Providing LGBTQ+ designers of color with free and accessible education, mentorship, and networking opportunities.
About QTBIPOC Design
Our Vision
We strive to instill confidence in our community by empowering the next generation of QTBIPOC (queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, and people of color) with the knowledge and tools to excel within the design industry.
Our Mission
By educating and empowering marginalized communities through our workshops and masterclasses, we hope to make design teams more equitable by infusing the design industry with more diverse perspectives.
Our Approach
We make inclusivity and equity a practice rather than just a principle. We ground our everyday practices in creating a safe space for every race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual preference, background, and disability.
Our Values
Centering Joy
We center joy within our work and hold space for one another as an active form of liberation.
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Integrity Above All
We value transparency and truthfulness, even when it’s difficult. We conduct work honestly and with accountability.
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Everyone is Creative
We believe that everyone has the capacity to be creative. Design is not gated to race, social class, etc. etc. We accept that there are many ways to reach the same goal.
Our Members
Our community is exclusively for those who identify as both LGBTQIA and BIPOC.
We are steadfast at creating a safe and nurturing space for our community and no form of bullying, intolerance, or prejudice will be permitted in our spaces (check out our Code of Conduct and Inclusivity Statement)
We celebrate all forms of joy, creativity, and expression from our community.
Our Team
Steven Wakabayashi
Founder & President, he/him
After years of leading design and UX with many notable brands and agencies, Steven always noticed the lack of diversity within the creative teams. And in hiring, there was always a severe deficit of diverse talent. QTBIPOC Design was founded to provide education and community for those less represented within our design industry.
Jamie Chow
Events Director , She/They/🧜🏻♀️
Jamie is Product Design Lead passionate about accessibility and creating a psychologically safe space for marginalized designers, researchers, and empathy-driven world delight'ers within our QTBIPOC community. Together, let's empower and lift each other up — so we can all live our most authentic best lives!
Kari Kono
Volunteer, she/her
Kari serves as an advocate in the QTBIPOC space as a white, hetero ux designer dedicated to expanding design processes to support co-creation to drive equity, empathy, and humility in the field of user experience design. In this space she is here to support and serve her QTBIPOC colleagues to thrive in ux careers.
Kenny Chang
Community Director, he/him
Kenny is a UX/UI Designer passionate about advocating for diverse and historically underrepresented communities through design and social justice. He is excited to be a part of the QTBIPOC Design community and to be able to support other LGBTQ+ designers of color!
Kiran Alemayehu
Community and Events Director, She/They
Kiran is a UX/UI designer that is interested in contributing to digital experiences that are accessible, inclusive, and understanding. She has a background in education, having worked with immigrant and refugee youth as well as children on the spectrum. They love to get involved in the community to cultivate a supportive space for designers.
Maggie Karaya
UX Bootcamp Instructor, they/them
Maggie is a UX Designer who enjoys building end-to-end digital experiences, and help foster design communities. They try to show up from a place of openness and playfulness - which applies to almost every aspect of their life. It’s important for them to pay it forward by being a mentor and educator in the design community, especially for those those less represented within our industry.
Marian Corpus
UX Designer , She/her
Marian is a UX Designer who integrates her passion for science and design to create impactful user experiences. She has a strong foundation in research, strategy, and ops. She is committed to uplifting and showing representation for the QTBIPOC design community.
Meher Chand
Social Media Manager, She/her
Meher is a UX Designer and student at the University of Washington studying psychology and informatics. She enjoys connecting with other designers in the community and finding ways to leverage her skills to uplift others. In her free time she enjoys working on illustration and making music with friends.
Michelle Boisson
UX Bootcamp Instructor, she/her
Michelle is a Product Strategist and a holistic designer that’s not afraid of complex problems. She has a background in front-end development, UX strategy and research, and product management. She considers herself a generalist and curious dabbler. She is a wife, mom of two little ones, native New Yorker, first generation Caribbean-American, who recently left the city for more affordable living on the other side of the river.
Stefan Kovalik
Technology Director, He/him
Stefan is a UX designer and creative consultant with ten years of work experience, specializing in the conception, design, development, analysis, and improvement of user’s experiences.
Ivan Lam
Experience Director, he/him
Ivan is a UI/UX designer committed to inspiring and enabling folx to fulfill their potential and live their best lives.
Come join our team!
We are a group of passionate folx who come together to help empower our communities and create pathways for queer and BIPOC creatives.
Currently looking for:
Fundraising/Marketing: Help us raise awareness and contributions for our organization
Operations: Help us set up events and internal operations.
Our Board
Ainsley Waller
Board Member, he/him, they/them
Ainsley is an inventive, award-winning, charmingly nerdy creative professional. He blends his love for pop culture and style with Fortune 500 brand experience and an all-consuming love of storytelling. Emphasis on writing and moving pictures.
James Tai
Board Member, he/him
James is a Human Resources executive passionate in empowering people to live their best and authentic life.
June Hongkiatkhajorn
Board Member, she/her
June is a product designer & art director with 10+ years of experience spread across the agency world, start-ups, e-commerce, and video streaming. Her work spans multiple disciplines inclusive of art direction, brand strategy, user experience, and user interface design. She is currently a lead product designer at MediaLab LA.
Sophia Arredondo
Board Member, she/her/ella
Sophia has served in education and education-adjacent spaces for over 15 years as a university lecturer, victim advocate, program manager, school district administrator, and national education organization director. She is deeply dedicated to bringing equity and justice to education, working in support of students, educators, families, and communities to address systemic inequities that prevent students from flourishing. More specifically, she is committed to identifying and developing strategies that meet the individual, intersectional, and distinctive needs of LGBTQ+ students and move them towards thriving socially, emotionally, and academically.
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