Melissa Quintanilha

Melissa Quintanilha has over 15 years of professional experience in design and user experience. In 2001, they began their career as a Designer for Metatron. Melissa then worked as a Web Designer for Agência Nacional do Petróleo in 2003 and an Interaction Design Intern for Siemens Corporate Research in 2004. In 2005, they became a Master of Fine Arts graduate student at Ohio State University, where their thesis project, BuddyWall, was presented at various international conferences. In 2006, they were an Interaction Design Intern for Nationwide Insurance. From 2007 to 2008, they were an Interaction Designer for the Advanced Computing Center for Arts and Design (ACCAD). During this time, they were the lead UX designer for the Synchronous Objects project. In 2008, they joined Microsoft as a Senior User Experience Designer, working on research projects and across several Microsoft products. Melissa also served as a Microsoft liaison with ESDI (Escola Superior de Desenho Industrial, Brazil) for their participation in Microsoft's Design Expo 2014. In 2016, they began working as a User Experience Design Instructor for General Assembly, enabling the next generation of UX designers. Currently, they are the Co-Founder and Head of Design at Dupla Studios, a design studio that designs digital products and services backed by user data and years of industry experience.

Melissa Quintanilha completed their Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro in 2003. Following this, they attended The Ohio State University from 2005 to 2008 and obtained their Master of Fine Arts degree in Interaction Design.