumni engagement Opportunities to see how to stay involved.
Tanvi, Class of 2019
Tanvi Kanakia | Managing Director, User Experience & Product Design Logical Design Solutions As the Managing Director of User Experience and Product Design at Logical Design Solutions, Tanvi heads up a talented team of designers to create digital employee experiences for some of the biggest names in business, including CVS Health, Paramount, and Allstate. Before joining Logical Design Solutions, Tanvi co-founded The Design Grid, a design studio based in India. There, she led a multi-disciplinary team to craft innovative customer experiences that gave businesses a competitive edge. But Tanvi’s passion for design extends beyond just work. She’s on a…
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Lynch, Class of 2021
Lynch Zhang | COO Puff Media Group, Inc Lynch Zhang is an Entrepreneur and Strategist specializing in marketing strategy, brand experience, and business architecture. Born in Canton, China, Lynch came to Philadelphia to pursue his BS in Architecture. After working in related fields for a number of years, he moved to NYC and finished his Masters’s degree at Parsons. During his studies, he started his foray on TikTok as content creator That Little Puff, gaining over 50 million total followers on social media along the way. In 2020, Lynch founded Puff Media with his brother Ming, leveraging their combined…
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MSSDM Alumni Webinar on March 10
Join us on Friday, March 10th, from 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM for an alumni panel conversation on Strategic Design in uncertain times. The conversation will be moderated by Claire Zhuang (SDM’23) with panelists Kelly Ernst (SDM ’22), Senior Product Strategist at Method; Silvia Garuti (SDM ’20), UX Designer II at LexisNexis; and Sundar Subramanian (SDM ’19), Sr Business Designer at Ford Motor Company, London, UK. To know more about the panelists’ experience and thoughts around MS SDM program, please check out their alumni stories. The panel will be virtual. All MS SDM students are invited. REGISTER HERE
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Silvia, Class of 2020
Silvia Garuti | UX Designer II LexisNexis Silvia is a Strategic Designer with a strong passion for UX Research and Design. She graduated in Communication Design from Politecnico di Milano (Italy) and worked in the graphic design field in Singapore, which sparked her interest in innovation and technology. Silvia enrolled in the Master of Strategic Design at Parsons, class of 2020, and after graduating, she worked in several startups before beginning her career at LexisNexis. Currently, she is working as a UX Designer, helping lawyers and librarians navigate legal data. What is your favorite memory from your time…
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Kelly, Class of 2022
Kelly Ernst | Design Strategist Method, a GlobalLogic company, Hitachi Group Kelly Ernst(she/her) is a multi-disciplinary design strategist who works to advance social impact innovation and sustainability through the imagining of cultural futures, new design practices and cultivating spaces of belonging. Kelly applies design strategies to social impact innovation, technology products and art and culture industries. She has contributed to design research projects on creative economy recovery with the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, participated in the development and launch of Creative Economy Summit and sits on the board of the Civic Canopy, a civic and social innovation…
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Lauren, Class of 2022
Lauren Stobierski | Product Designer UBS I’m a strategic designer who is curious about systems, technology, and social impact. I’ve engaged in a broad variety of design-driven research and strategy engagements, including how to eliminate food deserts for a major regional supermarket chain, how local businesses can better introduce themselves to investors, how urban residents might be incented to move to rural America, and with the NYC DOT to democratize access to Williamsburg streets. I came to MS-SDM to explore in-depth the connection between design strategy and business. I currently work in the Digital Lab at UBS as a…
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MSSDM Alumni Webinar on February 10
Join us on Friday, February 10th, from 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM for an alumni panel conversation on Strategic Design in uncertain times. The conversation will be moderated by Claire Zhuang (SDM’23) with panelists Lauren Stobierski (SDM ’22), product designer at UBS; Juliette Wang (SDM ’22), interaction designer at Google; and Nishant Wazir (SDM ’22), strategist and designer at Openshop. To know more about the panelists’ experience and thoughts around MS SDM program, please check out their alumni stories. The panel will be virtual. All MS SDM students are invited. REGISTER HERE
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Juliette, Class of 2022
Juliette Wang | UX Designer Google I’m a strategic designer aspiring to craft products and systems experiences that paves the way technology impacts our lives. I’m currently working at Google on a cross-functional team delivering the next generation of shopping experiences on Search. Previously, I was working at Instrument, a digital design agency, working closely with a multidisciplinary team alongside clients to build end-to-end product, website, brand, and visual experiences. My work primarily focuses on strategy and design from ideation, prototyping, testing, to development, for a range of websites and products. I’ve worked with clients including Google, YouTube, Android,…
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Nishant, Class of 2022
Nishant Wazir | Strategist & Designer Openshop After training as a Product Designer during my undergraduate design studies, I worked in product and retail design for a couple of years before pivoting into interior design, mostly for F&B. I then entered a broader domain of experience design for built environments that integrated brand and user experience. This spanned retail, institutions, and workspaces, where I started to engage in culture-focused design for behavior in built environments. I gradually expanded my workspace to organizational culture, brand strategy, and business design, moving away almost entirely from the design of things to the…
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Nam, Class of 2021
Nam Phuong Doan | Senior Experience Designer Method, a GlobalLogic company, Hitachi Group I am a NYC-based design strategist working at the intersection of design, technology and community. Currently, I design strategies and user experiences for digital products and services at Method, a GlobalLogic company, Hitachi Group. As a designer and strategist, I am passionate about the form and the impact of the work I put into the world. I believe that innovation is most powerful when it engages with emerging issues and drives systemic change, whether on a micro or macro level. Besides design-related matters, I connect communities…
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