About me
Work, internships, academics, and things in-between.
Lead – Experience Design
WongDoody
Design Fellow
Future Factory, Mumbai
Research Associate
NoRILLA
iii Online Fellow
Integrated Innovation Institute
Master of Integrated Innovation for Products and Services
Carnegie Mellon University
Design Intern
Scott Institute for Energy Innovation
First Place
Hack-A-Startup
Head, Finance & Internal Relations
IAESTE India
Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering
Manipal University
Co-Founder
The Consulting Club at Manipal
Research Intern
Koç University
WWDC Scholar
Apple
SBI Mutual Fund
Management Intern
Mahabir Industries & Allied Works
Amazon
Maharashtra Higher Secondary School Certificate
PACE Junior Science College
Jamnabai Narsee School
At the age of 15, I embarked on my professional journey by establishing an e-commerce venture and working on its growth for the next seven years. Today, it stands as a well-established brand, processing more than 20,000 orders annually.
During my pursuit of an engineering degree at the Manipal Institute of Technology, outside of academics, I assumed a leadership role on the National Committee Board of IAESTE India, co-founded a consulting club, and earned the prestigious Apple WWDC18 Scholarship as one of just seven Indian students.
I then headed to the United States, and enrolled in the Master of Integrated Innovation for Products and Services program at Carnegie Mellon University. Throughout my time at CMU, I dedicated myself to expanding my knowledge and refining my skills as a transdisciplinary innovator.
In my very first semester, I won the CMU Hack-A-Startup competition, competing against 130 participants. For my Capstone project, my team developed a power-actuated deployable stair system for curtain-side trucks, utilizing the Integrated New Product Development process. This innovation is now patent-pending and will soon enter production thanks to our corporate sponsor.
During my summer internship at Intuit, I had the distinct honor of being the company's first Design Program Manager Intern. In this role, I had the chance to make an impact as a newcomer in the nascent DesignOps community.
In my final semester at CMU, I co-authored a master's thesis entitled "Design Thinking for Education in India" which was subsequently accepted for presentation and published by the Industrial Designers Society of America during their Education Symposium in New York City. By the time I completed my master's degree, I had accumulated diverse experiences in various domains, including business, operations, design, engineering, and research roles.
Post graduation, I worked with NoRILLA to extend their patented mixed-reality educational system which bridges physical and virtual worlds to improve STEM learning. Simultaneously, in my capacity as a Fellow at the Integrated Innovation Institute, I actively engaged in instructional design and provided vital support to their newly launched online certificate and master's programs.
In 2024, I moved back to India and soon after joined WongDoody as an Experience Design Lead.
Yash is that ideal blend of strategic product design thinking and effective program management. He uses empathy to understand the customer problem and then backs it all up with data. I would highly recommend Yash to any team looking for a motivated team member that is eager to learn and excel in delivering a strong product experience. He is an asset to any team he joins!
Bernice Lee
Director, Design Operations
Yash is super responsive, efficient and has a great eye for detail. He’s a pleasure to work with and I hope to work with him on many more projects.
Chris Lund
Creative Director
Yash is someone who catches on quickly, pays close attention to detail, and takes the initiative to deliver high-quality work across many of our projects. I have been fortunate to work closely with Yash since January 2023 in his role as Staff Teaching Assistant for the course, Professional Practice of Product Innovation, and then subsequently as an Online Fellow where he supports community-building efforts and program enhancement projects for the CMUiii Online Program at the Integrated Innovation Institute.
Yash has technical skills combined with creative problem-solving that have been so valuable to our team. What stands out, in particular, are his abilities in project management. When he started with us as a Staff Teaching Assistant, his primary project was managing the completion of video lectures for the online capstone course. This work involved support and coordination among guest lecturers, busy professors, and our video production partners. He also generated visuals across many of these videos, resulting in wonderful content covering every phase of the innovation process we teach. I always felt at ease with Yash taking the lead on managing these details and he delivered exceptional work every time.
Most recently, Yash has been reviewing content in another course to improve the clarity of assignments and content in Canvas to improve the students’ learning experience. Utilizing his engineering background and knowledge of the course, his recommendations demonstrate his careful consideration of the learning experience and the learning objectives of the course. Yash has a deep understanding of innovation principles and what is involved in teaching them to our students who come from various disciplines.
Susanna Zlotnikov
iii Online Program Director
