Celebrated by the New York Post as a “jack of all trades,” Brooklyn-born Fonz Morris is an entrepreneur and self-taught designer currently based in San Jose, California, working as a Lead Product Designer at Netflix. Before Netflix, Fonz led a design team at Coursera, an online platform that offers courses, certifications, and degrees in a variety of subjects. Fonz’s team led Coursera’s transition to a publicly-traded company. Further, he was the Lead Designer on Coursera’s new homepage, degree platform, and internal advertising tool, which brought the platform’s users to 20 million.

Fonz also works with various organizations on re-entry programs for the formerly incarcerated, offering free educational opportunities for individuals re-entering society. His work on developing re-entry programs is one of many collaborative projects initiated by Fonz. He has also collaborated with music producers and worked on design teams worldwide.

Growing up in New York, Fonz was exposed to all the rich art and culture the city offers. He attended an art-focused high school. While his family was full of intelligent and creative individuals, Fonz didn’t have a mentor growing up, which profoundly impacted Fonz and is the root of his mentorship efforts today. He mentors design students at California College of the Arts and General Assembly’s UX Design Bootcamp. An avid public speaker, Fonz has shared his expertise at AfroTech, UX Fest, UXDX, Rethink, Made In the Future, State of Black Design, RethinkHQ, Made In the Future, Netflix Pathways Program, CCA IxD Design Lecture Series, and HOW Design LIVE. Fonz advocates for other self-taught designers and encourages them to commit to life-long learning and have many skills across different disciplines to succeed. In addition, Fonz has a long history of being a networker and encourages young entrepreneurs to attend networking events and grow their social circles.

His work at Netflix and as a mentor is just the tip of the iceberg for Fonz. He is also a podcaster, an investor, an advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion, and an adviser. But, most importantly, Fonz brings the same vibrant energy to all of his projects and encourages future designers to develop opportunities for themselves and others. 

Fonz is many things, but one of his exceptional traits is his authentic approach to leadership. Rooted in confidence in himself and empathy for others, Fonz makes it a point to build trust amongst his colleagues through being a hard worker and wholly himself.

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