Niya Watkins

Niya was born and raised in Washington, DC. She attended The George Washington University, where she studied International Affairs and Anthropology. After 5 years of working at the Department of State, she fell in love with User Experience Design and quit her job to pursue it full time.

Niya now works as a UX Designer at National Geographic Society. In her role, she combines user research and visual design to create digital experiences that are intuitive and accessible for Nat Geo’s community of Explorers. When she’s not working, Niya enjoys traveling, photography, and reading about inclusive design.

Colleen Fitzgerald

Colleen is based in the Boston area, where she works at New Balance as a Digital Operations Specialist. Always looking for new challenges, she loves working with photography, video, and motion graphics for corporate and personal clients. Her varied interests include design, education, health & wellness, and streetwear.  

Explore her awesome portfolio on Instagram.

Shammah McVay

Shammah is an Animation Artist, Storyboard Artist, and Associate Producer of the documentary film "Enongo." She's based in Columbus, Ohio, and has studied at the Columbus College of Art & Design. Her work often explores themes of identity and representation in media. She spoke to students during our animation workshop, and covered every technique, from hand-drawn, to stop-motion and CGI! Students had the chance to check out her latest projects and learn ways to get started on their own flip books and gifs.

Ruby Myles

Ruby is an animator and illustrator based in Columbus, Ohio. During our animation workshop, Ruby asked students to participate in a storyboarding activity where they created storylines surrounding various genres. We also had the opportunity to view some examples of her work from the Enongo Movie as she discussed the value of connecting with the characters she portrays through animation. Fun fact! Her number one favorite animated movie is "Brother Bear" and she draws much of her inspiration from Disney's hand-drawn animations.

Explore her fantastic portfolio on Instagram.

Sophia Ahmad

Sophia is a colorist, designer and trend forecaster working in the fashion, footwear and product space. During her workshop, she shared how the use color can amplify brand recognition by expressing emotion and meaning.

For the past nine years, Sophia has worked with brands to identify, create and communicate key color and trend concepts. In the past, she’s worked with New Balance, Macy’s, American Eagle, Express, Kohl’s, and many more brands and businesses.

For color inspiration check on her Instagram