Alumni Spotlight: Shaun Tai

He is the founder and executive director of Oakland Digital Arts & Literacy Center (ODALC), which mission is to empower under served communities to participate and succeed in the digital economy. Shaun also owns his own creative agency SHAUN TAI Films, a company that focuses on creating high impact new media with clients such as Facebook and the City of San Francisco. In 2002, Shaun earned a BA in Digital Graphics at California State University East Bay (CSUEB). Ten years later in 2012, Shaun has teamed up with his former professor Suzy Wear on Inspire Hayward, a program that provides professional development and the opportunity for two artists to have their artwork featured on commercial billboards. Students get the chance to work with a real-world client and submit their Inspire billboard design to a panel of distinguished professionals. The program started with Inspire Oakland (now on its third year) and will expand to Inspire Berkeley next year and Inspire San Jose in 2014. Shaun’s passions are design, community and technology. Shaun’s advice to current students is to “Follow your passion but make sure that the path has an end goal. A path headed in the right direction, and that makes a positive impact.”