Aneesha Bharadwaj
Green Dot
Pasadena, CA USA
"You’ll realize that everybody’s had a tough route. You go through that phase, but in the meantime, you keep improving…there is no end in learning. [It] never stops."
Career Roadmap
Aneesha's work combines: Design, Art, and Being Creative
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
Get to know the industry you want to be in. Talk to people and get as much training as you can.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Industrial and Product Design
Lasalle-SIA College of the Arts
Graduate Degree
Industrial and Product Design
Domus Academy
Certification
Graphic Design
University of California-Los Angeles
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
Born and raised in Mumbai, India.
2.
Attended the Lasalle-SIA College of the Arts in Singapore and received a bachelor's degree in product design.
3.
Then attended the Domus Academy in Milan, Italy, and received a master’s degree in business design.
4.
After graduating, worked for a couple of years in packaging design and design strategy for companies in India.
5.
Wanting to get better as a designer, Aneesha made the decision to move to the United States—says the experience and exposure in the U.S. was a huge career booster.
6.
Attended UCLA Extension—received a certificate in design communication arts with a focus on user experience design.
7.
Got the opportunity to intern as a designer at both the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.
8.
Now works as a UX designer for Green Dot, untangling complex technical requirements to make their banking software more user-friendly.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Society in general:
You don't have any experience working in the U.S.
How I responded:
When I was trying to find a job in the U.S. it was a challenge because even though I had the skills for the job, I had never worked in the U.S. before and that was something they wanted. It took time to gain that experience.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
When I moved to the U.S., it was intimidating and initially difficult to get a job. I had to go back to school to gain experience in order to prove that I could work here.
I haven't been in the U.S. that long so my experience is still pretty new. I miss my family and it's hard being away from them, but I talk to them all the time and they visit when they can.
College is expensive no matter where you go, but I went to college in a different country. It was very expensive, so I had to put together a really good design portfolio in order to get grants to fund my education.
In India, everything is very academic focused and the culture pushes you to be a doctor, a lawyer, or an engineer. For me, choosing to go against that was scary, but I had the support of my family. I knew I wouldn't enjoy those careers.