# Lissette Arias > Founder | Design Leader Building Ventures w/Diverse Innovators for Lasting Impact & Sustainable Wealth Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/lissette ✨ Igniting the genius and creativity of diverse innovators to drive transformative change and unlock sustainable wealth. Let's build! Leading Eighty20 Ventures, a differentiated venture studio that identifies and capitalizes on market inflection points by partnering with exceptional underrepresented founders to build transformative tech companies in underserved markets. We focus on the critical 20% of decisions that drive 80% of startup success. Our unique approach combines: - Metrics-driven validation - Founder-friendly equity structures - Self-sustaining studio model - Clear path to funding Currently building category definers across Endo Tech, Nonprofit Tech, and FemTech verticals through our curated founder cohorts and collective intelligence network. ## Work Experience ### Founder @ Eighty20 Ventures Jan 2024 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area Leading Eighty20 Ventures, a women-led venture studio redefining how startups scale and succeed. Empowering the brilliant talents of diverse founders to build category-defining companies through: - Founder-first equity models and tailored frameworks - Sustainable, metrics-driven growth strategies - Focus in FemTech, EndoTech, and Nonprofit Tech sectors Driving innovation with bold ambition and strategic focus, I lead our mission to identify inflection points, build transformative products, and challenge the status quo in venture building and in VC. ### Guest Speaker @ UC Berkeley Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology Jan 2023 – Present | Berkeley, California, United States ### Member @ Chief Jan 2022 – Present ### Chief Product and Design Officer @ Platform Venture Studio Jan 2024 – Jan 2024 | San Francisco Bay Area As Chief Product and Design Officer, I drive the strategic direction and execution of AI-driven product innovation, overseeing all aspects of product lifecycle management. I’ve successfully launched over 10 products (startups), while strategically shutting down over a dozen concepts at the research stage to focus on high-impact opportunities. In less than one year, we scaled marketplace businesses to reach impressive ARR, with a focus on user-centered design and AI-powered solutions that resonate with diverse user bases. ### Chief Design Officer @ Platform Venture Studio Jan 2022 – Jan 2024 | San Francisco Bay Area Grew a design and development team by 300%, scaling processes to meet the needs of simultaneous projects and increasing studio output by 40%. ### Head Of Design @ Platform Venture Studio Jan 2020 – Jan 2022 | San Francisco Bay Area I am responsible for developing scalable DesignOps while imparting day-to-day design leadership that fosters a shared understanding of the user-centric intersectionality of design, content, business, and engineering. I'm a servant leader who revels in helping others thrive. I value focus, simplicity, transparency, and excellence. I help create social impact & ESG-driven companies (that improve people's lives and make the world a better place); I'm an idealist and believe we have the power to create the change we want to see happen. Let's go! 💪 ### UX/UI Boot Camp Instructor @ University of California, Berkeley Jan 2021 – Jan 2022 | Berkeley, California, United States ### Infographic Designer and Data Visualizer @ Turner (Turner Broadcasting System, Inc) Jan 2018 – Jan 2018 | San Francisco County, California, United States Visual storytelling solutions ### Lead User Experience Designer @ Alpine Meadows Ski Resort Jan 2016 – Jan 2017 | San Francisco, California, United States I led the design of a seamless user experience for Alpine Meadows’ digital ecosystem (mortar to mobile), incl. a mobile app and an Apple Watch app. A core feature of the product UX was built around sharing, creating a natural flywheel effect that fueled organic growth. By embedding social sharing into the functionality plus gamification features, we fostered user engagement and community interaction, significantly boosting user acquisition and retention through viral loops. ### Lead Product Designer @ Bank of the West Jan 2015 – Jan 2015 | San Francisco, California, United States Designed adaptive microsites to align with conversion goals, ensuring UI flexibility and accessibility, catering to multi-language content. Successfully increased user engagement by 30%, enhancing the overall customer experience and aligning with the bank’s strategic objectives. ### Design Director @ Westfield Labs Jan 2013 – Jan 2015 | San Francisco Bay Area • Provided creative leadership and mentoring in a dynamic, hands-on environment • Articulated research methodologies used which led to evidence-based project direction grounded in user insights, applied from mobile to mortar • Led multi-disciplinary cross collaboration between product, design and front-end development teams in the U.S., U.K., New Zealand, and Australia in a Lean UX + Agile environment • As the product design lead, I steered a team of front-end developers, designers/creatives, and researchers in the development of the service design, environmental design, and digital design for the Westfield Dine-on-Time app, a first-to-market food ordering and delivery service • Drove the development of a design system from the ground up in a Lean UX & Agile environment while applying it to a global platform migration project (Adobe Experience Manager publishing platform), creating design alignment and spearheading brand stewardship across the global organization Designed: • Dine On Time Food App (Pilot) • Food Experience Web App • B2B Food Experience Microsite • Food Photography Art Direction • Analytics Dashboard + Visualizations • Design System • Unified Global Content via Website Redesign • Global Platform Migration • Integrated Marketing Campaigns + Collateral • Environmental Design ...and more. ### Sr. UX/UI Designer @ salesforce.com Jan 2011 – Jan 2012 | San Francisco, California, United States Design strategy, custom app design, mobile UI, art direction for high-profile, high-yield accounts. Concept design & product design of custom apps & portals using Salesforce.com platform. Design strategy, concept design, creative direction, UI design lead for clients including Blue Shield of California, Bombardier, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, and more... ### UX/UI/Visual Designer @ Wells Fargo Internet Services Group Jan 2010 – Jan 2011 User-centered design solutions within the Customer Experience team for the public site and secured-sessions. Design lead of first "Answers" Social Community, Balance Tracking Banking Tool, and several microsites. ### Lead User Experience Designer @ National Football League (NFL) Jan 2010 – Jan 2010 Designed and branded custom websites for NFL players, integrating team identity with their personal brand to boost fan engagement and enhance their digital presence. ### Art Director @ DataBanq, Inc. Jan 2007 – Jan 2010 ### Web Designer @ DataBanq, Inc. Jan 2007 – Jan 2010 Specialized in design for ROI, conversion, A/B testing, KPI's, branding. Designed search-engine-optimized websites, landing pages, product designs, branding for million+ visitor sites. Managed graphic design contractors. Strategy for designing scalable networks. ### Design Lead - Art Director @ DataBanq, Inc. Jan 2007 – Jan 2010 ### Lead User Experience Designer @ The Bachelorette (American TV series) Jan 2009 – Jan 2009 Launched polished and engaging online presence that attracted significant media attention and boosted personal brand visibility for The Bachelorette finalists. ### Senior Graphic Designer & Illustrator @ WRS Group Jan 2005 – Jan 2006 | Texas, United States Graphic designer and illustrator of innovative 3-D displays, hands-on models, informative print products, and promotional materials aimed at improving lives through health education and awareness. ## Education ### Bachelor of Arts - BA in Summa Cum Laude Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, and Group Studies California State University - East Bay ### Bachelor of Fine Arts - BFA in Graphic Design University of South Florida ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/lissettearias - Portfolio: https://www.lissettearias.me - Portfolio: https://eighty20ventures.io --- Source: https://flows.cv/lissette JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/lissette/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13