Build with the people you’re building for.
Natasha Affia Rohrs
Ventouri Design helps game studios and AI teams get representation, research and risk right, by building with the communities their products portray and serve, from first concept to global launch.
Experience & recognition
01 Practice
Four ways to get it right before you ship.
Representation, research and risk are product decisions. Ventouri Design works inside your development cycle, with the people your product portrays and serves, so those decisions hold up in front of players, communities and the press.
-
Cultural & representation advisory for games
Culturally authentic representation of Native American, Indigenous, Alaska Native and First Nations communities, across character design, story, dialogue, gameplay and world-building. Plus gender representation, female-aligned characters, accessibility and equitable player experiences.
-
Co-design & participatory research
Co-design sprints with communities and outside experts. User research that turns community feedback into product requirements, prototypes and roadmap calls, not a report on a shelf.
-
Representation & risk reviews
Spot cultural and representation risks early, before assets lock. Cultural accuracy reviews across product and marketing, from the in-game experience to the go-to-market campaign. Red-teaming for trust, safety and accessibility risks before launch.
-
Responsible innovation strategy
Frameworks, inclusive product councils, research operations and evaluation programs for AI, AR/VR, wearables and robotics teams. Long-term representation strategy that scales with the product.
Designing at the margins is not designing for a minority. It is the most efficient way to design for the full range of human experiences.
02 Approach
Design with,
not for.
Community members and experts join as partners from the very first decision, not as a sign-off at the end.
Co-design is a spectrum
- Consultative
- Collaborative
- Community-led
We pick the depth that fits the decision. One advisor is never a stand-in spokesperson for a whole identity group. “Native people are not a monolith.” So the practice brings the right community voices into the room.
-
1
Listen first
Map the communities, assumptions and risks in play before anything locks.
-
2
Design with, not for
Bring community members and outside experts in as partners from the first decision, so the work is shaped by the people it represents.
-
3
Prototype and pressure-test
Rapid prototypes, dogfooding and red-teaming surface usability, accessibility and trust risks while they are still cheap to fix.
-
4
Carry it to launch
Insight becomes engineering requirements, shepherded through phase gates so it stays in the roadmap.
03 Track record
Five years building it from the inside.
At Meta, Natasha moved from trust & safety to leading responsible innovation at Reality Labs, across AR/VR, AI and robotics.
- In strategic research directed
- $2M+
- Co-design sprints
- 12+
- Research participants
- 1,000+
- External experts
- 100+
- Concepts, prototypes & mockups
- 50+
- Product lines using her frameworks
- 10+
Selected work at Meta
2021–2026
-
01 Reality Labs
Codesign & Inclusive Product Council
Ran Reality Labs’ Codesign and Inclusive Product Council programs, turning research synthesis into product strategy.
-
02 Reality Labs
Frameworks at scale
Built inclusive design frameworks and accessibility evaluation methods adopted across 10+ product lines.
-
03 Reality Labs
Fit for more bodies
Led 12+ cross-functional initiatives producing 30+ wearable hardware and software prototypes, including more inclusive fit systems for diverse body types.
-
04 Reality Labs
Women’s gaming creators
Created a women’s gaming creator program from the ground up, redesigning competition criteria and success metrics.
-
05 Reality Labs
Win with women
Developed a “win with women” strategy with AR/VR leadership to remove barriers to wearables adoption among women.
-
06 Civic Process, 2021–23
Election integrity
Protected the platform from abuse and mis- and disinformation targeting the world’s most at-risk elections.
— In their words
What colleagues say
“She scaled codesign programs and leveraged user-centered insights from external co-designers and stakeholders to change product roadmaps, not just to produce research findings for a report.”
“Her ability to identify systemic gaps, advocate for underrepresented communities, and operationalize equity principles into product and policy work is unmatched.”
“It’s one thing to talk about inclusive design in theory, and another for students to learn from someone who’s built it from the inside.”
04 Founder
Natasha Affia Rohrs
Founder, Ventouri Design · she/her
Natasha founded Ventouri Design in 2026 after five years at Meta, where she moved from trust & safety on the Civic Process team to leading responsible innovation at Reality Labs.
Before Meta, she was a technical program manager in Control Risks’ CFIUS advisory practice, running national-security risk assessments of technology companies on behalf of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
She is an enrolled member of the Native Village of Atka, in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands (Unangax̂ / Aleut). Lived experience, a global-risk background and years inside big-tech product teams: a rare combination that lets her speak to a game director, a policy team and a tribal council in the same week.
“Technology can be the greatest extension of our humanity when designed responsibly.”
- 2026 —FounderVentouri Design
- 2023–26Innovation StrategistMeta Reality Labs
- 2021–23Project Manager, Civic ProcessMeta
- 2018–21Technical Program Manager, CFIUS AdvisoryControl Risks
- Education
- M.A., Global Risk, Johns Hopkins SAIS. Political economy at Peking University. Gilman Scholar. Aleutian Scholar (Aleut Foundation).
- Writing
- Forbes contributor on political risk and emerging technology. Author of “Diversity of Native Identity in the Metaverse” (ICT). Contributor to peer-reviewed research in the American Journal of Political Science (2017).
- Service
- Board Treasurer of the largest U.S. Indigenous nonprofit. Finance Lead and Bay Area chapter lead, Meta’s Native@ Leadership Council (2022–26).
- Teaching
- Guest lecturer, University of Washington: Inclusive Design & Product Equity.
- Languages
- English. Mandarin (limited working).
05 Ways to work together
For game studios, AI and XR teams, and mission-driven organizations.
-
i.
Advisory partnership
Ongoing counsel for a game or product through development.
-
ii.
Co-design sprint
A focused sprint with community members and outside experts.
-
iii.
Representation review
A cultural accuracy and risk review of builds, scripts or campaigns.
-
iv.
Talks & workshops
Co-design and inclusive design sessions for your teams.
Not sure which fits? Start with a conversation
06 Contact
Start with a conversation.
Tell Natasha what you’re building and where you are in development. The earlier the better.
Natasha Affia Rohrs · Founder