Shows
WIN/WIN: Women in Innovation#131 Ariba Jahan | Head of Transformation, North America @ AnomalyIn this episode, Ariba Jahan, Head of Transformation for North America at Anomaly, shares her journey from studying biomechanical engineering and attending medical school to leading innovation and transformation across nonprofit, startup, and agency environments. She opens up about embracing a multi-hyphenated career, navigating ambiguity with confidence, and redefining what it means to “have it all” as a mother, immigrant, and woman of color. Ariba also explores the intersection of innovation and transformation, how to bring others along on the journey, and the importance of anticipating unintended consequences in emerging technologies like AI.Listen for advice on:2025-08-1139 min
Unmissables with Ariba JahanDesigning Health Tech When Trust Is the Product | Ambreen MolitorWhat does it take to build digital health products that center care, clarity, and trust?In this episode, I talk with Ambreen Molitor, a product leader working at the intersection of reproductive health, equity, and digital access. At Planned Parenthood, where she served as National Director of Product Innovation, Ambreen helped launch and redesign award-winning tools like Roo, an AI-powered chatbot for teens, and Spot On, a bilingual birth control and cycle tracker that prioritized user trust before it became a tech talking point. Her work helped Planned Parenthood win Webbys, Effies, and the VIVE Techquity for...2025-06-1743 min
Unmissables with Ariba JahanHow Futures Thinking Sharpens Strategy | Tameka VasquezMost companies are stuck toggling between reacting to the moment and chasing the next big thing. Tameka Vasquez helps them pause, zoom out, and build strategy that doesn’t just respond, but reimagines.In this episode, we unpack what futures thinking actually looks like in practice: how to build clarity inside complexity, what makes vision operational (not just aspirational), and why tiny shifts—not big bets—are what shape tomorrow.Tameka Vasquez is a futurist, strategist, educator, and the Founder of The Future Quo, an advisory group helping executive teams design new visions with foresight, creati...2025-06-0352 min
Unmissables with Ariba JahanThe Evolving Landscape of Digital Innovation: Insights on livestream economy, immersive digital ecosystems, gaming, and AI from Jessica Berger | S01E09Have you ever thought about having a digital twin?In this episode of Up Next in Tech, I sit down with Jessica Berger, SVP of Innovation at Publicis Media. Admirably known for her insight and understanding of cutting-edge technology, Jessica shares her expertise on trends like web3, AI, extended reality, and gaming. In this conversation, we focused on 4 emerging trends that Jessica's team highlighted in their recent trends report called, Future Forward. The report included topics like instant content to commerce, immersive digital ecosystems, AI's impact on identity and social life, and the revolutionary implications of gaming's...2024-01-0448 min
Unmissables with Ariba JahanSpatial Computing and Building for Gen Alpha with Chief Futurist, Cathy Hackl | S01E08In this episode, I sit down with Cathy Hackl to discuss her journey and inspiration from being a journalist to becoming a futurist and the godmother of the metaverse. We explored what brands should keep in mind when building for Generation Alpha - a group of tech natives who are rewiring the future. Cathy also explained the concept of spatial computing and its applications in various industries and how it may evolve over the next few years. We acknowledged the challenges, the need for ethical considerations in how this tech evolves and the potential of spatial computing in creating...2023-12-0641 min
Unmissables with Ariba JahanWhat does it take to work in the creative innovation industry? An insider's perspective with Chris Denson | S01E07In this episode, I had the chance to speak with my good friend, Chris Denson, who is a marketer, innovation coach, multimedia host, and bestselling author of the book- “10 Essential Rules for Breaking Essential Rules”. Conversations around innovation in the creative, advertising or media side often focuses only on the outputs, so we focused this episode on everything else. We lifted the hood on the mindsets it takes, the internal conversations and day-to-day challenges and so much more.Chris shares insightful stories about how his childhood experiences shaped his curiosity and influenced his current work, and...2023-11-2255 min
Unmissables with Ariba JahanExpanding Digital Identity Through Community Driven Virtual Fashion with Nirmala Shome of the Fabricant | S01 E06The runway is going virtual, empowering new creators and breaking industry boundaries through community-driven digital fashion. In this episode, I chat with Nirmala Shome, the Head of Marketing and Growth at a digital fashion house, The Fabricant, to break down what that means, how they’re trying to build a new fashion industry where everybody participates and profits while leveraging blockchain and augmented reality, how creativity is transcending beyond physical apparel, and the role of fashion in gaming. With over 15 years of experience across digital agencies, e-commerce platforms, and immersive startups, Nirmala has honed her expe...2023-11-081h 08
Unmissables with Ariba JahanBlockchain, Brands and the Future of Consumer Experience and Access with Naimul Huq | S01 E05When a machine is super intelligent, can we even reason with it? Can we even tell it what to do? Can we understand it at all? In this episode, I sit down with Naimul Huq, former SVP of Operations at Vayner3 and now CEO of Dr. Studio to dig into these questions about AI, and the tech evolution from the first iteration of social media to where we’re headed next. With a wealth of experience spanning over 15 years in digital culture, marketing analytics, and consumer insights, he has become a sought-after translator, bridging the realm...2023-10-2552 min
Unmissables with Ariba JahanMaking AI Digital Friends in Augmented Worlds with Alex Herrity of Anima | S01E04What’s the art of the possible when you blend technologies like AI, augmented reality (AR), and blockchain with play? Turns out, ownable digital companions that you can talk to and interact with, called OnlyBots. It's a new era of Tamagotchis, y’all.🤖In this episode I sit down with Alex Herrity, who is a cofounder of Anima, a gaming and interactive technology company and has spent his career building consumer products that people use every day, including Fortnite, the Epic Games Store, HBO’s streaming apps, and his last startup Ultravisual that was...2023-10-0352 min
Unmissables with Ariba JahanUnlocking the Power of DAOs and Web3 Marketing with Simon Yi of Myosin.xyz | S01 E01What are Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) and how do they work? What exactly does it mean to market “direct-to-community”? In this episode, I sat down with Simon Yi, co-founder of the marketing DAO, Myosin.xyz, where he digs into all of this, how he saw the power of DAOs during his time at ConsenSys and what inspired him to start a service agency that is a collectively-owned DAO. Simon and I also talked about: (01:26) Simon's career pivot from finance to growth marketing to web3(07:32) DAOs and how they have always existed since he could...2023-09-1944 min
Unmissables with Ariba JahanHype vs. Momentum: Decoding Cultural Patterns w/ Matt Klein of Zine & Reddit | S01 E02How do you know when something is a trend or just hype? What trends should we even pay attention to right now? In this episode I sit down with Webby Award-winning writer Matt Klein, a digital anthropologist and quantitative futurist with a decade of experience in trend forecasting, communications and marketing to dig into these questions. We also go into how he recognized a gap in rigorous cultural analysis and began authoring articles on cultural observations, eventually writing for Forbes and starting his own newsletter. In our conversation we cover:(01:58) Matt's unconventional background spanning psychology...2023-09-1954 min
Unmissables with Ariba JahanEthical Design and Responsible AI with Kat Zhou of 
Unmissables with Ariba JahanWelcome to Up Next in Tech!What if you could go behind the scenes to see how the future of technology is being built, used, and shaped today? I’m Ariba Jahan, a product and innovation leader by day, and a web3 and AI experimenter by night. Named one of the top 100 women in emerging tech globally, I’m excited to pull back the curtain on the brilliant people and innovations shaping our world on my podcast, Up Next In Tech.
What you can expect:
Thoughtful conversations with product experts, creative visionaries, scientists and industry pioneers
A dive into topics like generative AI...2023-09-1402 min
Asians in Advertising06. Dealing with Disability with the VP of Design & Innovation Strategy at the Ad Council, Ariba Jahan with host Jessalin LamIn this episode, our guest is Ariba Jahan, a biomechanical engineer turned innovation and design strategist focused on creating social impact and a future that is more accessible and equitable and supports intersectionality. She is currently the VP of Design & Innovation Strategy at the Ad Council, where she established the organization’s design innovation practice.
As an immigrant Bengali woman who discovered her hearing loss at age eight, Ariba advocates for diverse, marginalized voices that are often overlooked to ensure their lived experiences inform and drive the work. Her work involves scaling design practices across the organization, lea...2021-12-1623 min
Power of Ten with Andy PolaineAriba Jahan - Diversity, Assumptioms and Structural ChangeMy guest in this episode is Ariba Jahan – also known as আরিবা – a biomechanical engineer turned innovation and design strategist focused on creating social impact and a future that is more accessible, intersectional and equitable.
Ariba is currently the Director of Innovation at the Ad Council, where she established the organization’s design innovation practice. As a member of the Ad Council’s DEI Council, she also leads efforts to advance diversity, equity and inclusion at the organization.
Ariba spoke about her own journey into design, the assumptions often made in DEI initiatives, the need to ask not just “what new...2021-05-0846 min
UX CakeCollaborative ResearchThis episode was a live recording for the podcast at the 5th annual Radical Research Summit in Vancouver BC. Our panel topic was collaborative research - Working with people in other disciplines, in other teams, or even in other organizations to produce really impactful research that will get integrated into the experiences we’re creating. The panelists were Ariba Jahan, Innovation Director at Ad Council, Judd Antin, Director of Research at Airbnb, and Komal Faiz, a UX researcher at Zensurince. You’ll get a fuller introduction of them at the beginning of the panel.This episode is sp...2019-10-0938 min
Masters of Craft#181: Ariba Jahan - Rebel with a CauseThe Ad Council engages millions in global causes through creative messaging and experiences. As the organization's director of innovation, Ariba Jahan is charged with exploring future-forward methods and platforms for the organization through technology partnerships, creative development, and internal education. Threatened with completely losing her hearing at age eight, after emigrating to the US, Ariba has developed a keen sense for attention and empathy that echoes throughout her work. On this episode, the former biomedical engineer explains her perspective, the company's practice and her life experience.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy No...2018-02-2741 min
Innovation Crush#181: Ariba Jahan - Rebel with a CauseThe Ad Council engages millions in global causes through creative messaging and experiences. As the organization's director of innovation, Ariba Jahan is charged with exploring future-forward methods and platforms for the organization through technology partnerships, creative development, and internal education. Threatened with completely losing her hearing at age eight, after emigrating to the US, Ariba has developed a keen sense for attention and empathy that echoes throughout her work. On this episode, the former biomedical engineer explains her perspective, the company's practice and her life experience.2018-02-2741 min