Team
Michael Karnjanaprakorn
CEO & Co-founder
Michael is the CEO/co-founder of Skillshare, a community marketplace for classes. Previously, Michael led the product team at Hot Potato, which was acquired by Facebook, and developed products and services that organized the creative world at Behance. Michael is also a Venture Advisor for Collaborative Fund, a 2012 TED Fellow, and was listed as one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2012 by Fast Company. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia and VCU Brandcenter.
Twitter
Blog
Chris Boardman
Engineer
Chris moved to New York in 2010 all the way from England. Although a Developer, he also likes pictures and graduated with a design degree before moving state-side. Prior to Skillshare, Chris helped to make the Internet at The Barbarian Group and is also the co-founder of The Brilliant Design Lecture and a project called 3-UP. He currently likes brightly-colored t-shirts.
Andrew Mercando
Product Designer
Before joining Skillshare, Andrew worked as an interaction designer at R/GA working on projects for Converse and Nike+. When not working, he enjoys getting lost in strange cities around the world, toy making (little animals with security cams as heads), and the occasional indie rock/gangster rap concert. Andrew attended Carnegie Mellon University and doubled-up in Communication Design and Human-Computer Interaction.
Eric Ma
Engineer
Eric is a recent transplant to New York, moving back to the east coast after living in the Bay Area for the past 6 years. Before joining Skillshare, he was a Developer at Jumo, and also worked on a startup he co-founded in San Francisco for 2 years. Eric is a big Packers and Stanford sports fan.
Stephen Yang
Product Manager / Operations
Before Skillshare, Stephen worked at IA Ventures as a summer analyst and at 1BOG as a community developer. He also studied Environmental Engineering and worked with charity: water before diving head first into the startup world. Aside from being a MFFL, Stephen enjoys bananas, swimming and everything in between.
Abigail Besdin
Brand Partnerships & Business Development
Before joining the Skillshare team, Abigail worked on brand partnerships at Meetup. Prior to that she was on her way to a Philosophy PhD when she realized education could use an overhaul. A native New Yorker, she now lives abroad in Brooklyn and in her spare time, watches way too much TV and does not enough yoga. The next skill she learns will be to design and produce her own clothes.
Dan Applegate
Engineer
A North Carolina native, Dan graduated from Wake Forest University with degrees in Theatre and Computer Science. After completing an acting apprenticeship at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, he moved to New York in 2010 and began work as web developer. Before joining Skillshare, Dan worked at Rokkan Media, a small digital agency which counts Chipotle and JetBlue among its clients. His skills include the ability to solve a Rubik's cube in 2:13.
Gabriel Isman
Engineer
Having just moved to New York from Ohio, Gabe is overcome with joy at finding himself in foodie heaven. When he's not engineering awesome products for Skillshare, he likes to find unusual ingredients, cook delicious food, and take apart his bicycle. Gabe studied Computer Science and Philosophy at Oberlin College, from which he just graduated.
Ethan Bodnar
Education Designer
Ethan is a creative thinker and recent graduate of the Hartford Art School. He is a national board member with AIGA, the professional association for design, the author of Creative Grab Bag, published by HOW Books in 2009, and is an Eagle Scout. Before joining Skillshare, his work focused on the future of learning and using design to make a positive impact. In his free time, Ethan enjoys the traveling, blueberry pancakes, and the outdoors.
John Wiseman
VP of Marketing & Partnerships
John is the VP of Marketing & Partnerships at Skillshare. Previously, he led marketing at Thrillist & JackThreads, taking them from 15,000 subscribers to over 5 million. He is a graduate of Cornell University and also an owner of the Williamsburg bar, The Whiskey Brooklyn.
Elliott Curtis
Education Producer
Elliott initially began his journey on Skillshare teaching local classes on the subject of Sneakerology, a college accredited course he co-founded back in 2008 while attending Carnegie Mellon University. He has since been called up from the minors and is excited to join the team in NYC. When not adhering to the rigors of office life, Elliott is either tending to his fashion startups vitaminTHICK and Ellsworth & Clyde, traveling to foreign cities in search of pickup basketball, or coming up with triple word answers in Scategories.
Michael Dinerstein
Engineer
After graduating Columbia University with degrees in Film Studies and Economics, Michael shifted gears and became a marketer / web developer for Manhattan GMAT, a small GMAT test prep start-up. Shortly after the company was acquired by Kaplan, Michael left to freelance for NYC start-ups before landing at Skillshare. Michael enjoys a good story, electronic music, and well-poured Guinness.
Loren Yu
Engineer
Before moving to New York to join Skillshare, Loren lived and worked in San Francisco, where he danced lindy hop, played board games, explored wine country, and took oil painting classes while he worked as a product manager for The Experience Project. Before that he studied Computer Science and Mathematics at Stanford University, where he got his B.S. and M.S.