I see you :)

Hi. I'm Adriana Valdez Young. I’m an inclusive design researcher and educator. I help lead MFA Interaction Design at the School of the Visual Arts (SVA) and I write about inclusive design for UX Magazine. I consult for a collection of companies in urban design, architecture, health, hardware, and personal care to deliver people-centered insights that solve real problems for us humans and the planet we share. As part of Consciousness Leaders, you can book me to chat about inclusive design and culturally-driven design practices at your next company gathering.

I became a researcher because I lived in many places and learned from wonderful people. I grew up spending summers with my family in Caracas and winters in Chinatown in Honolulu. I worked at a women’s prison in Upstate New York, co-designing summer camps with children and their incarcerated mothers. I founded a school for undocumented immigrant families in Providence, Rhode Island. I researched privatized-public spaces in India, China, and the Middle East. I studied politics in a small city outside of Moscow at the time when Putin was first elected.

I have a BA in History from Brown University and an MSc in City Design and Social Science from the London School of Economics. I’ve written articles on inclusive urbanism and cultural identity for The Journal of Urban Technology, Journal of Women and Performance, Asian Ethnicity, GOOD, Ethnography Matters, and CITY Journal.