Photo of Elena Hoshizaki by Johnny Thanphachanh

Hello 〰️

I’m Ellie, a technodesigner. Creative technology is my specialty. I am half Japanese-American, half Italian + German-American, and a native Angeleno.

Currently I’m living in Berkeley, CA, pursuing a master’s degree in design at UC Berkeley. Before this, I was a Senior Software Engineer at the Walt Disney Company.

My work ranges from physical computing to traditional painting. I enjoy playing with craft, color, and whimsy.

📷 Photo by Johnny Thanphachanh

Experience

  • Web app development for UC Berkeley Haas School of Business Center for Equity Gender Accessibility and Leadership (EGAL). I currently work with Webflow, JavaScript, SVG animation. I manage the EGAL resources website. I also defined and maintain the accompanying component library and style guide.

  • Senior Software Engineer | DECEMBER 2017 - JULY 2022

    The Walt Disney Company, Glendale, CA

    Built new features in an agile environment for major domestic and international Disney sites including Disney.com, StarWars.com, and Disneyland® and Walt Disney World® official websites

    Developed and launched Unison, a unified suite of internal tools for Marvel, National Geographic, and ABC News digital products

    Collaborated with Product, Design, UX and QA to build interactive guest experiences with an emphasis on performance and responsive design

    Led engineering for A/B testing product concepts, including Ads and UI redesigns, to find promising directions that address both guest and business needs

    Mentored junior developers and onboarded new engineers

  • Web Application Developer | JULY 2015 - DECEMBER 2017

    The Walt Disney Company, Glendale, CA

    Interpreted UX designs to build creative web experiences with a keen eye for visual design and user interaction

    Co-founded and oversaw the Women + Tech Brown Bag Lunch Series, a monthly open forum to discuss topics relevant to women and technology

    Drove and developed projects from concept to production, working closely with product managers and designers

    Developed and maintained extensible cross-browser, cross-device code to build scalable applications and reusable modules

    Relaunched Disney’s flagship eCommerce website, shopDisney.com, featuring a responsive redesign and PCI compliant checkout experience written in React

  • UX Engineer | APRIL 2014 - JULY 2015

    MediaHound, El Segundo, CA

    Developed front-end code to launch new user-facing websites including MediaHound.com and DateNightMovies.com

    Created low to high fidelity wireframes and prototypes

    Partnered with Creative Director, Stakeholders and engineering team to build compelling user experience solutions

  • Operations Administrator | NOVEMBER 2012 - JANUARY 2014

    Motion Picture Licensing Corporation, Los Angeles, CA

    Administered, monitored and validated automation tasks

    Collected data from reports and queries to support team efficiency

    Built a system of templated spreadsheets to arrange, manipulate, format and prepare large amounts of information

  • Graphic Designer | MAY 2012 - NOVEMBER 2012

    Digital Color World dba BannerWorld, Los Angeles, CA

    Exercised graphical input and creative knowledge daily while utilizing proficiency in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop

    Administered company operations - from collecting orders, to sending orders to the in-house production team for large-format CMYK printing, to summarizing consumer feedback

  • Associate Project Manager | JUNE 2010 - MAY 2012

    EME Partners, Los Angeles, CA

    Managed and co-managed 30+ projects ranging from minor Single Family Dwelling remodels to entire new site construction

    Designed and developed project proposals with lead architect

    Liaised and delegated tasks amongst clients, lead architect, engineering team, contractor, and City Planning offices

    Expedited drawings to LA Department of Building and Safety

Education

Master of Design (MDes)

Emphasis in New Media

UC Berkeley

Expected 2024

Web Development Immersive

General Assembly

2014

User Experience Design

UCLA Extension

2013

Architectural Studies (BA)

UCLA

2011

Liberal Arts (AA)

Santa Monica College

2008

Leadership

Creative Co-Lead

Disney PRIDE

2021-2022

Membership Chair

Disney Women + Tech

2016-2017

Administrative Officer

UC Berkeley MDes Student Association (MDSA)

2022-2023

Mentor

Disney CODE: Rosie

2016-2019

Awards & Recognitions

Webbys

Winner: Magazine

NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM | 2020

Winner: People’s Voice

STARWARS.COM | 2018

STARWARS.COM | 2017

DATENIGHTMOVIES.COM | 2016

Honoree: Youth Website

DISNEY.COM | 2015

Nominee: Celebrity/Fan

STARWARS.COM | 2015

Disney Women + Tech

Volunteer of the Year | 2016

Disney Interactive Hackathon

1st Place: Internet of Things | 2015

Nickelodeon Games Hackathon

Winner | 2014

Skills

Creative

Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, After Effects, Sketch, Figma, InVision, Procreate, Autodesk AutoCAD, Fusion 360, Rhinoceros 3D, Midjourney, Dall-E, prototyping, wireframing, interaction design, illustration, painting

Engineering

HTML, CSS/SCSS, JavaScript, React, Angular, Bootstrap, Node, Underscore, Google Ad Manager, Google Analytics, Docker, Python, PHP, WordPress, Git(hub/lab), Raspberry Pi, Arduino

Curious?

You can view my résumé as a single page PDF.