created by people who have a mental illness
Passionate about mental health and the future, the FriendTales team are pioneers in helping teens understand their feelings. Feelings that we all have experienced but needed help to understand. This was their mission.
emily
Co-Founder, CEO
Emily will serve as a business/marketing lead as well as a front-end/UI/UX developer. Emily has worked with corporations across several countries internationally including AT&T, Pac-12, Hyundai, and Omnicom Group. Recently, she has worked at creative agencies helping them expand their business as a creative strategist and founded the innovation lab in her current agency. She has a variety of skills sets from design, data analysis, and development but is focused on big idea thinking that will help people.
billy
Co-Founder, CCO
Art Director working in games since 2007 in concept art, illustration, 3D, and design. He has been involved with all aspects of art, development, and management. His biggest strength is his broad artistic style, ranging from realism, cartoony, stylistic, and modern day mobile-like aesthetics. Billy has worked on many IPs and franchises that include, Star Wars (LucasArts/Disney), The Walking Dead (AMC), UFC (THQ), Disney Games, Bass Pro Shops, RoosterTeeth, and more.
abdur-rub
CTO
Abdur-Rub has diversified hands-on experience in Data Science, NLP, Machine Learning, Conversational AI and Cloud Computing. Having worked on multiple Data Science/AI related projects, he has ample expertise under his belt ranging from NLP to Analytics. Being an advocate for Mental Health, the incentive behind joining Friendtales was to play a constructive role in creating awareness for mental illness and provide a medium that can facilitate the youth and help them battle their mental health demons.
our dedicated team
kaitlyn
Lead Artist.
Kaitlyn Watson, a 3D generalist currently based in Atlanta, GA, with a passion for creating characters that can leave a lasting impact on their audience. She has pursued various outlets for her art and animation. Her portfolio displays work on projects for companies such as JBL, NOBULL, and DeckForge. In the warmer Georgia days, she can be found reading a good book or playing video games with her faithful cat, Ella, by her side.
mckenzie
Lead Artist.
McKenzie Young-Roy is a freelance illustrator living and working in Portland, OR. She creates work with a focus on empathy, wonder, and mental health advocacy. Her portfolio includes both traditional and digital work, both children's illustration and branded work for companies and non-profits. She has self-published a children's book (The Alphabet Book) as well as a zine titled Safe, documenting living with diagnosed OCD. In her free time she enjoys running, playing D&D with friends (and making artwork for it), and reading good books. She lives in a little apartment with her husband, David and cat, Ophelia.
bea
Lead Artist.
My name's Bea and I'm from Italy. I always loved to draw since I was a child, especially manga and anime. I attended the Academy of Fine Arts, and I graduated in Scenography and Graphic Design. I have experience in creating graphics for manga novels. I'm publishing my manga with the italian editor Mangasenpai. My secret wish was to be an astronaut, but life made me an artist, and it's not that bad!
malwa
Lead Artist.
Malwina Werner is a freelance illustrator based in Wrocław, Poland. She loves creating illustrations with the main focus on designing characters. She gained experience on internships in game development companies, marketing agencies and graphic studios. She has worked with a number of private clients creating original character designs and illustrations. Besides drawing, Malwina loves reading books, learning about ancient european cultures and religions, and spending time with her dog Figa.
sharleen
Social Media + Marketing Intern
Sharleen Oberoi marketing intern, lives in Toronto, Canada. She is a psychology student also interested in marketing and business. She has gained experience from doing social media marketing for clubs and start-up businesses. Aside from work she enjoys dancing, photography, fashion and the arts.