Tana Helean is a strategist and design executive shaping emerging fields at the nexus of creativity, technology, and culture. With more than 20 years of hands-on experience across integrated design, media, and engineering, she specializes in aligning vision and execution so ambitious work can move into the world with integrity.
Tana is currently the Managing Director at Spherical, a transdisciplinary research and design studio working to regenerate the health and integrity of Earth’s living systems. Previously, she served on the founding executive team at Sphere, led innovative initiatives for Fortune 500 clients at Obscura Digital, and collaborated with the founders of Gray Area and Recombinant Media Labs to establish influential art and technology institutions.
She holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Computing and the Arts from UC San Diego and an MFA in Electronic Music and Media from Mills College. Her studies focused on designing and building creative tools, interactive and spatial media, and generative audio and video production.
Grounded in theory, philosophy, science, and technical craft, her work is shaped by a deep-rooted interest in imagining, architecting, building, and evolving complex systems over time.
Resume
Expertise
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Strategic & Creative Vision
Product, Design, Experience & Innovation Strategy
Multi-year Roadmapping & Tactical Planning
Stakeholder Alignment
Future State / OKRs / KPIs
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Spatial Experience Design
Product & UI/UX Design
Linear, Interactive & Immersive Media
Art Direction & Visual Design
Rapid Prototyping
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Organization Design & Resourcing
Systems & Process Design / Optimization
Cross-functional Leadership
Inclusive Team Building
Workstream Definition & Tools
Agile & Waterfall PM Methodologies
Vendor Engagement & Management
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Audio, Video, Gaming, VFX, 2D/3D graphics pipelines
XR, Spatial Computing, and Novel Interfaces
Technical Architecture & Specification
Real-time frameworks and engineering
References
“Tana is a force. She is at once creative, strategic, and technical; a beloved manager and strong advocate. Not only is she is extremely knowledgeable about real-time technologies and the tech stack required to execute large-scale immersive experiences (LBX), she enforces thoughtful human-centric design and UX. Her unique skill and experience are incredibly rare and valuable in a world that is becoming increasingly immersive and interconnected.”
CEO/Co-founder at Lamina1. Magic Leap, Capitol Records, MIT and Carnegie Mellon alum.
“What truly sets Tana apart is her unwavering belief in the potential of her team members. She has an incredible knack for identifying talent and nurturing it, empowering individuals to grow both professionally and personally. Tana recognizes the importance of trust and delegation in building strong teams, and her confidence in others to lead on her behalf fosters a culture of collaboration, motivation, and collective success. Through her guidance and support, our team has flourished, and each member has been able to realize their full potential.”
Product Designer at Meta. Magic Leap, MIT, and Yale alum.
“Tana is a thoughtful and strategic technical leader. Tana and I worked together to develop the roadmap, required resourcing, and development milestones for Sphere's content development toolkit (required to support a multi million dollar advertising business unit). I found Tana to be collaborative, open to new ideas, be creative when looking for ways to speed up deadlines, and able to identify and call out cross-functional dependencies when needed. Tana is equal parts creative and technical - this is was obvious in her work in defining various scalable and repeatable ways in which beautiful content could come to life on the Sphere. Tana is very empathetic but at the same time not afraid to push back when in the best interest of the organization's goals. Any organization would be lucky to have Tana!”
VP, Product at Sphere. AWS and MIT alum.
“Tana has the rare ability to identify the unique strengths of each team member and leverage them to elevate the whole group. Her problem-solving style blends analytical rigor with creative thinking, inspiring us to deliver our best work. I wholeheartedly recommend Tana for any leadership role in the emerging tech industry.”
Lead Software Engineer at Sphere. DreamWorks and USC alum.