Liya Safina

Liya is a digital design director and web3 strategist living in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her academic background lies in architecture and educational methodology. Through her work in blockchain innovation, Liya is building an educational platform with a mission to help people get educated, connected, and empowered in web3. 

With a focus on strategy and user experience, she collaborates with clients to achieve a creative vision and bring innovative technologies to life. Liya has established creative for Fortune 500 companies and startups, including Alibaba, Nike, Google, Sotheby’s, Reuters, StreetEasy, Brandless, and CoinBase to name a few. She has experienced a variety of leadership scenarios, from bootstrapping a startup to designing for future citizens of a city built by Toyota in Japan (2025). Liya is also the advisor of an accelerator program tailored specifically to the needs of Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Asian women and mothers. 

Previously, Liya co-founded an accelerator-backed startup in the Silicon Valley and a digital educational platform in Moscow. She was selected for her work as a fellow at Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design 2012 and awarded as Innovator of the Year by Falling Walls Labs in 2014.  

”Liya’s vision is to build a future where technology serves human needs, instead of humans serving revenue models.”