📞 +1 218 503 1688 ✉️ hi@yanchen.me 🖍️ www.yanchen.me

Work Experience

Stadia Church Planting

Product Designer

Mar 2022 - Present | Remote

Stadia helps people start new churches that thrive, grow and multiply

Conduct user research with multiple stakeholders to glean insights, identify opportunities, and define product parameters
Iteratively design, prototype, test, and work with development partner to implement a multi-stakeholder digital platform to help more people start new churches, and to help the church-planting ecosystem become more data-informed

LeadersAtlas

Product Designer & Program Consultant

Jul 2021 - Sep 2022 | Remote

LeadersAtlas turns the skills & knowledge within a team into practical, peer-led workshops that address leadership priorities.

Productize consulting service offerings: ideate, design, prototype, and work with engineering team to implement
1. an internal web app for program design & management, and
2. a client facing web app to engage employees in and beyond LeadersAtlas workshops, and visualize key metrics on team health for client leader
3. a chatbot to automate client interviews during session creation process
Set up product development process from idea generation to implementation, and work with team to integrate with existing practices
Design workshop activities and templates to plug and play across all client sessions with corresponding facilitation instructions and sample agendas

Flourish

Product Designer

May 2021 - Jan 2022 | Remote

Flourish matches volunteers to opportunities based on their passions, skills, and schedule.

Conduct market research and user research to understand product context for all stakeholders and develop product roadmap as first designer
Design, prototype and work with engineering team to implement mobile app that matches users with volunteer opportunities, and web app that enables volunteer-based organizations to manage opportunities & teams, integrating best practices, actionable insights, and impact measurement
Conduct usability tests to uncover problems and opportunities, understand user needs more deeply, and iteratively improve product design

Purpose in Motion (PIM)

Program & Visual Designer, Project Manager

Jul 2020 - Feb 2022 | Remote

PIM empowers young people with education, resources, and networks to become mission-driven leaders and effective changemakers.

Design a Tech for Good training program and global competition for 3000+ participants across 115 countries for a multinational technology company
Develop virtual career prototyping programs, and workshop materials for 300+ students across 3 universities
Curate social impact leaders to participate in training young people towards impact-driven careers
Design program materials for localized, holistic, in-person learning experiences to complement online degrees for Infinity Campus

Design for Social Innovation

Founder

Mar 2017 - Dec 2020 | Beijing, London, San Francisco

DSI is an open social impact platform to empower anyone, anywhere to use their skills for good.

Curated and ran 20+ webinars for 200+ people in three weeks for BlockCOVID, a virtual summit to alleviate the impact of COVID-19 on society, and created a mini accelerator with 20 mentors across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas
Trained 300+ people ages 13-60+ on creative methods, lateral thinking, rapid prototyping, and diverse perspectives on global issues through in-person and virtual workshops with design, technology, business, and social sector experts
Developed ideation game to enable broader participation in social impact, used by partner organizations in training workshops and recruiting events in Asia and Europe

Innopanda

Founding Team, Strategy & Design

Jan 2016 - Sept 2017 | Beijing, China

Innopanda was a talent collective that explored new ways of living and working through building independent ventures or within existing organizations.

Identified business opportunities, prepared project proposals for Fortune 500, government, and startup incubator clients
Designed and ran design thinking and agile workshops for product, strategy, and culture using Art of Hosting techniques
Graphically harvested outcomes, synthesized data for reports

Blue Sky Lab

Founding Team, Project Manager & Product Designer

Apr 2016 - Aug 2017 | Changsha, China

Blue Sky Lab, an Innopanda Venture, is a product development company for better health and environment with a focus on air, food, and water.

Defined platform direction and strategy with key stakeholders. Conducted co-design workshops, prototyped iterations of concept products based on user & market research
Co-lead cross functional team to take first product (ATMO Blue) from concept to market in 13 months with 5,000,000 RMB budget; established product development and manufacturing partnerships; defined product roadmap and tech specs with engineers and designers; designed UI/UX over seven iterations

Daimler China IT Innovation Lab

Founding Team, Project Manager

Apr 2015 - Dec 2015 | Beijing, China

I was hired by WeImpact to help set up Daimler China’s in-house experimental center and proto-incubator for new technologies and business applications, the precursor to Lab1886 in China.

Managed tech research and ideation team for potential applications in business units across Daimler China
Designed ideation process to increase company-wide engagement in new product development and innovative business applications
Prototyped online and offline open innovation platforms over multiple sprints
Supported design and strategy for process, tools, and visualizations to transparently manage innovation pipeline
Worked with engineering teams to design and prototype digital products as a part of the lab’s service to internal clients

Lacebark International Education Group

Operations & Program Design

Mar 2014 - Mar 2015 | Beijing, China

Lacebark was a boutique education firm that aimed to fill in the gaps within the public education system in China through customizable and holistic learning experiences.

Developed mentorship program, tutor/student evaluation, and individualized learning plans to prepare high school students across four Chinese cities for post-secondary studies abroad
Managed curriculum, itinerary, and promotional materials for five experiential learning camps
Built and managed a team of ten tutors and mentors, and systematized student intake process

Community Engagement

YWAM San Francisco

YWAM San Francisco's mission is to engage the city with a loving God. Restoration Initiatives is a ministry of YWAM SF that exists to restore, empower, and serve the marginalized in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco.

Urban Community Discipleship Training School

November 2019 - September 2020 | San Francisco, USA

Restoration Initiatives Staff

June 2020 - Present | San Francisco, USA

Develop economic empowerment strategy, programming, and partnerships to help our unhoused neighbors develop life skills and job skills so that they can re-enter the workforce
Develop partnerships with community organizations and service providers to create a unified advocacy for the needs of our unhoused neighbors, and to prototype holistic services for unhoused women
Support streamlining of fundraising strategy, volunteer experience, outreach training, and relief services

FaithTech

Silicon Valley Co-Lead

January 2020 - January 2023 | San Francisco, USA

FaithTech bridges the disconnect between faith and tech through community, projects, and thought leadership.

Connect with Christian technologists, churches, and para-church organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area to relaunch and grow Silicon Valley chapter of FaithTech after a period of hiatus
Build and nurture a volunteer leadership team to oversee Labs, community engagement, communications, and spiritual oversight
Build partnerships with churches, parachurch organizations, non-profits, and tech companies to create meaningful service opportunities for our community
Coordinate monthly meetups and experiment with creative virtual community-building activities in between meetups
Coordinate annual missional hackathon (hacksv.faith)
- 2020: coordinated a virtual hackathon for 70+ registered participants in and around the Bay Area
- 2021: oversaw an organizing team of 14 volunteers across 10+ cities to coordinate a hybrid hackathon for 200+ registered participants across North America
- 2022: oversaw month-long global virtual hackathon and a 1-day in-person hackathon in San Francisco
Develop communications strategy and content alongside Communications Lead, including designing social media posts, monthly newsletters, and video content
Coordinate with Labs lead to develop workflow and project pipeline

Global Shapers Community, World Economic Forum

Sept 2016 - Present | Beijing, London, San Francisco

Impact Officer, San Francisco Hub (April - October 2020)
Social Lead, London Hub (May - November 2019)
Hub Project Coordinator, Beijing Hub (March - September 2017)

Fellow, RSA (Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce)

Jan 2019 - Present | London

Kingdom Code

Oct 2017 - Oct 2019 | London

Alpha International

Oct 2017 - Jul 2019 | London

Education

MA/MSc Innovation Design Engineering

Double Masters, Royal College of Art, Imperial College London

Oct 2017 - July 2019 | London, UK