About
Aleshka Pardo
Designer, researcher, and product thinker based between Lima and New York.
Lima to New York
I am a Peruvian student at New York University, double-majoring in Applied Psychology and Philosophy. My background shapes how I approach design and product work: with curiosity about human behavior, attention to reasoning, and a deep respect for the people on the other side of the screen.
My work sits at the intersection of research and visual craft. I was a UX research intern at a global financial institution, processed participant data at NYU's Hartley Lab, and explored consumer behavior with Beats by Dre - always returning to the same question: why do people choose what they choose?
That question is what pulls me toward user research, especially in fintech and crypto: products where trust is fragile, decisions carry real financial weight, and understanding people deeply is the whole job.
I am also part of the first-ever cohort of Campus Ambassadors at Clay Startup, where I discover modern tools for GTM Engineering, Growth, and Product.
Connect with me on LinkedIn.
Education
Stanford University
Visiting Student · Technology Entrepreneurship, Frontier Tech, HPC & AI · GPA 3.8
New York University
Steinhardt · B.S. Applied Psychology & Philosophy (double major) · GPA 3.8, Dean's List
Markham College
High School Diploma · Lima, Peru
Skills & Tools
Experience
Clay Startup
Campus Ambassador, GTM Engineering, Growth & Product
NYU Hartley Lab
Research Assistant · 10,000+ participant datasets (30,000+ trials) through Python pipelines
NYU International Student Council
Executive Board, Latin America Representative
Beats by Dre (Extern)
Purchase Decision & Consumer Behavior Analytics Externship · 40+ interviews
Global Financial Institution
UX Research & Product Management Intern, Sky generative AI assistant · Lima, Peru
Break the Bubble Brand
Founder & Designer, sustainable clothing social enterprise · Lima, Peru · $18,000+ in sales
What I bring
Product thinking for the agentic era
I care about products where humans and AI agents work together: understanding user needs, shaping strategy from data, and partnering closely with design and engineering to ship.
Building with AI agents
Designed Sky, a generative AI assistant for a financial institution, and built a Clay-powered supplier intelligence system that runs autonomous data lookups end-to-end.
Data-driven product decisions
Blend user research, market analysis, and product data to define problems, validate assumptions, and prioritize what to ship next.
Cross-functional delivery
Partner with engineers, designers, and researchers to move from insight to launched feature, on rapid release cycles.
Human + agent experiences
Focused on interfaces where people and AI collaborate: clear handoffs, trust, transparency, and context-aware assistance.
User research
Research that drives product decisions
My projects start with people, not pixels: interviews, surveys, and usability tests that turn ambiguous questions into clear, actionable recommendations for design and product teams.
Mixed methods
Interviews, surveys, usability testing, and field research. ClassRate: 14 interviews, an 89-response survey, and three SUS-scored usability rounds (67.2 to 84.5). Sigra: 11 field interviews to test startup hypotheses.
Rigor: bias & confounds
Applied Psychology training in experimental design, bias, and confounds, plus hands-on participant data work at NYU's Hartley Lab. Settlement Detection used leakage-safe grouped cross-validation.
Reports that decide
Every study ends in a written report with findings and actionable recommendations: Sky's advisor research shaped an AI assistant's design; Sigra's scorecard redirected the product's scope and sequencing.
Cross-functional partnership
Worked alongside designers, PMs, and engineers at a global bank and at Clay to translate insights into shipped experiences, on rapid release cycles.
Fintech & crypto curiosity
Hands-on fintech research at a global bank, and a growing interest in how the crypto economy can expand economic freedom - especially for people underserved by traditional finance.
Responsible AI in research
Use generative AI to accelerate synthesis and drafting while keeping human oversight: verified or silent is one of my product principles, so AI output is always checked before it informs decisions.