MASD Alumni

MA in Social Design alumni are pioneering and innovative leaders in the public, private, non-profit, entrepreneurial and academic sectors.

Get inspired. Browse our compilation of MASD Alumni bios.

MASD '20

Vidisha Agarwalla '20

Vidisha is an Accessory design graduate from National Institute of fashion technology, India. While her time in college she developed skills to gain understanding about human centered design and started taking up projects to solve social challenges. For the past year, she has been working as a product designer with a social enterprise called BEMPU Health, to develop life-saving products for premature babies. She worked on ‘KangaSling’, a wrap that enables parents to easily provide prolonged Kangaroo Care, or skin-to-skin care to their newborn. Her product is being used in many hospitals in India and is also being showcased at the World Health Assembly. At her time in MICA she seeks to develop a holistic understanding about the entire system and understand and address challenges in society, not only in healthcare, but also in other sectors. Her aim is to use design skills to develop and provide cost-effective innovations to the developing world to address social inequity. When she isn’t on to the next social challenge she loves dancing, playing badminton and goes for a quick swim.

Sasha Avrutina '20

Sasha is constantly searching for ways to meld her love of design with social responsibility. She has spent that past few years working in an integrated marketing company where she has had the opportunity to work with multiple substance abuse centers. There she has worked on projects to destigmatize mental health and addiction treatment. As a strong advocate of community engagement through volunteering, she has shared her design skills and time with various non-profits focused on racial equity and conservation. She has received her BFA in Communication Design from the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design where she had the opportunity to focus projects on topics that are meaningful to her, such as mental health and public health. She is excited to continue to learn and grow alongside smart and passionate people and to develop skills to better enact social change.

Heidi Good Boncana '20

Heidi Good Boncana is a visual storyteller and experienced global public health professional with specific expertise in the use of applied mobile technologies in low resource settings and tech-for-health partnerships. She has been with Johns Hopkins for the past eight years developing social and behavior change communication programs across health areas yet with a particular focus on maternal, child and newborn health content, first as a program manager then Senior Digital Health Advisor. She has traveled extensively as a documentary photographer and photo editor. Heidi spent years living in Mali, West Africa with UNICEF developing a photography and video reporting, and building communications for an international donor audience via community stories. She has worked with UNICEF, MSF, US-foundations, non-profits and corporations to produce images for annual and special reports. Heidi completed her undergraduate coursework in Media and Culture Studies at Oberlin Collect and earned a first Masters Degree in International Relations from The New School for Social Research.

Francesca Bonifacio '20

Francesca Bonifacio is a writer and photographer formerly based in Chicago. With a background in journalism, her work has centered on storytelling and developing strategic messaging for financial institutions and nonprofit organizations focused on social services and the arts. In 2017, she co-founded Backyard Chicago, a nonprofit that introduces Chicago Public Schools students to theatre and poetry as tools for healing justice. Originally from Manila, Philippines, Francesca is primarily concerned with and impacted by cross-cultural tensions and the lived experiences of communities of color under colonialism and systems of oppression. She seeks to confront historical trauma within these communities, using a design-informed approach to investigate where shared understanding of trauma occurs across generations and how resources are leveraged to build empowerment and healing. Francesca holds two bachelor’s degrees in Journalism and Radio, TV & Film from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Jasmine Cothern '20

Jasmine Cothern received her BA in Studio Art at East Tennessee State University, where she focused on Fiber Arts. She is influenced by bold colors and patterns in the design work of Lily Pulitzer and Betsey Johnson, and the bright, vibrant hues reminiscent of Pop Art. She plans to bring more awareness to the HIV/AIDS epidemic that has impacted her family and to inspire those around her to take action and advocate for a healthier community. When looking at her prints, people feel a sense of positivity and happiness. They are made with the intention of being engaging enough for people to want them for themselves. She plans to have a fabric line. By having people wear and embrace her prints that were created around this epidemic, it gives them a beautiful story to tell. It’s a way of bringing people to the cause by making light out of something dark.

Kadija Hart '20

Originally from Rochester, New York, Kadija attended Morgan State University where she obtained a BS in Telecommunications. She gained a post-graduate certificate in Video Production from the Sheffield Institute of the Recording Arts, spending the first decade of her career managing large commercial and video productions. She also served as a producer and co-host for two AM talk radio programs. It wasn’t long before she felt the urge to branch out into the non-profit sector, a path of fulfillment that was shared by both of her parents. Kadija used her gift of connectivity to engage residents in initiatives to enhance their quality of life and to successfully fundraise, more than 1 million dollars, for those initiatives to continue. Her ability to positively evoke change, leading to the empowerment of community members, was one of the highlights of her career along with producing two commercials for her college Alma Mater. Kadija is a change agent who is passionate about working with mostly low-to-moderate-income communities of color to advance racial equity and eliminate disparities. She is an outsider artist with installations in Gwynn Falls Leakin Park, Lake Montebello, and Belair-Edison, a self-taught graphic designer, lover of 90’s hip-hop, and cinema buff. Kadija is a Daily Record Leading Women award recipient and received the Associated Black Charities Women on the Move award for “Women Making a Difference in Their Community”. Kadija was a part of the 2018 Bank of America Prosperity Now Fellowship Program and is honored to be a 2019 Leslie King Hammond Graduate Fellow. She is thrilled to be a part of the 2020 MASD cohort and excited about this next chapter!

Eunsoo Kim '20

Eunsoo Kim is from South Korea and has an undergraduate degree is in Graphic Design. When she was in elementary school, she lived in Indonesia for 5 years because of her father's missionary work. Her experiences in Indonesia have become a fundamental motive to have an interest in Social Design. She's especially interested in poverty and youth education among many social issues. She has worked as a VMD designer in the retail industry for the last 4 years. Her hope is that as she starts studying Social Design with like-minded peers and professors, she will become a better, more socially responsible designer.

Ayangbe Mannen '20

Ayangbe has Bachelors and Masters degree in Psychology from Delhi University and more recently has worked as a Design Researcher for a Design and Innovation studio based out of Delhi, India. Her interests lie in better understanding the human experience and learning about perspectives different from her own. She hopes to eventually work towards building inclusive and nuanced solutions to complex issues in her home country, India. Currently, she is learning about gender politics and traditional practices in her own culture to better discern its influence on present day Naga society and her personal experience of "home". During her free time she also enjoys painting and has illustrated for several publications and been part of a few group shows in Delhi. At MASD Ayangbe hopes to gain more practice in creative problem solving and deepen her understanding of Design and its methodology so that she can build powerful tools for innovation and positive change.

Hanah Murphy '20

Hanah Murphy is an eternal explorer, informal educator, and citizen planner. She believes in the power of activating people's’ passions and is excited about realizing inherent community assets in designing solutions for a more sustainable and equitable future. After earning a B.A. in Environmental Science and Policy from Florida State University, she directed an urban farm focused on increasing local food accessibility and strengthening social networks by bringing people together at the table. Her resolution to advance community health continued in the non-profit sector where she led curriculum development and collaborative initiatives in education. During her time as a MASD candidate, she hopes to investigate the intersection of technology, cultural tradition, and resiliency as it relates to the evolution of food systems and urban design. Hanah continuously seeks to infuse curiosity, playful learning, and good food in all of her pursuits and partnerships.

Gwen Richards '20

Gwen Richards is an award-winning digital editor who serves as the board chair of Megaphone Project, Baltimore's Social Justice Film Producers. She has worked for WBAL-TV 11 News and WEAA 88.9 FM as a producer of Mario Armstrong's Digital Spin. Concurrently, she terrorized the establishment as a public health professional. She is an instructor for the Baltimore Youth Film Arts Program and Writing Outside the Fence Community Writing Program, both sponsored by The Johns Hopkins University. Her club name, which she acquired while living in London, England is Chandelier. Cardi B is her favorite rapper. Now retired, she has named her year at MICA as "Priming the Passion."

Eesha Patne '20

Eesha Patne is an Industrial Designer specialized in Product Design. Her main interests lie in designing for environmental sustainability and social impact. Her experience with designing multiple products that involved cheap plastic components and unsustainable practices convinced her of the need to make the shift. Since then she has worked on conscious product design - from reshaping internal systems to incorporating sustainable manufacturing; worked with NGOs involving education of kids coming from impoverished backgrounds and tried to make a shift to a zero waste lifestyle. After conducting a first of its kind event in her sleepy hometown of Pune through her social initiative called Reuse Therapy, she has managed to make people aware and consider their impact on the environment and society. She aims at making sustainable products and services accessible too individuals from varied parts of the society.

Su Qian’er '20

Su Qian’er believes that deign is a bridge between art and society, and that historical changes are recorded in stories of ordinary people. Recently she is keen on exploring the interactions and relationships between cities and people with the help of artistic design. By portraying cities and city constructors from a whole new perspective, she paints a vivid picture about interactions and relationships between cities and people from three aspects – cities, people and life. Her theme works have been exhibited as a permanent collection by the one and only illustration association in Mainland China and the first labor workers museum in the nation. Su Qian’er wishes to broaden her vision and understand the essence of design by observing people, society and nature during the graduate studies of Social Design at Maryland Institute College of Art.

Judy Chen '20

Judy holds an undergraduate degree in Landscape Architecture. She cares about the surroundings and believes in positive change. She spent her school years concerned about environmental issues. More importantly, she learned to feel societal needs emotionally, but make designs logically. Instead of just making attractive products, Judy enjoys the process of discussion, analysis, determining materials and resources, and lastly, coming to a design solution that is suitable to people and the environment. In MASD, she hopes to tackle a variety of issues to help her advance her skills and thoughts, which can be integrated in daily lives, and achieve her goals of contributing to society through practical and complete designs.

MASD '19

Quinton Batts '19

Quinton Batts is a graduate from Virginia Commonwealth University and majored in small business start up and management with a certificate in venture creation. He worked for his hometown Recreation Center for 10 years, where he started to help improve his community and hope to continue while in Baltimore. He's originally from Dinwiddie, VA but has spent the last 6 years in Richmond. He enjoys being outside, traveling, and seeing new places.

Sarah Dunn '19

Sarah received her BFA from the University of Montevallo with concentrations in Printmaking and Photography and a Minor in Environmental Studies. Throughout her undergraduate experience, Sarah found a voice through art and realized she wanted to use arts and design thinking to initiate positive social and environmental change. Since graduating, Sarah has pursued her interests in architecture and teaching art and has developed several community-driven projects. These experiences have merged and led to her current path of pursuing Social Design.

Anushka Jajodia ‘19

Interacting with people and her surroundings, reflecting on their emotions and experiences, and portraying their stories through different design styles like illustration and photography were Anushka's primary subjects during her Graphic Design study at Ecole Intuit Lab, Mumbai, India. With a burning desire to contribute to the betterment of the society through empathy, thinking, and good design, Anushka has been working with non-profits for various social causes like mentorship, education, gender sensitivity, cultural stereotypes, and environmental sustainability. Currently, she is co-designing for a project called 'Ungendering Education' that aims to sensitize people on gender-biases that exist in Indian school textbooks.

Cameron Morgan ‘19

Cameron Morgan is a visual storyteller and graphic designer based originally in Tennessee. She worked for two years as a designer under the Chattanooga Publishing Company's banner. Cameron continues to push her creative boundaries with collaborative efforts with the Chattanooga Film Festival and independent web design work which facilitates entrepreneurs and women-run businesses. Her passion for social issues rose from a mixture of personal and professional experience. Her main interests lie in spacial hierarchy and tensions, particularly as they relate to land allocation and memoriam. She aims to understand how people interact with a changing landscape, how the land itself is impacted by community, and how to weave a narrative which honors that change and promotes a better understanding of that space. Cameron holds a BA from UT Chattanooga in Communications and English: Professional Writing and Rhetoric.

Aylin Durmaz Onur ‘19

Aylin is a design researcher and storyteller. She has experience in user experience, design research, strategic communications. She is a founding member of Turkey’s first transdisciplinary innovation platform, ATOLYE Istanbul. She worked and led various social impact and design projects in different sectors, such as empowering teachers, reviving Istanbul’s craftmanship culture, and creating an entrepreneurship ecosystem. She also led global system design projects developed for multinational corporations such as Mercedes-Benz and BNP Paribas. With a degree in Sociology and experience in the media, she was involved in production processes of documentaries and corporate videos. She was also part of the scriptwriter team of Turkey’s first political satire TV show, Heberler, which was the first (and last) of its kind in Turkey.

Claudia Norena '19

Claudia Norena has studied Graphic Design at Colegiatura Colombiana in Colombia where she was deeply involved in intensive research at college, developing several high quality projects that impacted and benefited the design field in Medellin, the city she was born in. As a thesis in college, she designed a specific project aimed toward aiding the homeless native/indigenous community, which had a very positive outcome. The project named “Kabai” consisted in promoting the sale of crafts made by the native community through a website, with the objective of enlightening visitors/customers about the native community and their history. From her experiences working with these and other social projects, she has gained a unique perspective of understanding social issues and how graphic design can help to promote solutions.

Jess Sanders '19

Jessica Sanders is an advocate for respecting individual autonomy and a believer in the unconventional. Her most recent role before her acceptance into MICA’s Social Design Master’s Degree program was as a Traumatic Brain Injury Medicaid Waiver Case Manager for the Brain Injury Association of Maryland. While in this position, she utilized a person-centered approach and collaborated with service provider care teams to help Medicaid clients design a plan for achieving their annual goals. Jessica previously focused on improving public health as an undergraduate student at Towson University, leading both exercise classes and an Art and Soul art therapy collage workshop while interning at the Joy Wellness Center in Baltimore City. In 2016, she was awarded a bachelor's degree in Exercise Science.

Jade Shih ‘19

Jade Shih is a sociologist who has been working in non-profit organizations for 7 years. She enjoys discovering the structural backgrounds of different issues. She loves learning and sharing with people of all ages, believing education is a critical element that leads to social change. In her work, she aims to strike a balance between learning and sharing.

Levi Tran ‘19

Coming from a three year stretch as a Digital Graphic Designer, in the email marketing industry; Levi joined the MASD cohort with a diverse and varied creative background. Having completed a small amount of work across a wide array of disciplines, Levi pulls on his experiences from print, publication, digital, UI/UX, web, email, photography, videography, and motion graphics, to leverage success towards his future endeavors. Levi holds to the belief that there is some pure and intrinsic value in trying to reshape the world, even and especially if, it is truly beyond saving.

Megan Strickland ‘19

Megan has a decade of experience applying qualitative research and design thinking to systemic problems. Driven by a desire for collective liberation, Megan seeks work that has the potential to address inequitable power structures. Megan’s work has included grassroots led impact investment, community based harm reduction, relationship based direct services, climate change mitigation, gender-based violence prevention, and patient-centered healthcare. Megan has applied skills in research, analysis, collaboration, impact measurement, and global team management at Ashoka (a global network of social entrepreneurs), the World Bank, startups, social enterprises, and community based organizations. Megan lived in Rwanda for three years and was part of the start up team of Inyenyeri, a renewable energy and clean cookstove company. Megan earned a Bachelor’s degree with honors from the Public Policy department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Study focus areas included qualitative research, social entrepreneurship, and the negative consequences of international development.

Vilde Ulset ‘19

Vilde is an Urban Ecological Planner and Geographer specialized in informality, participatory planning processes and resilience. Vilde was the recipient of a full scholarship to study at the Mahindra United World College of India and has since worked for non-profit and academic organizations worldwide. These include the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Environmental Information Systems Africa (EIS-Africa) and the Center for Urban and Regional Excellence (CURE), India. She has also served as a mentor to Engineers Without Borders Student Chapter, NTNU LiveStudio and as the coordinator for the Norwegian Refugee Council's Innovation Challenge.

Aditi Wagh ‘19

Using communications as a tool for social change and advocating for the rights, choices and dignity of the vulnerable has been a driving force in Aditi’s association with various Non-Profits spanning over 4 years. As a Communications Manager, Aditi has not just interacted with diverse stakeholders across the globe, but also has a first-hand understanding of the ground realities owing to her multiple field experiences. Having worked with different organizations in India that address issues such as Water Crisis, Climate Change, Gender Disparity, Human Trafficking, and the like, the desire to create a more tangible form of change is what has inspired her to be a part of the Social Design program. She wishes to explore various tools to better utilize her background in Sociology and post-graduation in Mass Communication from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication to design a larger impact and strengthen the existing systems to deliver better.

Cecilia Yang ‘19

Cecilia majored in graphic design during the undergraduate in China. She was fascinated with the relationship between the individual destiny and the types of society. A short documentary film called “Fairs” has been made in her junior year to record the the life of floating people in Beijing. And she took a series of photographs to record the deporting of thousands of floating people. She chose only-child policy as the topic of her graduation project. The final work “Documents” was an installation art built up with the original files and materials from 1950 to 2018. The materials constituted a tower of information which could be read randomly. She tried to guild the audience into this space of different subjects of history.

MASD '18

SaraFrances “Franki” Abraham '18

Protecting how people live, advocating for who they love, and defending what they do (or do not) believe in is what inspires and motivates Franki and what serendipitously brought her to this program last year. While having a background in English writing, studio art, graphic design, and always creatively inclined, Franki found her calling in interfaith advocacy in 2013 after being recruited into DePauw University’s Interfaith Council program. Serving as their Unitarian Universalist chairwoman and being fortunate enough to attend the Parliament of World Religions in 2015 trained Franki to provide her campus and peers with opportunities for interfaith dialogue and education about the vast number of faith and non-faith traditions that shape our society today. This has, in turn, formed Franki into an untiring advocate for social change and humanitarian cooperation across many, many diverse causes due to the multifaceted connection that faith and non-faith alike have to many of the world’s grievances.

Jen Begazo '18

Jennifer Begazo is driven by her love of adventure, learning, and travel. Her experiences volunteering in an orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya, studying abroad in Paris, France, serving a Dutch-speaking eighteen-and-a-half-month mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Belgium and the Netherlands, and conducting ethnographic research in several slums throughout Hyderabad, India has cultivated her belief that lasting change and progress happens through good design. With a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and a minor in French, peoples and cultures have remained the center of her focus when it comes to design and development. Her various work experiences in The American Museum of Natural History, The New York Botanical Garden, and Lumière Productions influenced her passions of research, innovation, and social change.

Ashley Eberhart '18

Ashley K Eberhart is a social entrepreneur and advocate for more inclusive, powerful storytelling around social impact. She comes to MICA from Dalberg, where as a project manager, she led interdisciplinary teams in strategy, design, and storytelling projects for clients like GE, USAID, and the Rockefeller Foundation. Through nearly a decade of working in social change around the world, Ashley has had the opportunity to collaborate with organizations in sectors ranging from global health to gender equality, small business development to Native American legal rights. Her engagement with using design methodologies for social impact truly emerged when she co-founded a social enterprise called Pasand, which has developed and delivered interactive adolescent health education to more than 5,000 young people across South Asia. During her undergraduate work at Princeton University, Ashley combined her training in political science with her background in the arts to work on collaborative projects in community-based mural art, sustainability, and entrepreneurial innovation. She hopes to further explore the intersection between these disciplines at MICA. Ashley splits her time between NYC and Baltimore, and fortunately does much of her best thinking on trains. You can connect with her on LinkedIn, Instagram, and occasionally Twitter.

Steffanie Espat '18

A Graphic Designer by trade, Steffanie Espat has a passion for all things art, with experience ranging from exhibit design and curation to hip-hop dance. In her undergraduate career at the University of Maryland, Steffanie was Vice President and subsequently President of AIGA UMD, performed and held creative leadership positions with Dynamic Dance Team and Culture Shock D.C., and was voted Creative Director of her concentration’s year-long social design project, “SeeMe: More Than How I Look.” After earning her B.A. in Studio Art with a Concentration in Graphic Design, Steffanie went on to work as a graphic designer for the ONE Campaign and her alma mater.

Valeria Fuentes '18

Valeria Fuentes is a multi-disciplinary artist and designer based in Baltimore. She is passionate about addressing social issues through art and design platforms specifically regarding issues of addressing food equity, racial justice, and immigration. She recently received her BFA in Architectural Design at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Within her practice she constantly challenged the extent to which architecture affects people’s lives in Baltimore City. Since she was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia and moved to Baltimore at a young age, she has been seeking opportunities to bring her culture and identity as a Latina into her work in the context of living in Baltimore City. Her most recent projects include founding an after-school cooking program called Kinetic Kitchen, which focuses on healthy eating, and her thesis that consisted of organizing a 9 hour event in April called SOMOS Latinx Art and Culture Festival where she was able to bring in Baltimore based performers and makers from all disciplines and regions of Latin America.

MaeAnna Hassell '18

MaeAnna Hassell is a leader focused on organized information sharing and strategic development. She is eager to be a part of MICA’s Social Design program because she believes in the collaborative approach needed to implement social change and solve social issues. With experience in student advocacy at the Pennsylvania State University and access to influence working with Maryland’s General Assembly, MaeAnna hopes her experience at MICA leads to sustainable programming and legislation that benefits underserved communities, especially in the City of Baltimore. Inspired by world renowned activists like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and local legends like Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, MaeAnna intends to leave an indelible mark of conscious change by contributing to equity initiatives designed to evoke thought to provoke change at a local level. MaeAnna also likes visiting art galleries, learning new things, and attending outdoor music festivals.

Mengru Liao '18

Mengru grew up in Shanghai and received her Bachelor’s degree of Arts from Renmin University of China in Beijing. During the four-year undergraduate study, she worked actively in NGO field (mainly on LGBT issues) and her social work was centered on campus multi-culture advocacy. She was a core member of LGBT Peer Mentorship Program team and the leader in serial campus activities of Beijing LGBT Center. These experiences largely influenced her values. After graduation she became an art teacher, and still continued working with local NGO groups. However, things are urging her to do more as a designer, she believes that the power of design is limitless and needs to be explored.

Kate McGrain '18

Kate has served and worked in several community organizations and schools in Baltimore City for nearly 10 years. She has experience designing, developing, and managing programs to run and support volunteer management, youth advocacy, community outreach, and cross-sector collaboration. Kate loves working with others to explore and create engaging, effective, and relevant programs, systems, and processes. Kate grew up in Towson, Maryland, just north of Baltimore City and attended Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore, where she received a B.A. in Global Studies and French.

Keerthana Ramesh '18

Keerthana’s love for designing social change started during her undergrad years while working on a classroom project to promote adoption. The project, through trial and error, highlighted the idea that social change can’t be brought about by merely focusing on an isolated group, but by targeting all the factors affecting it. This idea has been central to all of her design work since. She graduated from DJ Academy of Design, India, majoring in Communication Design. Since then, she has created a navigation system for an Amusement Park in Chennai and worked as a UX/UI designer, designing systems of websites and apps with Beard Design, Mumbai. She has also been pursuing studies in psychology to better understand and empathize with the recipients of the design product.

Kimberly Schulke ‘18

Kimberly believes in designing for impact and is dedicated to driving positive change. Originally from New York, she graduated Cum Laude from the University at Albany with a BA in English and Philosophy in 2012. Shortly after, she moved to Baltimore and has been proud to call the city home ever since. For the last few years, Kimberly worked for a national nonprofit, Playworks, helping to expand their play movement to reach 3.5 million kids by 2020. Through her work leading service projects and designing school beautifications, she developed a strong passion for collaboration and community engagement.

Hannah Shaw ‘18

Hannah graduated cum laude with a BS in Marketing from the University of Maryland. As a Strategic Design and Innovation Fellow, she merged marketing strategies with design techniques. She was also the Graphic Design and Marketing Intern for the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. After graduating, Hannah worked for Pearson where she used instructional design methods to create online learning experiences. She started practicing yoga and meditation, which eventually led her on a new trajectory. She traveled for eight months through India, Southeast Asia and Taiwan and had a range of experiences from teaching English and yoga to living on self-sustaining organic farms to attending silent meditation retreats. Hannah aims to meld her design thinking skills with her mindfulness practices and varied artistries to expand individual and global consciousness. She is specifically interested in exploring ways to combat the negative implications of growing technology platforms in regards to mental health and overall wellbeing.

Christina Yoo ‘18

Christina is a graphic designer who’s passion lies in achieving positive social change with design as a tool. Double majoring in Visual Communication Design and Social Welfare in her undergraduate studies, she learned each field’s limitations and wondered what she could do to merge those two disciplines to overcome the boundaries. Christina dreams of a world where all lives are rightfully treated by living in harmony.