Sha Hwang

You absolutely need to hear the story of Sha Hwang. This guy’s the real deal. He’s been around the block, crushed it in tech, design, and now he’s doing some serious good with Nava.

So, Sha jumped into the scene back in YC W10, which honestly means he’s been in the game for a minute, early days, but already making waves. Before Nava, he was co-founding all kinds of startups, Movity, which got snapped up by Trulia, and Gifpop, the cool company that made animated GIFs into physical cards. Dude’s got that startup hustle, no cap. He’s also worked on Meshu, which is some wild data jewelry, and he’s got experience at big names like Healthcare.gov, helping redesign that beast, which was a huge deal.

But here’s the kicker, his background isn’t just tech, it’s architecture. He studied at UC Berkeley, then worked at IwamotoScott in SF and MESH in NYC. Basically, he’s got that designer’s eye, knows how to build shit that’s not just functional but looks sick. He even worked at Stamen Design, doing mapping and data viz projects for MTV, CNN, Flickr, Adobe. That’s some high-profile stuff, showing he’s got mad skills in making complex info look clean and easy to understand.

What’s cool is how he blends art and tech, strategy and execution, he’s not just about making things look good, he’s about making them matter. That’s why he’s now COO and co-founder at Nava, a public benefit corp trying to fix government services for vulnerable folks. That’s not just business, that’s passion for real social impact. You can tell he’s motivated by more than just making money, he wants to make a difference.

He’s also a speaker at big events like Eyeo Festival and even White House Datapalooza. That’s some legit recognition from the community, showing he’s not just building stuff but also shaping how we think about data, design, and tech for social good.

Now he’s based in Brooklyn, but his work spans from architecture to startups, from government redesigns to social impact projects. The guy’s got that rare combo, artistic vision, tech smarts, planned mind, and he uses all that to push boundaries and solve real problems.

Bottom line? Sha Hwang is one of those people who saw how to use design and tech to do good, jumped in, and never looked back. He’s been crushing startups, shaping how info is visualized, and now he’s using all that experience to help the most vulnerable. That’s a story of someone who genuinely cares, who’s not just building for the sake of it but for impact. No Cap, he’s the kind of founder you wanna watch, because he’s not just in it for himself, he’s in it to change the game.