Our Executive Team
Brandon Shintani
Chief Executive Officer
Brandon is a student at Ridgewood High School, in New Jersey. An avid learner of all things practical, Brandon highly recommends the National Geographic series "Brain Games" for a better understanding of psychology in everyday life. Click here to read Brandon’s research publication about sports psychology and resilience. In his spare time, Brandon enjoys playing basketball and finding ways to promote health and wellness to kids and teens throughout the world.
Patrick Ducut
Chief of Operations
Patrick is a high school student at the Bergen County Academies in Hackensack, New Jersey. Outside of school, he likes to play basketball and guitar with his family and friends. Through the sport and instrument, Patrick has found value in hard work and determination and is excited to help others improve and realize the importance of the connection between mind and body in both competitive sports and wellness.
Erica Brown Yamada
Blog Editor-in-Chief
Erica is from Melbourne, Australia and is passionate about sports and health. As a competitive soccer player and track athlete, Erica understands the importance of being in the optimal mindset for peak performance. She wants to help young athletes achieve their goals by sharing her own experiences alongside informing them on evidence-based sport psychology techniques. Above all, Erica wants people to have the confidence and belief in themselves to be their best because ultimately the mind is the only limit.
Richard Wong
Assistant
Richard, a Hong Kong native, is a graduate from Duke University. He studied towards a double major in Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering. He loves basketball and occasionally plays as a practice player with Duke’s D1 Women’s Basketball Team. In addition to studying new technologies that will pave the road to a more sustainable future, Richard is always eager to learn about sports psychology.
Alinur Jaboldinov
Assistant
Alinur is studying at the Nazarbayev Intellectual School of Physics and Mathematics in Almaty, Kazakhstan. After four years of engagement in three sports - volleyball, table tennis, soccer, he knows that health consists of two components: mental and physical development. He has a desire to help young and prospective athletes find their golden mean between sports and psychology.
Yojana Mohata
Assistant
Yojana, studying in Nagpur, India is currently pursuing her degree in commerce. With over 5 years of involvement in cricket professionally, she has gained a keen interest in sports management and psychology. She hopes to use her understanding and experience to help young athletes acquire the importance of the mental aspect of the game.
Charlie Cavinder
Sports Mentor Coordinator
Charlie is a university student at the Liverpool John Moores University in the UK, studying sport psychology. He takes a keen interest in soccer, and has coached young athletes for 2 years while also enjoying watching sports like golf, boxing and MMA in his spare time. Charlie hopes he can use his degree to help professional sportspeople improve their mental game in the future.
Dylan Chambers
Tiktok Director
Dylan Chambers is a fourth-year student at the University of British Columbia studying Chemistry, Biology, and Environmental Science. In his spare time, Dylan enjoys all things outdoors including mountain biking, windsurfing, climbing, skiing, and hiking. Dylan believes that in order to achieve a healthy body you must first achieve a healthy mind. Dylan hopes to utilize the outreach of social media to educate younger athletes on the importance of sports psychology.
Ansh Dhot
Social Media Director
Ansh, a student from New Zealand, has grown up involved in multiple sports, including hockey, soccer, dance and volleyball. Outside of sports, she is an advocate for racial equality and has a strong passion for political science. Ansh is a classically trained singer, who hopes to share her musical knowledge with those with limited resources. She hopes to enforce a positive change in this world, and is dedicated to her mission; to design a space where you can be yourself. She is a proud and active member of Mind-Design-Sports, and wishes to make sports psychology more accessible for people all around the globe.
Richard Ducut
Head Social Media Officer
Richard is a student at Dumont High School in New Jersey. Outside of school, he enjoys playing sports, listening to music, and spending time with good friends. He loves playing basketball, soccer, and football to have fun and maintain good mental health. Passionate about athletics, he is constantly looking to learn more about sports psychology and use that knowledge to educate others through social media.
Hannah Lee
Social Media Officer
Hannah is a high school student from Georgia. She is part of student government, International Club, and FBLA at school. Through those clubs, she is able to work on community service projects and learn about different backgrounds, two things she is committed to. In her spare time, Hannah enjoys playing tennis with friends and re-watching old matches on YouTube. Outside of school, she also loves watching the show “The Good Place,” making Spotify playlists, and sleeping.
Peyton Leigh
Social Media Officer
Peyton is a student at Saint Kentigern College in Auckland, New Zealand. Peyton is a nationally ranked runner in NZ, competing in events such as the 800m, 1500m, and 3000m. Through running, she has found that the mental aspect plays a major role in better performance. By being a member of Mind-Design Sports, Peyton would like others to strive to be the best athlete they can be by improving the mental aspect of sports that is often overlooked.
Veruka Salomone
Social Media Officer
Veruka is a student at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. At school, she is a part of Model UN and is a co-head of the new Females for Finance Club. In her spare time, Veruka enjoys dancing and acting. As someone who keeps up to date about mental and physical fitness, she aims to promote awareness of the relationship between the mind and body in sports and daily life.
Saptarshi Debnath
Social Media Officer
Saptarshi is a native of North East India, attending MVM Silchar high school. Outside of school, he collects data related to proteins, metabolites, etc to find medicinal compounds via machine learning models. Saptarshi also designs clothes and paints in his spare time. His favorite guitar piece is 'Gratitude' by Amin Toofani.
Max Krupa
Outreach Officer
Max is a high school senior at Glenbrook South High School in Glenview, Illinois. In his spare time he likes learning about philosophy and psychology, particularly Stoic and Absurdist philosophy.
He firmly believes that someone can better themselves mentally by living by a set philosophy with its own codes and values, through improving mentally, one can improve in all other aspects of their lives.
Nash Gujjalu
Regional Publicity Officer
Nash, a high school student from Mauritius Island, is faithful to helping others while reaching excellence. He is passionate about cultures, fitness, robotics, and recently, psychology - to understand the exciting brain and how we can work with it to achieve our goals. Nash envisions that being a member at Mind-Design Sports will help him find practical solutions to perform better at the gym and help even more people using psychology, living in a challenging and fast-paced world.
Vakai Mushambadope
Regional Publicity Officer
Vakai is a student at Hellenic Academy in Harare, Zimbabwe. She is a bubbly character, who enjoys singing in the three school choirs and playing the marimba. Vakai has played numerous sports throughout her life, though her favorites are volleyball and hockey. She believes it is vital to have a healthy mind and body as an athlete, and enjoys using social media for speedy and direct communication.
Hugo Salus
Blog Writer
Hugo is a high school student at an international school based in Berlin, Germany. Outside of school, Hugo is a nationally ranked foil fencer and an athlete on his schools’ basketball and track & field teams. He has worked with a mental coach to improve his mindset during competitions and tournaments and is looking forward to sharing his knowledge and experience.
Emma Pollet
Blog Writer
Emma is a student at North London Collegiate School in London. Emma is a huge sports fan and plays many sports including netball, lacrosse, tennis, and swimming. She is also planning to complete her Lifeguarding qualification soon and is thus very aware of how mental state can impact athletic performance. Emma is from NYC and hopes to one day work as a lawyer for the MLB organization.
McKenna Andersen
Blog Editor
McKenna is a student at Western Washington University in Washington State. She is currently studying to be a sports journalist with a major in public relations. McKenna competed in cross country and track for all four years of high school, and is now Vice President and Social Media Coordinator for the WWU Wake team. When she is not studying, you’ll likely find her playing football, soccer, volleyball, frisbee, and basketball with her friends. After enduring many years of competition, McKenna is ready to help others learn the importance of sports psychology.
Jonny Mondo
Sport-Mind Avenue Podcast Co-Host
Jonny is a student at the University of Florida majoring in Sports Management. He is a former baseball player who enjoys sharing his experiences with younger athletes trying to pursue the same career. He spends his time playing sports, video games, listening to music, and hanging out with his Fraternity brothers. He co-hosts a podcast called The Sport-Mind Avenue, under Mind-Design Sports, which focuses on current events in sports and the mental impacts it can have on athletes and the community.
Alper Sametoglu
Podcast Editor
Alper is a high school student from Istanbul, Turkey. Aspiring to be an aerospace engineer, Alper participates in numerous activities at school such as the local Model UN Conference, playing many roles in theater productions, and acting as a French translator at conferences organized by his school. He believes that a well-maintained psyche in sports is essential and that Mind-Design Sports will allow him to really dive into the world of physical activities and learn how to integrate mental health into sports.
Temilade Agboola
Podcast Editor
Temilade, an IB student from Lagos, Nigeria, aspires to become an Obstetrician and strives for persistence to be successful in this career path she has chosen by having her work experience in a hospital. She is very active when it comes to sports as she has won several medals in track events from elementary school through secondary school and hopes to nourish this excellent path. She believes that mental health is life and that Mind-Design Sports is designed to assist people in having good mental health through sports.
Verona Odhiambo
Podcast Editor
Verona, originally from Kenya, is a student currently attending Association International school in Ghana. Her interests include sports, sciences, and politics. As a result, she has been involved in varsity soccer and hockey throughout high school as well as club netball, volleyball, MUN, science club, and has recently taken an interest in golf.
Quinn Ferguson
Ambassador Director
Quinn is a Personal Trainer and PSIA Alpine Instructor with a double major in Sports Studies and Philosophy from Ithaca College. He is currently pursuing a degree in Sport & Performance Psychology while making an impact in the sport performance community. Quinn strongly believes in a humanistic approach to psychology and building a nurturing environment for athletes to experience realism within their respective challenges.
Yash Kavadia
Chief Technology Officer
Yash is a hard-working, determined, and resilient businessman, along with being a student at the Bergen County Academies high school. Since he was 14, he has been a part of nonprofits and companies, completing business courses, and initiating his own startups. Yash’s interests range from business to investment banking to law to science. Other than his work, he plays sports like baseball and basketball, and is a die heart follower of the New York Yankees and New York Knicks.
Krish Jain
Technology Officer
Krish is a high school student from Malaga, Spain. Aspiring to work in technology, Krish has participated in multiple hackathons and competitions. At school, he is part of the language club, Be Kind campaign and has helped with tech for fundraising for one of the rarest diseases, acrodystosis. Furthermore, he believes that a happy and healthy mind has a symbiotic relationship with exercise and sports and that Mind-Design Sports will allow him to explore this world, along with combining it with his passion for technology!
Rathang Pandit
Assistant Technology Coding Director
Rathang is a student at Washington High School, in California and aims to be an entrepreneur in the computer science field. Outside of his academic life, he has been working at UPS for over 3 years and has been running cross country and track and field for four years.
Owais Rashid
Chief Human Resource Officer
Owais, a Pakistan native, is a student pursuing LLB (Hons) from the University of London at a recognized teaching centre in Pakistan. He is currently heading the Human Resources department and is the founding Chief Human Resources Officer at Mind-Design Sports. He loves to play horse polo, occasionally playing as a practice player with the regional military polo team. He is a detail-oriented, target-oriented, ambitious and powerful chief officer. His knowledge is vast and extensive. Owais leads by example and many team members at Mind-Design Sports find his enthusiasm and dedication both inspiring and motivating. He wishes to use his legal knowledge for the betterment of sports psychology.
Ashok Hettigama
Director of Staffing and Recruiting
Ashok is currently enrolled in a bachelors degree of commerce, majoring in human resource management at Macquarie University. Although he enjoyed a wide variety of sports growing up, he is most passionate about basketball and rugby. Growing up in Australia, Ashok learned the importance of psychology within sports through playing in several teams and understanding that the mateship that teammates have can accelerate their success. Using his business acumen and recruiting experience, he hopes to make a positive contribution to society by finding the best talent and maximising their potential for everyone to benefit.
Abeer Iftikhar
Director of Training and Development
Besides pursuing a career in management studies, Abeer has been working as a content creator and technical writer to diversify her portfolio. Having the ability to adapt to versatility, She aspires to extend her experience in the fields of Human Resources, Project Management, and Entrepreneurship.
Huirong Wang
Video Producer
Huirong is a student in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. She is in the Sports Media & Communications Track, writing sports columns and completing various sport projects. She was also a teaching assistant for the Multimedia Storytelling course. As a blog writer and video producer for Mind-Design Sports, Huirong likes to produce original, creative content and utilize her multimedia skills to tell stories related to sports psychology.
Our team is global, spanning across 35 countries.
