Alison Chen
Working across enterprise platforms and independent experiments, Chen blurs the boundary between product and expression. At Microsoft Teams, she contributes to large-scale event production systems, shaping how people broadcast, communicate, and gather across global audiences. Technical constraints—latency, scale, coordination—are treated not as limitations, but as material.
Alongside this, her independent work traces a more personal inquiry into identity, movement, and perception, often informed by a life lived between cities.
Her practice remains iterative and exploratory, grounded in rapid cycles of making and refinement. Across systems and artifacts, Chen’s work considers how design can hold both scale and soul.
About
Currently at Microsoft Teams, leading UX for AI Interpreter in Town Halls and Webinars. Previously at Microsoft Excel and a few startups. Over the past five years, I’ve shipped AI-powered experiences to millions of users, led design for large-scale virtual events at Microsoft, and co-founded an iOS app that made it to the App Store.
B.S. in Cognitive Science from UC San Diego, with a specialization in machine learning and neural computation, and a minor in HCI. While there, I co-led Design Co, the largest design community on campus, where we partnered closely with Don Norman and the Design Lab. The mix lets me speak the language of designers, engineers, and researchers.
Third-culture kid raised between Taiwan and California, two innovation hubs that taught me to notice how technology shapes the way we live and connect.
Along the way I’ve sold stickers online and patented a zipper. I’m a designer and a builder, happiest when the problem is hard and design becomes the leverage for real product innovation.
Experience
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Speaking
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Press
I created lifestyle videos that generated 100k to Millions of views and got interviewed by New York Times & featured by @GaryVee.
I invented, patented, and was awarded a Gold Medal at the ITEX Innovation Exhibition for the design of the anti-pinch and fastened zipper.
I led the design vision for event production in Microsoft Teams, reimagining how virtual events are created and experienced.
Thank you for visiting
For work and collaboration inquiries: alisonchen.co@gmail.com