Core Team
Our core team is a multidisciplinary group of women who create solutions based on real needs. Our core team works on our consultancy work: special-projects, in-house research and development, team training and other internal design solutions.
Renn Scott
MA, Interaction Design, RCA
FOUNDER + CHIEF DESIGNER
@RennDGFTech, founder of @dgdesignlabs
Renn is founder of Daily Goods Design LABS. A design leader and prolific inventor, Renn has a passion for creating innovative user experiences and forward-thinking product designs. With over 20 years of experience at companies such as IBM and BlackBerry in leadership roles within user experience, design research, consumer insights and strategic innovation, Renn has helped design best in class products and experiences.
Renn’s hands-on approach and point of view as a designer is radically different than most. For any project she always starts with 'WHY create' in the first place and uses a co-creative design methodology and best practices based on insights gained from female consumers. Renn’s experience and observations has been that there is a lack of female design leaders and designers in the tech and design fields. Instead of just leading by example Renn also strives to empower other women to make, create and innovate in the field of design, technology and fashion by sharing her insights, skills and knowledge through Daily Goods Design LABS pop ups and educational event series.
Dr. Ming Li
PhD Computer Science
TECH + HUMAN INTERACTION
Ming holds a PhD in Computer Science from Dartmouth College, with special interests in Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing, Human Computer Interactions, and Wearable computing, among many others. She has 10+ years of Research & Development experience in academia, at software giants such as IBM research, Oracle as well as at fast-growing young companies in North America and China. At Daily Goods Design LABS she uses her keen sense of what people, want and need to help develop innovative wearable fashion products for women.
Carolina Taylor
VISUAL SCIENTIST + INNOVATOR
Carolina Taylor is a visual designer with a solid background in design strategy. With over 15+ years of experience in cross-disciplinary teams, she has led design efforts, communicating and creating directly for senior executives. She is a graduate of the advertising and graphic design program at Humber College, and has an R.G.D. accreditation since 2006. Carol has extensive experience in both print and digital design with expertise in brand adaptation, typography, localization, colour management, colour translation, accessibility, colour retouching, design systems and UI design. She has worked with large companies including Thomson Reuters, The Toronto Star, Rogers Communications, Toronto Public Library and Blackberry to name a few.
COLLECTIVE TEAM
DGDL Collective does community outreach and collaborations, as well as contributing a wide array of capabilities to the core team on a project-by-project basis. The Collective team also helps out with our in-house projects, experiences and events.
Margaret Kuo
MA, Applied Science, UoW
COMPUTER RESEARCH + INSIGHTS
Margaret is a User Experience expert with more than 15 years of experience. For her it’s simply a thrill to see a product or interface through the eyes of real-world users, using research as the portal. Margaret has a passion for using research insights to improve the usability, usefulness and desirability of all kinds of things. In addition to helping startups, she has inspired new features and made things easier to use at BlackBerry and Hewlett-Packard. Outside of work, she’s a traveler with a deep interest in other cultures.
Mehnaz Aydemir
INDUSTRIAL + INTERACTION DESIGN
Mehnaz is an Industrial Designer with Interactive Design experience. She has been working in design industry both in Europe and Canada for more than two decades in various areas of design such as manufacturing, store planning, furniture design, interaction design and jewellery design. She completed her Master in Design degree at OCAD University in Digital Futures department after exploring the needs and future of Industrial Design discipline. Recently teaching at OCAD University, Industrial Design Department.
Mehnaz believes in and works for connecting digital technology with physical products while executing as well as at the innovation stage of product development. She pursues the idea of fundamentals of design matter for benefits of physicality of product development and works to fill the gap between two worlds to reshape and connect user experiences with digital technology. She gives seminars, and creates workshops with various universities in Europe and in Canada. She has been recently working on development of her thesis project “The Face and Emotion Recognition to Enhance Learning in Children with Autism” with South Asian Autism Awareness Center (SAAAC). Mehnaz holds publications in Industrial Design and Design for Health.
Laura Lebel-Pantazopoulos
RESEARCH + INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
Laura is an Industrial Design student at OCAD U, focused on understanding, thinking, caring and creating. She has a range of experience from UX design and rapid prototyping, to graphic design, branding, coding, and creative writing. A Toronto native, she also has a passion for active, social, beautiful, and livable cities.
Adriana Ieraci
M. Eng., Founder of GYBO Robotics Network
TECHNOLOGY DESIGN TRANSLATOR
Adriana is a technology design translator. Her work explores the application of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics, the design patterns and business models they enable. She is a design and technology entrepreneurship lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine, and the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto. She has led multiple institutions in research strategy and business development. She is the founder of Conveyor Built, an innovation skills training and development firm. Her passion for technological literacy and open innovation inspired her to start the GYBO Robotics Network. She is a member of the board of the Parametric Human Project. Adriana has a Masters of Engineering from the University of Toronto.
Erica Tiberia
TECH + ROBOTS + FUTURE SCENARIOS
@robotiberia
Erica is a tech educator and creative technologist. She has a background in molecular biology and biotechnology and a passion for science communication, digital education, and hardware UX research, design and prototyping. She has designed education programs involving electronics, robotics, digital fabrication and programming for kids and adults. She also builds robots, is a level 1 winner of the 2016 sample return robot NASA Centennial Challenge, and is currently competing in NASA’s Space Robotics Challenge.
Jin Cao
SOCIAL MEDIA + COMMUNICATIONS
Jin is in the midst of graduating from Ryerson in the Fashion and Communications and is a well rounded creator. Her focus for Daily Goods Design LABS has been social media - Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. She loves styling, graphic design, illustration and videography. An aspiring entrepreneur, she is intrigued by the business and lifestyle side of fashion.
Theresa Maguire
BRAND + PRODUCT INNOVATION
Theresa Maguire is a leader in the retail fashion industry. She was a founding member at Club Monaco where she helped build and grow the brand and product into an International success story. She went on to establish the brand team at Walmart Canada & launched the GEORGE brand in 2004. Working at Aritzia she was instrumental in organising the company for its expansion into the US market. Theresa is a guest lecturer at George Brown College & is an advisor in the start-up community.