Creative Cafe UC-Santa Cruz
This event has passed.
Thank you to those who joined us. Below, you’ll find resources shared during the event, and we look forward to seeing you the next time we are in town!
Adobe Creative Apprenticeship
The Adobe Creative Apprenticeship connects aspiring creatives with top industry workplaces for real-world experience. Find out how you can get involved, whether you’re starting out or looking to give back.
Adobe Insiders
The Adobe Insiders Community is where passionate creators shape the future of Adobe products by sharing feedback, sparking ideas, and building together. Join our community to engage directly with our product teams and share your ideas.
Adobe Live
Want to learn more about Adobe’s tools? Check out live-streamed and on-demand content from professional artists, designers, photographers, illustrators, motion designers, and other creatives.
Design Create Now Resource Page
Attached you'll find most of the products and features mentioned at Design Create Now. It does not cover features in the Photography or Video category.
Agenda
1:00 AM
Doors Open
Pre-presentation & Portfolio reviews
1:30 AM
Presentation
Join us for a panel discussion! | How to land your dream Job
2:30 AM
Networking
Mingle & Portfolio Reviews
3:00 AM
Event Wrap
Thank you for coming!
Presenters
Adobe Express Evangelist & Community Advocate
Katrina Torrijos
Katrina Torrijos is a digital creator based in the SF Bay Area. She is also the Evangelist for Adobe Express and hosts weekly livestreams, workshops, and demos teaching the community how to use Adobe Express to create graphics for their brand, business, or personal projects. Outside of Adobe, Katrina also runs her own lifestyle YouTube channel where she shares her own journey as a content creator as well as tips and advice on how to get started in content creation, social media marketing, and graphic design.
Speakers
Hand Lettering & Illustration Artist | The Letter Mermaid
Melissa Marzan
As a hand lettering & illustration artist, Melissa believes that words have the power to make an impact on how we see and experience the world. Her art is a catalyst for positive change, and a vessel to process and explore her emotions. Melissa sees her work as a starting point to conversations about emotional vulnerability, cultivating community, ocean conservation, and her experience as a Queer/Bisexual Filipino-American. Through her work, she shares waves of positivity over the struggles of our human experience and builds bridges between people through vulnerability. By living and creating art authentically, she inspires others to become the bravest version of themselves.
Liminal Space Collective
Weston Mossman
Weston Mossman envisions a world where every individual has access to the tools, habits, community, and support needed to become the best version of themselves—and, in doing so, to help build a healthy, resilient, and sustainable human community. He is passionate about bridging the gap between our current state and our potential, and about making the journey across that bridge intuitive, intentional, and beautiful.
Weston is a creator, engineer, artist, leader, and mentor. Having worked in a number of high-level roles, and founding a tech art Cooperative startup called Liminal Space, Weston has years of experience getting creative making things work. His work is grounded in ethics, sustainability, and a deep commitment to uplifting his team.
Co-Founder @ Collective Santa Cruz
Kendall Denike
Kendall Denike is a multidisciplinary designer and creative director based in Santa Cruz, CA, blending UX/UI, branding, and industrial design across digital and physical products. He’s held product design roles at mental health startups like Headspace and Ginger, and industrial design roles at tech-accessories companies like PopSockets and Speck Products. In 2022, he co-founded Collective Santa Cruz, an events and marketing studio creating bold, community-centered experiences—including the Kickstarter-recognized “Extra Tasty Tour.” Collective was named Santa Cruz’s Best New Business in 2023.
Portfolio Reviewers
Product Designer at Samsung
Simran Gunsi
Simran is a Bay Area-based product designer with a background in cognitive science and HCI from UC Santa Cruz. She’s passionate about designing intuitive, data-driven tools that improve health and wellbeing. Outside of work, she loves exploring San Francisco and expressing her creative side through journaling and lifestyle videos. Whether she’s building user flows or working with washi tape, Simran believes in the power of thoughtful design to make a meaningful impact.
Product Designer | Relativity
Krupa Patel
I’m a San Francisco–based product designer with a cognitive science and HCI background from UC Santa Cruz. At Relativity, I design intuitive dashboards that make complex data actionable. I’ve also worked at Mastercard, Canary, and Tech4Good, building skills in UX research and mobile design. Outside of work, I explore creativity through makeup and abstract art. I’m passionate about crafting elegant, user-centered solutions—and I never say no to matcha or a good Figma session.
Creative Director | Altima Creative
Tassa Burdette
Tassa Burdette is the Founder and Creative Director of Altima Creative, a design agency specializing in branding and marketing assets for IT and cybersecurity companies. With over 20 years of experience, she leads a team known for delivering fast, strategic, and cohesive design solutions that help tech brands stand out in competitive markets. Tassa is passionate about design that solves problems and loves mentoring emerging creatives to help them confidently grow.
Product Demonstrator
Senior Creative 3D Evangelist & Community Advocate | Adobe
Vlad Petkovic
Vladimir Petkovic is a Serbian-born artist based in San Francisco, working at the intersection of art and cutting-edge 3D technology. As a Senior Creative 3D Evangelist at Adobe, he engages the global artistic community through impactful storytelling, innovative workflows, and meaningful collaboration. With over 20 years of experience, Vladimir has contributed to a wide spectrum of projects—from enterprise pipeline development and creative event production to immersive installations and projection mapping. His passion for story-driven work that celebrates science, culture, and humanity has led to collaborations with esteemed institutions such as NASA and the Smithsonian. His art often explores hyperrealistic visions of the future and surreal dreamscapes.
Host
Sr. Community Events Manager
Meghan Arnold
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