A few thousand miles from home and exactly where I need to be

I grew up in Albania. Now I’m in New York designing for brands I used to admire from a distance.

The AADF MIP fellowship made this possible. But what I didn’t expect was how much this city would push me. Not just as a designer but as a thinker. I went from creating brand identities and visual languages to getting curious about how machines could learn creative direction. So I started building tools to find out. That curiosity took me somewhere I never planned, to the intersection of design and AI, where I get to create systems that don’t just look right but think right.

Every day here teaches me something. The pace, the people, the conversations that happen at 1am with someone who sees the world completely differently than you do. NYC doesn’t care where you’re from. It cares what you’re willing to do. That energy changed everything for me.

Coming from Albania, I know what it means to dream bigger than your surroundings allow. This city finally gave me a place where the ambition makes sense. And I’m just getting started.

Marjeta Lloshi