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Theodora Kachrimanidi

Personal Profile

Psychology + Management (STEM), Boston University

I've built products across UX research, venture building, and physical product design, from a marina booking platform that won Best Client Work to an AI proptech startup I'm currently building at Innovate BU.

I started in behavioral science because I wanted to understand why people make the decisions they make. I studied across five countries, tried consulting and marketing, and kept finding myself drawn to the work with real ownership, where you could see the direct line between your decisions and someone's experience. I came back to BU on a full merit scholarship for my MS in Management, and through real client engagements with Fischer Sports and NEREID I fell in love with product and UX. In the past six months, I co-founded LeaseLink, an AI proptech marketplace I'm actively building through Innovate BU, independently shipped CareGuard end to end, and designed Mote, a wearable concept that rethinks how intelligence sits on the body. I'm drawn to consumer-facing roles, products people choose to engage with, not ones they're stuck with.

02

Formal, paid roles.

Deon Policy Institute Oct 2024 to Jun 2025

Digital Product and Communications Specialist

"This was the first time I owned a product from start to finish, and I learned that the hardest part usually isn't the design itself, it's getting everyone coordinated around it."

  • Owned a 6-month end-to-end website redesign across information architecture, user flows, and stakeholder coordination.
  • Managed logistics for a 200+ attendee policy conference while simultaneously running digital communications.
  • Led media strategy that secured national press coverage including Kathimerini.
BU Questrom MiM Admissions Dec 2025 to May 2026

Admissions Interviewer and Ambassador

"Interviewing around ninety applicants taught me that admissions decisions really come down to who you would want to work with, not who has the most impressive list of accomplishments."

  • Managed Salesforce pipeline tracking for around 90 applicants throughout the interview and decision process.
  • Served as an admissions ambassador, moderating online panels and meet and greet events for prospective students.
  • Evaluated fit for the program by looking at what candidates valued, what they could bring, why they wanted to be there, how clearly they articulated their ideas, and personal qualities like kindness.
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Chronological, most recent first.

Th. Nitsiakos S.A Jun 2024 to Aug 2024

Corporate Strategy Intern

"Working inside a large business taught me how decisions actually get made, not how textbooks say they do."

  • Partnered with cross-functional leadership across marketing, sales, and finance in 5+ board-level strategy sessions.
  • Turned business needs into data-driven recommendations and supported client negotiations resulting in 2 new contracts.
Toit de Paris Mar 2023 to May 2023

Marketing and Communications Intern

"Working in a second language in a market I didn't grow up in forced me to listen more carefully and assume less."

  • Conducted performance and competitive analysis across 3 market segments.
  • Translated customer needs into a prioritized Q2 content strategy driving a 15% increase in website traffic.
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Team-based, client, and independent work. Chronological, most recent first.

LeaseLink Mar 2026 to present

Co-Founder and Product Lead

"Building from zero meant I had to make every call myself, since there was no one else to hand it off to."

  • Co-founding an AI-powered proptech marketplace for verified lease transfers through Innovate BU.
  • Defining full product requirements, contract-parsing logic, escrow flow, and tiered pricing model.
  • Top-scoring team at 91% among 110 teams in BU's Innovation Tournament.
learn more ↗
NEREID Mar 2026

UX and Product Strategy, Boston University Questrom

"I diagnosed three trust breakdowns before I designed a single screen, because that order is what actually matters."

  • Diagnosed 3 trust breakdowns across the boater journey through 11 user interviews across 5 countries and analog analysis.
  • Designed end-to-end UX including restructured homepage, verified booking flow, and Arrival Mode feature.
  • Won Best Client Work out of 20 teams; client has implemented the redesigned homepage, with the rest in development.
learn more ↗
CareGuard Late Jan 2026 to Mar 2026

Independent Project, Product Owner and Researcher

"Working on CareGuard on my own meant every decision, from the first user interview to the last screen, was mine to make and mine to defend."

  • Ran user interviews to understand how families coordinate care for aging or ill relatives, then used those conversations to shape the product.
  • Designed and built the full app in Lovable, handling everything from user flows to visual design without a technical cofounder.
  • Learned firsthand how much research should come before design, even on a project with just one person driving it.
learn more ↗
Fischer Sports Dec 2025

Product Strategy Consultant, Boston University Questrom

"Seven weeks with a real client and real stakes taught me how to turn a messy brief into something leadership could actually act on."

  • Conducted user interviews, competitive benchmarking, and feasibility analysis.
  • Delivered a prioritized strategic roadmap directly to senior leadership.
Mote Oct 2025 to Dec 2025

Independent Project, Brand and Product Design

"Designing Mote pushed me to think less like an engineer and more like the person who would actually wear it, which meant starting with mood boards and brand perception before I touched a single interface."

  • Designed a wearable concept exploring how intelligence could sit on the body, starting from brand perception and mood boards rather than technical specs.
  • Spent significant time on user empathy work, thinking through how someone would want to feel wearing the product before designing what it would do.
  • Ran the project independently end to end, from concept through visual direction.
learn more ↗
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Formal case competitions with judged outcomes.

Sprouts Jan 2026 to Mar 2026

Linder Marketing Case Competition

"Working on Sprouts taught me to start broad instead of narrowing the idea too early, especially in a group, and that talking to more people along the way almost always improves the direction."

  • Placed 2nd of 46 teams and won Best Creative Award ($6,000), judged by TD Garden, JP Morgan, and Sprouts executives.
  • Full case study under NDA; happy to walk through the work in an interview.
learn more ↗
06

Time spent living, studying, and working across different countries.

Conference Week Oct 2025

Global Learning Experience, Sustainability Focus

"Leading this project taught me how much a week of structured brainstorming can produce when the group commits early to defining the real problem instead of jumping straight to solutions."

  • Spent a week working on a sustainability challenge in a country facing real economic and social strain, focused on identifying the actual problem before brainstorming solutions.
  • Weighed potential solutions against both feasibility and impact, then presented recommendations at a culminating conference.
  • Served as one of two team leads and the main presenter for the group.
Tokyo TODO: add dates

Global Management Experience, QST IM475

"Sitting across from executives at seven different Japanese companies taught me more about how culture shapes business decisions than any case study could have."

  • Researched and presented on Rakuten's business strategy, innovation, and global expansion, and analyzed its customer retention approach as part of a project that helped around 30 classmates build a deeper understanding of e-commerce strategy.
  • Met with leaders from seven Japanese companies during site visits, learning firsthand about corporate culture, management styles, and how operations differ across markets.
  • Wrote a research paper on customer retention strategies drawing on those company visits, and came away with a much stronger sense of how to communicate across cultures in a business setting.
Paris Mar 2023 to May 2023

Study Abroad

"Living and studying in Paris while also working there pushed me to navigate a market and a language that weren't mine, which is probably where my habit of slowing down and listening more carefully started."

  • Completed a semester of coursework in Paris alongside my internship at Toit de Paris, splitting time between the classroom and client work in a second language.
  • Built comfort operating in an unfamiliar market and language, a skill I still rely on in cross-cultural user research.
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Undergraduate leadership and research roles at Boston University.

BU Hellenic Association May 2023 to May 2024

Vice President

  • Liaised with the National Hellenic Student Association and collaborated with the Greek Consulate of Boston to support the local Greek community.
  • Built interpersonal, negotiation, and conflict resolution skills leading a student organization.
BU European Society May 2023 to May 2024

Vice President of Marketing

  • Built targeted, cross-cultural marketing campaigns in collaboration with partners in France, Italy, and Spain.
  • Organized a professional networking event for students and professors on the current European market.
BU International Relations Review Nov 2021 to May 2023

Assistant Business Director, promoted from Business Associate

  • Supported daily operations and budget planning for the journal's business and publishing section, after being offered greater responsibility following an initial year as Business Associate.
  • Helped design sponsor outreach materials and strengthened problem-solving skills responding to day-to-day business challenges.
BU College of General Studies Oct 2021 to May 2022

CGS Correspondent

  • Supported marketing and communication initiatives and developed content for the college's social media accounts, gaining hands-on digital marketing experience.
VETSA Feb 2022 to Jan 2023

Undergraduate Research Volunteer

  • Volunteered on the Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging, gaining exposure to research on memory and the development of psychological disorders while strengthening data analysis skills.
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MS in Management (STEM)

Boston University Questrom, May 2026

Full-tuition merit scholarship, Magna Cum Laude, top 10% of cohort, Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society, Outstanding Academic Achievement Award.

BA in Psychology, Honors Distinction

Boston University, May 2024

GPA 3.86, Magna Cum Laude. Thesis: Problematic Screen Use as an Addiction.

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Expertise

User Research and Behavioral Analysis
Product Requirements and PRD Writing
UX Design and Prototyping
Go-to-Market Strategy
Cross-functional Leadership
Data-driven Decision Making

Tools

Figma
Cursor
Claude API
Lovable
Python and Streamlit
Google Analytics
HubSpot
Notion
Miro

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Greeknative
Englishfluent
Spanishintermediate, stronger
Frenchintermediate
Germanbasic