Ehi Oko is a designer who builds delightful products.

Ehi Oko — designer and product builder

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The Thrive team holding their $10,000 HBCU Business Pitch Competition winning check

Thrive: Accessible Mental Wellness, Built For Community

Role
Co-Founder / Design Lead
Surfaces
iOS App, Web
Industry
Healthcare
Context
Winning Pitch

Thrive is a mental wellness app designed to make support more accessible for underrepresented communities. After winning $10,000 at the HBCU Business Pitch competition in October 2024, we decided to take the idea further. From late 2024 to early 2026, I served as Co-Founder and Design Lead, shaping the product from early research and wireframes to its visual identity, interactive prototypes, a waitlist, and a reimagined community-centered experience. I worked alongside two engineers and a product manager.

  • $10,000 and 1st place at HBCU Business Pitch Competition
  • Support from Founders On The Yard (FOTY), The Alabama Collective, HBCUFI
  • Recognition and feature from Alabama A&M University
Thrive name onboarding screen
Thrive Focus Challenge screen
Thrive notification permissions screen
Thrive app icon on a phone
Thrive typography
Thrive wordmark
Thrive culturally intelligent mental healthcare website

Takeaways

Trust Comes Before Aesthetics

Designing for mental wellness meant prioritizing safety, empathy, and clarity over visual appeal.

Winning a Pitch ≠ Product Validation

The $10K proved our idea had potential, not that we'd found product-market fit.

The Story

In October 2024, our four-person team won first place and $10,000 at the HBCU Business Pitch Competition with Thrive, an AI-powered mental wellness platform. In early 2026, we returned to the idea with plans to build it into a real product.

I was the sole designer, working with two engineers and a product manager. I led the product's design direction, from research and strategy to its visual identity, interactive prototypes, and public-facing website.

What I owned

The product's end-to-end design direction, from early wireframes to high-fidelity prototypes.

Thrive's visual identity, design system, and reusable components.

The marketing and waitlist website, which I designed and built.

Core product experiences, including onboarding, AI-guided support, and community interactions.

User research, usability testing, and translating feedback into design decisions.

Interactive prototypes and custom interactions in Figma and Framer.

What I contributed

A rethinking of Thrive's original concept, moving beyond an AI companion toward a more community-centered wellness experience.

Product strategy discussions around feature prioritization, user needs, and what our small team could realistically build.

Conversations with university leadership about student mental health needs and opportunities for institutional support.

The exploration of Thribes, small peer-support communities, and Milo, our proposed AI companion and facilitator.

Decisions around the product's language, privacy, and approach to building trust in a sensitive space.

Pitch to product

01 — The pitch

We developed Thrive's initial concept, designed an early prototype, and won $10,000 at the HBCU Business Pitch Competition.

02 — Rediscovery

In early 2026, we returned to Thrive, reassessed our original assumptions, and began defining a more focused product direction.

03 — Research

I gathered insights from 30+ research participants and conversations with university leadership to better understand student needs.

04 — Design exploration

I translated our findings into user flows, wireframes, and interactive prototypes, reviewing ideas with the team as the product evolved.

05 — Brand & web

I established the visual system and designed and built our public-facing website to introduce Thrive and capture early interest.

06 — Product iteration

Working with our engineers and PM, I refined core experiences, explored a community-first direction, and helped shape the scope of our MVP.

ON DESIGN

I’m a design engineer who likes making things feel intuitive and delightful, from digital products to hackathons and competitions. Though the medium changes, but the question remains constant: how do you bring clarity to complicated problems?

EXPERIENCE

NotionCampus LeaderFALL 2026JPMorganChaseHackathonSPRING 2026Cornell TechFellowshipSUMMER 2025IBM SkillsBuildAmbassadorSPRING 2025HBCU Game JamCompetitionSPRING 2025HBCU Pitch CompetitionCompetitionFALL 2024

PAST

My imagination started in childhood: drawing characters from cartoons I loved, writing and acting out stories with my friends, building with intricate LEGO designs at eight, exploring architectural designs at eleven. At fifteen, my curiosity for designing and technology led me to study computer science in a new country.

PRESENT

This site is my little corner of the internet for the things I make. Away from my laptop, you may find me trying new recipes, playing tennis, or planning my next trip.

Ehi Oko portrait