Arlaya Worthen (she, her, hers) - Design Mentor
Small business owner. Artist. Foodie.
As a Design mentor at the Academy, Arlaya ventures out her cavernous mind of art and physically applies it daily. Being a design mentor Arlaya’s attention to detail is the focal point and is taught in many magnitudes such as teach color accessibility literacy and designing with intention. It is to a great extent that Arlaya enjoy’s learning from others in the Academy while in her moments of teaching. Arlaya knows there’s no right way to do anything and is open to all aspects.
Prior to joining the Academy Arlaya has always been in tune with arts and technology. Being a Lady with a passion of the arts and computers from toddler age, Arlaya collaborates with the theory of design daily. In addition to that, Arlaya was apart of the Apple iOS Design Lab in 2019, where she began her journey in creating vibrant user experiences for clients. That phase allowed Arlaya to become familiar with challenged based learning and recognize her role in teamwork dynamics.
Arlaya received her Bachelor’s degree in Experience Architecture at Michigan State University When not in the Academy, you can find Arlaya working on building her small business, partaking in nature photography, trying new foods, going on adventures, creating graphic designs, and developing websites.
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What would your fellow mentors say your greatest strengths are?
My fellow mentors would say my greatest strengths are effectively communicating myself, having empathy, and being an inclusive team player, and supportive. These strengths aligns both personally and professionally.
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If you were to offer students one piece of advice as they start their journey at the Academy, what would it be?
Come into the academy with the no expectations everything’s accepted, anything is possible, and we are all human!
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Have you always wanted to work in tech? What is your personal history with tech?
I’ve always been into computers since a child. Growing up my grandma would call me a computer wiz as I played with family photos and designed/edited them. At other times I would just navigate through the computer and explore. As I’ve gotten older, I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a computer wiz, but I have more than the average amount of experience with software systems, coding languages, and technical support.
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What was your experience with coding, tech, iOS, or entrepreneurship before the Academy?
Before the Academy, I began coding my senior year in high school starting with python. Soon after, in college I learned HTML, CSS, Javascript, and PHP. Many of this coding experience has allowed me to enhance my web development skills and have a general coding understanding for me to even use swift.
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What made you want to be a mentor? What are you most excited about?
Being a design mentor most resonated with the phase in my life I’m currently in. I’m freshly immersed in the world from being a student learning user experience/design and well experienced when it comes to advising others. I wanted to be able to at the same time teach and guide others to give them intentional creating literacy. I want to be the reason learners are able to explain every reason they implemented any aspect into their creations.
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Where are you from and where do you live now?
Arlaya was born in DeRidder, Louisiana and raised in Detroit, Mi. She now lives downtown in the heart of Detroit.