Photo of Elena Hoshizaki by Johnny Thanphachanh

Hello 〰️

I’m Ellie, a technodesigner.

Technodesign = technology + design. Yes, I made this up. Web App Developer | UX Engineer | Creative Technologist | New Media Artist — that’s so verbose. Being a technodesigner is just one pretty simple word.

Creative technology is my specialty.

Currently I’m living in Berkeley, CA, pursuing a master’s degree in Design + New Media @ UC Berkeley. Before this, I was a Senior Software Engineer at Disney.

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

I am half Japanese-American, half Italian + German-American, and a native Angeleno — born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, USA.

📷 Photo by Johnny Thanphachanh

Experience

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.