feature / students / alumni / internships / transportation-design / product-design / diversity
March 29, 2024
By Solvej Schou
Photos by Juan Posada

Mentorship Program pairs students with mentors: Francesca Liu and Greg Tada

This story is part of a series on mentors and mentees in ArtCenter’s Career and Professional Development (CPD) Mentorship Program. In the program, students have the opportunity to be mentored by ArtCenter’s alumni and industry partners. Students apply during the late Spring and early Summer terms to be paired with a mentor for 10 weeks in the Fall term.  

In Pasadena’s Old Pasadena business district, at the Piaggio Advanced Design Studio, Product Design student Francesca Liu sits with her Mentorship Program mentor Greg Tada (BS 06 Transportation Design), a motorcycle designer for the scooter and motorcycle manufacturer.  

The pair, who meet in person weekly, look at images of designs on Liu’s laptop for a sport bike student project that Liu is working on. An enormous photo of a motorcycle—sleek, glistening, chrome, black and red—hangs behind them. 

“I wanted to go into the Mentorship Program because I heard about the success stories that came out of it,” says Liu, who appreciates the way having a mentor builds an additional layer of connection. “As a mentee and as a student, there's nothing like having one-on-one interactions and coaching with a mentor, and getting that dedicated attention. It's really special.” 

Tada says he had made an earlier promise to the late alum Kohei Eguchi (BS 69 Product Design)—a designer for companies including Ford, General Motors, Honda and RCA who mentored him after he graduated—to “pay it forward” by mentoring students.  

“Networking is such an important part of becoming a designer,” says Tada. “Part of the value of going to a school like ArtCenter is the alumni network. It was sort of a calling when I had the opportunity to give back as a mentor, as an alum. I’m not a current student, but my diploma still carries weight. It’s important that we keep passing down the value of an ArtCenter education.”  

As mentee and mentor, Liu and Tada are a perfect fit. Liu, like Tada, loves and rides motorcycles, and she wants to design them. “They’re beautiful and fun, and they make me feel alive,” she says. Tada has been designing for Italy-based Piaggio, mainly on its Aprilia and Moto Guzzi brands, from sketching to 3D modeling and event concepts, since 2018.

“To be able to work on the kind of cool products we have, these sport bikes, is something I always dreamed of,” says Tada. Alum Miguel Galluzzi (BS 86 Transportation Design), who heads up Piaggio’s Advanced Design Studio, is someone that Tada looked up to when he studied at ArtCenter. Before Piaggio, Tada worked for companies that included Kawasaki, Suzuki and Polaris Industries/Indian Motorcycle.

Liu and Tada’s mentorship sessions include discussing timelines for projects and what it’s like working in the motorcycle design industry, as well as discovering similarities such as Tada having spent time growing up in Utah, and Liu having interned at outdoor griddle company Blackstone Products there.  

“Greg has given me so much valuable advice,” says Liu, who then turns to Tada, addressing him directly. “What I'm most grateful for is you pushing me in my work, and pushing me to dedicate my whole world to bikes and build my life around that. It’s super rewarding.”  

Tada notes that mentoring is a two-way street. Not only has he learned from Liu what it’s like to be a young designer today, but her perspective as both a product designer and as a woman in a still male-dominated motorcycle industry add layers of value, he says. “Francesca helps me stay current with trends coming up, which is a great reason to mentor,” he says. “The industry, also, really needs to have women’s perspectives, or we’re not going to expand the market.”  

Liu notes that she hopes the industry can get to a place where gender representation is no longer a concern.  

“I’m just one person,” she says. “With the way transportation design is changing now, I'm sure there's a lot more women who want to get into powersports, so it’s exciting. I’m thankful for Greg’s encouragement.”