Yani Shi is a Product Designer at Lyft, where she leads experience design for the Verticals team — shaping how riders and drivers navigate airports, scheduled rides, and large-scale event transportation. Her work sits at the intersection of systems thinking and human-centered design, with a focus on clarity and equity in complex, high-stakes journeys. Prior to Lyft, Yani worked at AKQA and Baidu, and holds an M.Design from UC Berkeley and a B.S. in Business from USC. Her projects have earned recognition from some of the industry's most respected programs, including iF, Red Dot, European Product Design Award, and the New York Product Design Award. Her project Ursa received Indigo Gold and was named Design of the Year 2026. Yani brings to the jury a perspective shaped by both commercial product rigor and a deep belief in design as a vehicle for social impact — particularly for women and underrepresented voices in the field.