Hi, I'm Rhea,
I'm an award-winning Innovation Designer, Venture Builder and Strategist who helps turn ambiguity into products, services and ventures. I've always been fascinated by messy, complex problems the kind without obvious answers. Whether it's exploring how AI might reshape industries, designing better customer experiences, or experimenting with regenerative materials, I'm happiest at the intersection of design, technology and business.
Over the past decade, I've worked across startups, corporate innovation and the public sector, helping organisations uncover opportunities, shape product strategy and bring 0-to-1 ideas to life. I enjoy bringing together diverse perspectives, making sense of complexity, and helping teams move from "What if?" to "Let's build it." Before joining E.ON Next's Growth & Innovation Studio, where I helped identify, validate and shape new propositions supporting households on their journey to net zero, I founded Seasprout, a climate-tech venture exploring regenerative materials made from seafood waste as an alternative to plastic.
My work has been featured by the BBC, Wallpaper* and FAD Magazine, exhibited internationally, and recognised through honours including the Arts Foundation Futures Award for Regenerative Design, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Goalkeepers, the UNHCR Young Champion for Refugees, and the World Design Organisation's Young Designers Circle.
I hold a dual MA/MSc in Global Innovation Design from the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London, and I've lived and worked across India, Japan, New York and London, a global perspective I bring to every table.
Outside of work, I'm usually mentoring designers, volunteering, exploring a new exhibition or workshop, hunting down the city's newest listening room, or enthusiastically picking up another hobby. Most of my best ideas begin as side quests: a conversation, a book, a place or a random question that sends me tumbling down an unexpected rabbit hole.
That's usually where the interesting things begin.
HONORS:
Youth Delegate - SDG Summit 2022
United Nations General Assembly at UN HQ, New York
World Design Organization, Young Designers Circle
Contributor from 2023 – 2025
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Goalkeeper 2030
Nominated in Sept 2022 during UN Global Goals Week, New York
UN Women UK Delegate - 2024
68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women
The Art Foundation Futures Award 2024
Regenerative Design Fellow
UNHCR Young Champion for Refugees
Innovator from Oct 2022 - March 2024
EDUCATION:
2021 - 2023 (MSc) Master of Science, Global Innovation Design
Imperial College London (MA) Master of Art, Global Innovation Design
Royal College of Art (Ranked #1 Art and Design University worldwide) + Pratt Institute, New York | Exchange Semester; Aug - Dec 2022 + Keio University Graduate school of Media Design, Japan | Exchange Semester; April - July 2022
2014 - 2018 (BDes) Bachelor of Design, Product Design MAEERs MIT Institute of Design, Pune
WORK EXPERIENCE:
Seasprout Innovator & Founder July 2023 - Present
E.ON UK Customer Research Lead | Growth & Innovation Studio June 2025 - June 2026
Design4India, An Initiative by NASSCOM & Facebook Product Experience Designer July 2018 – April 2020 Product Designer Dec 2016 – Feb 2017
INNOVATION FELLOWSHIPS:
Undaunted - The Greenhouse ClimateTech Accelerator Seasprout April 2024 - May 2025
Hakwood Centre for Future Thinking (Week-long Creative Residency) Funded by The Francis W Reckitt Arts Trust Cotswolds, July 2024
WeInnovate - Imperial Enterprise Lab Little Chronicles Jan - June 2023
Unite 2030: Camp2030 Innovation Lab for Climate Action, New York, Sept 2022 Youth Delegate Programme (Cohort 3) Online, Dec 2020 - April 2021
TechQuatier Impact Challenge Data Driven Sustainability LearnEd March - June 2021
MENTORING:
Innovate<Her>
Ambassador Mentor Aug 2024 - Present
Diana Foundation Social Action Accelerator Programme Sept 2023 - March 2024
Unite 2030 Mentor & ‘Ideas to Action’ Mastermind Lead Aug - Nov 2021
TALKS & WORKSHOPS:
United Nations 2026 UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Forum | Youth Delegate New York, 14–16 April 2026
World Design Congress 2025 Designing with Nature: When Nature is on the Team | Panellist, London, 9-10th Sept 2025
London Design Festival 2023 Women in Design engineering | Panellist London, 16th July 2023
Royal College of Art Made in London | Workshop Facilitator, London, June 2023
World Bank Youth Summit 2023
Local solutions driving global impact | Lightning Talk Washington DC, 25th – 26th May 2023
United Nations 2022 SDG Media Summit | Youth Delegate New York, 9th Sept 2022 Global Climate & SDG Synergy Conference | Youth Delegate Tokyo, 20th – 21st July 2022
Youth SDG Summit for the UN SDGs Changing the world with one Idea | Panellist Online, 22nd Sept 2021
Ideas to Action: Design Thinking | Workshop Facilitator Online, Feb 2021 Designing education for the post-pandemic world | Talk Online, Feb 2021
AWARDS:
2025 SME News, Greater London Enterprise Awards (2025) for Seasprout
2024 The Art Foundation Futures Award - Regenerative Design Fellow Seasprout, Nominee - Green Concept Award
2023 Seasprout, GUCCI x Arts Thread Global Design Graduate Show Shortlist Little Chronicles, WeInnovate - Imperial Enterprise Lab (top 25 startup - 6 month entrepreneurial competition) Design for Good Certification
2022 Decibel, Winning Team - RCA Grand Challenge in partnership with Logitech and Oculus Calm Quilt, Semi-finalist - Mayor's entrepreneur Recipient of the JASSO Scholarship, Keio University Graduate School of Media Design
2020
LearnEd, Winning Team - SwissNex NexHack Edtech hackathon
EXHIBITIONS:
Seasprout was exhibited at: London Design Festival 14th – 22nd Sept 2023 RCA2023, Truman Brewery London 13th – 16th July 2023 Summer Show, Imperial College London 27th June – 2nd July 2023
Shrimpak was exhibited at: Spring Show, Imperial College London 16th – 19th Feb 2023 Open Studios: Work in Progress Show, Royal College of Art 3rd – 4th Feb 2023
Aria was exhibited at: Spring Show, Imperial College London 25th Feb – 2nd Mar 2022