Melody Roberts
Cofounder and CEO at Liv-Labs- Claim this Profile
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Bio
Steve Cirulis
Melody has a unique blend of creativity and pragmatic business sense. She has great customer empathy and champions their point-of-view in the strategies she crafts. Melody balances this customer focus with the realities of the organization’s internal capabilities, resource limitations, and complexities. Because she thinks across all customer touchpoints, she has an impact across areas ranging from digital, to design to operations. Melody gains the trust of both leadership and co-workers through her creativity, intellect and openness to the ideas of others. I’ve witnessed her getting things done in large global organizations and small teams.
Todd Cherkasky, Ph.D.
Melody has a fantastic command of a number of domains essential for bringing concepts to life and creating value: user-centered design, service design, design strategy, iterative concepting to name a few. She understands how to shape multi-disciplinary teams and drives them towards sensible and concrete solutions. Our teams have benefited greatly from working with Melody.
Steve Cirulis
Melody has a unique blend of creativity and pragmatic business sense. She has great customer empathy and champions their point-of-view in the strategies she crafts. Melody balances this customer focus with the realities of the organization’s internal capabilities, resource limitations, and complexities. Because she thinks across all customer touchpoints, she has an impact across areas ranging from digital, to design to operations. Melody gains the trust of both leadership and co-workers through her creativity, intellect and openness to the ideas of others. I’ve witnessed her getting things done in large global organizations and small teams.
Todd Cherkasky, Ph.D.
Melody has a fantastic command of a number of domains essential for bringing concepts to life and creating value: user-centered design, service design, design strategy, iterative concepting to name a few. She understands how to shape multi-disciplinary teams and drives them towards sensible and concrete solutions. Our teams have benefited greatly from working with Melody.
Steve Cirulis
Melody has a unique blend of creativity and pragmatic business sense. She has great customer empathy and champions their point-of-view in the strategies she crafts. Melody balances this customer focus with the realities of the organization’s internal capabilities, resource limitations, and complexities. Because she thinks across all customer touchpoints, she has an impact across areas ranging from digital, to design to operations. Melody gains the trust of both leadership and co-workers through her creativity, intellect and openness to the ideas of others. I’ve witnessed her getting things done in large global organizations and small teams.
Todd Cherkasky, Ph.D.
Melody has a fantastic command of a number of domains essential for bringing concepts to life and creating value: user-centered design, service design, design strategy, iterative concepting to name a few. She understands how to shape multi-disciplinary teams and drives them towards sensible and concrete solutions. Our teams have benefited greatly from working with Melody.
Steve Cirulis
Melody has a unique blend of creativity and pragmatic business sense. She has great customer empathy and champions their point-of-view in the strategies she crafts. Melody balances this customer focus with the realities of the organization’s internal capabilities, resource limitations, and complexities. Because she thinks across all customer touchpoints, she has an impact across areas ranging from digital, to design to operations. Melody gains the trust of both leadership and co-workers through her creativity, intellect and openness to the ideas of others. I’ve witnessed her getting things done in large global organizations and small teams.
Todd Cherkasky, Ph.D.
Melody has a fantastic command of a number of domains essential for bringing concepts to life and creating value: user-centered design, service design, design strategy, iterative concepting to name a few. She understands how to shape multi-disciplinary teams and drives them towards sensible and concrete solutions. Our teams have benefited greatly from working with Melody.
Credentials
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Venture Deals
Kauffman FellowsAug, 2020- Nov, 2024
Experience
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Liv Labs (YC S21)
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United States
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Wellness and Fitness Services
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1 - 100 Employee
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Cofounder and CEO
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May 2018 - Present
Leading the team and shaping the innovation agenda for a consumer healthtech startup. 29 million American women worry about leaking pee in public. We're making a simple medical device to keep them dry at the gym and adaptive exercise software to restore natural continence. Leading the team and shaping the innovation agenda for a consumer healthtech startup. 29 million American women worry about leaking pee in public. We're making a simple medical device to keep them dry at the gym and adaptive exercise software to restore natural continence.
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Polsky Center at the University of Chicago
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United States
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Higher Education
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1 - 100 Employee
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Incubator Company
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Dec 2018 - Dec 2020
Polsky Incubator life sciences cohort member. Polsky Incubator life sciences cohort member.
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Panera Bread
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United States
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Restaurants
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700 & Above Employee
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Vice President, Customer Experience Innovation
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Feb 2017 - Oct 2017
Agenda setting, strategy and projects in the service of continuously improving, differentiating and evolving the customer experience at any and every service touchpoint.
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Vice President, Digital Experience
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Nov 2015 - Jan 2017
Played an integral role in shaping Panera's three-year digital roadmap, cafe integration priorities, and customer-centricity model for the undisputed eCommerce leader in the food service industry. Authored a comprehensive digital customer journey solutions map and coordinated a corresponding cross-functional capabilities analysis. Mapped out future-facing service blueprints. Partnered with internal loyalty marketing and data experts to draft a realistic, future-ready, enterprise-enabling customer 360 plan. Show less
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McDonald's
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United States
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Restaurants
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700 & Above Employee
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Senior Director, Experience Innovation and Operations Research
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Mar 2011 - Oct 2015
Led the experience design and operations research functions as well as key strategic initiatives for the global innovation team at McDonald's Corporation. Responsible for new product, system, and service concepts - be they physical, digital or organizational. Engaged from trend analysis through international piloting. Collaborated closely with business research, operations, engineering, IT, marketing, and design colleagues across the organization. Between 2006 and 2015, my team conceived, prototyped, and evangelized most of the digitally-enabled service experiences now scaling across McDonald's Restaurants globally. The $300M AI investment announced in March 2019 will realize our vision of a more personalized and expeditious Drive-thru experience, first unveiled publicly in 2012 at McDonald’s Worldwide Owner-Operator Convention. Show less
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Director, Customer Experience Design
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Apr 2006 - Feb 2011
Engaged in the transformation of the restaurant operating platforms (service, production, retail, and merchandising) to solve for diverse global conditions and future needs. Introduced customer-centric design and research methodologies. Built a world-class team. Portfolio includes: reinvention of the service model that defined the QSR category and inventing a brand-differentiating, patentable means for fulfilling mobile orders.
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IDEO
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United States
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Design Services
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700 & Above Employee
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Program Lead, Transformation
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Jun 2004 - Apr 2006
Led joint IDEO/client teams in 6-month to year-long design programs intended to foster a culture of customer-centered innovation within the client organization. Clients included McDonald's Corporation, National Security Agency, Stanford University, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare and Hewlett-Packard. Led joint IDEO/client teams in 6-month to year-long design programs intended to foster a culture of customer-centered innovation within the client organization. Clients included McDonald's Corporation, National Security Agency, Stanford University, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare and Hewlett-Packard.
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Smart Design
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United States
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Design Services
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300 - 400 Employee
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Director, Design Research
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Apr 1999 - Apr 2004
Built and led Smart's design research and strategy team. Managed the OXO International account for 1.5 years. Contributed to award-winning designs for OXO and Hewlett-Packard. Additional clients included McDonald's, Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg's and Toyota. Built and led Smart's design research and strategy team. Managed the OXO International account for 1.5 years. Contributed to award-winning designs for OXO and Hewlett-Packard. Additional clients included McDonald's, Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg's and Toyota.
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Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture
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United States
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Higher Education
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1 - 100 Employee
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Assistant Dean
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Oct 1992 - Aug 1995
Designed and ran the BGC's administrative system at the founding of the graduate program in the decorative arts. Promoted from administrative assistant to assistant dean in the first year. Designed and ran the BGC's administrative system at the founding of the graduate program in the decorative arts. Promoted from administrative assistant to assistant dean in the first year.
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Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
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United States
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Museums, Historical Sites, and Zoos
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1 - 100 Employee
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Exhibition Coordinator
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1991 - 1992
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Education
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Y Combinator
Liv Labs Inc. / S21 -
Illinois Institute of Technology
M.Des., Human-Centered Product Design -
Yale University
B.A., American Studies -
Thunderbird School of Global Management
Exec Ed: Strategy, Finance & Leadership -
UCSF Rosenman Institute
Rosenman Innovators