Val Vacante

Val Vacante serves as Managing Partner of Collabsco, where she works as a product innovation and marketing leader. Based in Austin, Texas, she started in the field in 2003 and brings over 20 years of experience developing connected physical and digital experiences, from early web technologies to mobile, Internet of Things, virtual and augmented reality, voice activation, and conversational AI. She has collaborated with clients including Hasbro, Mattel, and startups in robotics and AI, and she previously worked as an intrapreneur before founding her own business about 10 years ago. Val funded her own education through a non-traditional path that included community college, scholarships to study in the UK and Spain, and a certification from Harvard University in entrepreneurship and emerging markets completed in October and November. She serves on the South by Southwest Innovation Advisory Board and the Fast Company Executive Board, and she mentors students at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Val attributes her success to resilience, creativity, curiosity, and a positive outlook, noting that early rejection letters and slammed doors taught her to navigate setbacks by learning, tweaking approaches, and persisting with optimism. She advises young women entering the industry to have a voice and point of view, remain solution-oriented, kind, creative, curious, and always learning. She highlights challenges in her field around diversity in hiring and copy-and-paste methods that prevent talented people from being seen and receiving opportunities.