Michelle Lee leads Mobile Strategy and Design at IDEO, growing and marketing the play-centric iOS and Android apps developed by the Toy Lab. These include beloved children’s apps Balloonimals and Elmo Calls (produced in partnership with Sesame Workshop) as well as the award-winning Spark Camera. Beyond mobile, her tenure at IDEO has included human factors and product design roles influencing products and services across food and beverage, consumer products, education and retail.
A passion for entrepreneurship – particularly identifying user needs and bringing thoughtfully designed solutions to fruition – drives her current and past work, including co-founding ShopWell, an IDEO spinout focused on health and nutrition. Prior to IDEO, Michelle exercised her creativity in the toy industry with positions at University Games and VTech. She holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MS in Product Design from Stanford University, where she has also inspired the next generation of product designers as an instructor.