# Kandice Cota > X-Intel, Paramount, Macy's. AI Principal Product Designer, Brand leader, Fractional Chief Design / Creative Officer, VC, Serial founder, Innovation catalyst for Samsung, PayPal, Target, Morgan Stanley, CBS, Shiseido,etc Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/kandicecota Kandice Cota has been working with some of the biggest brands in e-commerce and fashion(Target, Walmart, Macys, Shiseido, VF, Inc.), entertainment (CBS, MGM, NBC, Oxygen), fintech (PayPal, Morgan Stanley), travel, social media and technology (Samsung, Hyundai, Nokia) to bring design leadership, UX research and innovation strategy to product design. As a creative and design executive developing consumer lifestyle brand experiences for omni-channel, multi-modal brand and product launches, she passionately combines design, strategy, hybrid research, analytics, and product planning expertise to elevate the craft of products, campaigns and platforms that drive innovation and revenue with a keen ability to invigorate legacy and startup brands. Her creative vision, innovative ideas, tenacity and entrepreneurial spirit make her a trend-setter who formulates talented teams to deliver uniquely engaging and emotionally loved product experiences. She has led in-house, agency and studio teams in fashion, film, games, art, music, mobile, research and design innovation. She is uniquely a cross-section between art and technology, business strategy, data science and design with a research and venture capital twist;) Verticals: E-commerce, Fashion, Technology, Entertainment, Fintech, Healthcare Specialties: Creative executive, Human-Centered Design, New Product and Service Innovation, Product Management, Design Leadership, Cross Functional Teams, Product and Design Strategy, User Experience, Interaction Design, UX Research, Mixed Methods Research, Visual / Graphic Design, Social Networking, Talent Management, Mobile product development, Strategic partnerships, Deal structure, Startup strategist Speaking Topics: Innovation Strategy User Experience Emotional Research Building Brands Startups/ Entrepreneurship Mobile & Social apps Design Thinking ## Work Experience ### Design Partner @ expat Jan 2021 – Present | San Francisco, California, United States Design and innovation exec leading in-house and external product and design teams for clients PayPal, Samsung, Target, TRAC vc, AT&T, MGM, Intel, Paramount Pictures, Hyundai, Wunderman Thompson, Scubapro. Stealth platform for elite creative team deployment urgently anywhere in the world. ### Head of Design @ Kandi Cota Studio Jan 2007 – Present | San Francisco/ LA Designer manufacturer for line of Kandi Cota™ brand products for home, women’s, kids, footwear, handbags, gift and accessories businesses. Create IP, lead design, production and marketing team for four to six cohesive collections. Negotiated with over 300 high end boutiques, specialty chains & majors buyers to close orders. Delivered product for showroom and tradeshow schedule for 6-10 markets per year. Generated a 63% gross margin and a 3-6X annual increase in revenues. Drove social media marketing strategy for niche target markets in 3 ecommerce and social networks. Acquired licensing deal for with Kany Footwear and developed fashion licensing partnerships. ### Partner, Chief Creative Officer @ 17seconds Jan 2020 – Jan 2021 | San Francisco, California, United States Hands-on design and innovation exec leading product design, strategy and creative teams for Morgan Stanley, Social Piper, Leeps and other startups. Work focused on product visioning, new product design/ development and legacy product refresh and augmentation. Acquired by geniant. ### Head of Design @ COTA Innovation Jan 2015 – Jan 2020 | San Francisco Led design and product development ideation and UX concept designs in collaboration with a cross functional team of designers, developers, strategists, researchers artists and filmmakers. Clients include Shiseido, NARS, Hyatt, Kodak, Hyundai, Jarden, Dairy Farmers of America, Newell, Castlight, Project Lyme, Samsung, Target and more. COTA was acquired by 17seconds. ### Sr. Product Design @ Macy's Jan 2018 – Jan 2018 | San Francisco Bay Area Created UX designs for mobile and web homepage, AI-based personalization & recommendation zones for apparel and beauty areas. Developed new mobile and e-commerce re-order program and worked with Product and Engineering to develop site-wide implementation of re-designs for Macys.com 2019. ### Executive Creative Director @ MetaDesign Jan 2014 – Jan 2015 | San Francisco Led creative and design strategy team for VFC major corporate sustainability innovation project with impact to North Face, Timberland, Lucy and jeans category leading brands. ### CEO @ Ipfranchise Inc Jan 2010 – Jan 2015 | San Francisco Bay Area Head of Creative and Product development for mobile social game company. Develop IP brand strategy and lead creative product roadmap for four social and mobile platform media products. Lead concept/character/UX design and development of Pink Panther’s Epic Adventure(with MGM), YardSaler and BidMeUp(with 6waves) social and mobile game applications. Receive creative pitches and brand IP to package and develop for games, film and television library. License and acquire film IP, scripts and characters for game development. Package IP with star & music talent for film and alternative media distribution. ### Co-Founder, Head of Design @ Schiller Bikes Jan 2013 – Jan 2015 | Mill Valley, CA Led product design and marketing team for world's leading high performance water bike and active lifestyle brand. ### Chief Creative Officer @ AIKO Agency Jan 2013 – Jan 2014 Led team in design and innovation projects from concept to market introduction for big brands including AT&T, PayPal, Walmart, Honeywell, and VF, Inc. Practice areas include branding, go to market strategy, research, media storytelling, user experience and consumer engagement for lifestyle industries. ### Head of Product Development & Research @ gotoresearch Jan 2010 – Jan 2013 | San Francisco, CA Led the brand innovations and research teams for creative and technical development of 5-10 simultaneous mobile and web UX projects. Visioned all large scale research, strategy, design and development projects from concept through definition of emotional research insights for digital product innovations. Instituted 3 new practice areas, negotiated largest account deals, resourced talent and led revenue increase of 25% for over 2 years. Directed project, design and content teams on brand strategy and positioning. Defined innovation concept frameworks for mobile, cloud, advertising and entertainment for Sony, Target, Samsung, CBS Corporation, Nokia, Symantec, Hyundai, C8Medisensors, NBC-Universal, Parque Reunidos and others. ### Production Executive @ Paramount Pictures Jan 2003 – Jan 2006 | Greater Los Angeles Area Supervised production teams for four to six simultaneous projects in Paramount Premiers division. Selected key actors and music talent to package for Black Snake Moan, Save the Last Dance 2, and other MTV Films. Executed deal memos for all key talent, cast and crew members Neil Young's Heart of Gold. Generated budgets /schedules of incoming scripts for production consideration. Worked with directors and producers to acquire all production elements necessary to execute creative vision. Negotiated with directors, producers, agents and unions on Black Snake Moan and others. Post Production Coordinator Managed logistics of editorial & production hires for 10-12 simultaneous film projects. Updated and enforced show schedules and budgets on Longest Yard, Charlottes Web and 22+ other major pictures. Reviewed scripts for talent selections, editorial and budget considerations for Team America. Approved purchase orders against budgeted dollars on Aeon Flux, Mission Impossible and War of the Worlds. Worked as studio liaison between executives, agents, crew, payroll & labor relations. ### CEO, Founder @ JOINGO Jan 2000 – Jan 2003 | Greater Los Angeles Area Founded startup to design web and mobile real-time broadcast messaging software product for consumer market. Developed user experience, brand and marketing strategy to meet strategic objectives. Closed equity investment deals and established strategic partnerships for key content. Completed acquisition of software product and company in 2003. ### SVP, Development & Production @ Downtown Filmworks Jan 2001 – Jan 2003 Executive in charge of slate of urban character driven and action genre projects. Output deal with Universal for full slate. Co produced Out on Parole and Sweet Potato Pie released by Lions Gate Films. Developed Pink Slip and Spykiss television pilots for Cap Entertainment/ Sony TV. Secured distribution with Vivendi- Universal for Sweet Oranges, Seed of Faith & other films. Music supervised A Miami Tale. Acquired finished films and developed marketing plan & delivery requirements. Led development team with story notes to capitalize on attached talent. Created production budgets / schedules for release. ### Manager, New Media & Entertainment Investments @ Intel Corporation Jan 1997 – Jan 1998 | San Francisco Bay Area Investment manager of entertainment and new media sector of $500M fund. Evaluated start-ups for purposes of investment and strategic compatibility. Led investments in Geocities( sold for $3.6 Billion) Mpath & Godzilla. Negotiated deal structure and participation rights in equity related agreements. Consulted with companies on product development, strategic objectives, market expansion, channel partners, operational and venture capital planning. Facilitated deals with Creative Artists Agency for A-list talent packaging for new media. ### Senior Buyer, Information Technology @ Intel Corporation Jan 1995 – Jan 1997 Team Leader responsible for devising cohesive procurement strategy to manage $110M in expenditures for the Information Technology commodity. Negotiated and managed all site hardware, software and network contracts. Developed partnerships with internal business units to analyze buying decisions and add value directly to the bottom line. ### Manager, Scheduling, Pricing & New Markets @ Air South Jan 1994 – Jan 1995 Startup team for new airline in the Southeast. Reported to the CEO with analysis of load factors & competitive schedules. Created marketing plans for increased profitability based on research analysis. Developed financial models for Board decisions on strategy and operations. Defined airline pricing and schedule based on consumer & competitor response. Developed plans for new city markets based on competitive analysis. Created brand strategy and design to compete with major carriers in Southeast airline routes. ### Assistant Buyer @ Macy's Jan 1992 – Jan 1993 Managed staff of 18 and sales of more than $3 million. Directly managed the buys for Juniors and increased profitability by 32%. Performed daily statistical data collection, trend analysis, historical comparisons and forecasting for upcoming seasons using Sabre Systems. ## Education ### BFA in Industrial and Product Design University of Michigan ### Master of Business Administration - MBA in International Business/Trade/Commerce Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kandicecota - Website: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aV23TvRv3CBdAMGbhiy0hZ3b31XQjfAV/view?usp=sharing - Website: https://www.kandicotaofficial.com - Website: http://www.coroflot.com/kandicota --- Source: https://flows.cv/kandicecota JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/kandicecota/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-05