Grace Woo
Founder
Pixels.IO
San Francisco, CA USA
“Challenges, whether or not you succeed or fail, are what develop your identity.”
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Milestones
My road in life has been direct.
When she was a kid, they didn’t have many toys, so she’d save boxes and toilet paper rolls and build her own toys.
But at the end of each day, her mom would throw away all her “toys”; she thinks this taught her an important lesson about having to build something new from scratch everyday.
When she was 19, she graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign with a degree in electrical engineering and a minor in mathematics.
She went to MIT for grad school, earning a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science, but she studied in the Media Arts & Sciences Program.
While working on her doctorate, she developed a new technology that acts as an alternative to QR codes; she eventually developed that technology into Pixels.IO.
Unlike QR codes, her video response codes are embedded in videos and undetectable to the human eye.
Users can hold their phones up to videos that have her codes embedded within them and enter into an interactive experience on their phones.
Says, “when in doubt, learn some skill”; she especially urges every young adult to at least learn the basics of how to code, a skill she believes will be crucial to have in the future.
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Bachelor
Electrical and Electronics Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Electrical and Electronics Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Graduate
Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Doctorate
Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Doctorate
Computer Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Computer Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Career
Founder
I am an electrical engineer that developed a technology that can turn any screen into an interactive experience.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Entrepreneurship
Technology
Accomplishing Goals
Day to Day
Most of my day recently has been consumed by trying to figure out how to run a business. There are a lot of things around building my company and dealing with a startup that have nothing to do with what I am trained in. There are many points where I have no idea what I'm doing, but you just go with it. My daily goal with my work is to make VR codes an industry standard.
Skills & Qualities Beyond School
There are many different kinds of glass ceilings that go beyond just your race or gender. I had to realize that there are people who don't have the privilege of struggling to achieve something and, thus, don't ever get a chance to know what they are capable of. Embrace the challenges!
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for college students
Find a mentor that can help you on your journey and who is dedicated to helping you succeed.
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Myself:
"I can't run my own company."
Nothing about starting my own company relates to what I've done before or what I am trained to do. It's a whole new experience and there are times where I feel like I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm just going with the flow.
Interviewed By
