Emotion by Design: Cupertino
EMOTION BY DESIGN
When Artificial Intelligence Meets Human Compassion
Monday, December 7, 2026 | 6:00–9:00 PM
📍 HumanOp® | 20883 Stevens Creek Blvd, Suite 150, Cupertino, CA
Presented by Blendbound Inc. × HumanOp®
What happens when machines become more intelligent, but we forget what makes us human?
As artificial intelligence and humanoid robotics evolve, we're entering a new chapter in our relationship with technology.
Machines are learning to recognize our voices, interpret our behaviors, respond to our emotions, and participate in our everyday lives.
But intelligence alone doesn't create understanding.
What if compassion, emotional intelligence, and human connection became essential parts of how we design the next generation of technology?
Following our first Emotion by Design gathering in San Francisco, we're bringing the conversation to Cupertino, alongside the international humanoid robotics community gathering in Silicon Valley.
This time, we're exploring the relationship between humans and intelligent machines—not only through technology and innovation, but through the body, creativity, emotion, and the experiences that make us feel alive.
We're bringing together founders, investors, engineers, researchers, artists, wellness practitioners, and curious minds from different industries to explore what becomes possible when we design technology with humanity at its center.
✨ An Evening to Think, Feel, and Connect
6:00–6:30 PM | Meditation & Opening
We'll begin by grounding ourselves in the present moment, connecting with our bodies, and setting an intention for the evening.
6:30–7:30 PM | The Conversation
An interdisciplinary panel exploring emotional intelligence, compassion, AI, robotics, and the future of human experience.
How do we build machines that understand human needs? What does trust look like between humans and AI? And how can technology support healthier, more meaningful lives?
7:30–7:45 PM | Music with Wei Gao
An immersive musical experience inviting us to move from intellectual conversation into feeling, listening, and presence.
7:45–9:00 PM | Food, Dance & Connection
Enjoy thoughtfully prepared food by a chef, a special tea service, art, music, and meaningful conversations with the people around you.
The Opening
Alyssa Anaya — Embodied Meditation & Facilitator
Alyssa Anaya is a meditation guide, and longtime practitioner of embodied spirituality with more than 20 years of experience exploring the relationship between body, emotion, awareness, and human connection.
Her work invites people beyond the thinking mind and into the intelligence of the body—creating grounded, heart-centered experiences where presence, sensation, and emotion become ways of understanding ourselves more deeply.
At Emotion by Design, Alyssa will open the evening with an embodied meditation designed to help us shift from simply thinking about the human experience to actually experiencing it—arriving fully in the body, awakening the senses, and connecting with the aliveness already within us.
The Conversation
How can emotional intelligence and compassion shape the future of AI, robotics, and human connection?
As machines become increasingly intelligent, we're invited to ask a different question: Are we designing technology only to become more capable, or also to become more understanding of the humans it serves?
Four perspectives come together to explore the relationship between artificial intelligence, human potential, emotional well-being, investment, and the future we're building.
Max Gokhman, CFA — Head of AI & Digital Asset Solutions, Franklin Templeton
Max Gokhman works at the intersection of artificial intelligence, investment, and human decision-making. At Franklin Templeton, he leads initiatives involving AI-powered investment capabilities and digital assets, exploring how emerging technologies are transforming financial systems and the ways we make decisions.
Previously, Max served as Deputy CIO at Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions, President and CIO of AI-driven asset manager AlphaTrAI, and Head of Asset Allocation at Pacific Life Fund Advisors. His academic background in economics and psychology brings an additional dimension to his understanding of how humans and machines evaluate risk, uncertainty, and opportunity.
At Emotion by Design, Max invites us to consider what happens as AI becomes increasingly capable of making decisions on our behalf. How do we preserve human judgment, trust, and emotional intelligence while embracing the possibilities of intelligent systems?
Marlene Stewart — Award-Winning Hollywood Costume Designer | Creative Advisor, Blendbound Inc.
Marlene Stewart is an award-winning Hollywood costume designer and creative visionary whose career spans fashion, music, film, and entertainment. She has collaborated with legendary filmmakers including James Cameron, Oliver Stone, and Michael Mann, with credits including Terminator 2: Judgment Day, JFK, Top Gun: Maverick, Free Guy, and The Holiday.
A pioneer in music video fashion, Marlene helped shape some of Madonna's most iconic looks in Vogue, Material Girl, Express Yourself, and Like a Prayer. Her work has also extended to artists including Cher, Janet Jackson, and The Rolling Stones. Her contributions to visual storytelling have earned her multiple honors, including the Costume Designers Guild's Career Achievement Award. She has also served as a documentary judge for the Academy Awards.
Now serving as a creative advisor to Blendbound, Marlene brings decades of experience in translating human emotion, identity, and imagination into unforgettable visual experiences. As Hollywood navigates profound changes brought by artificial intelligence, she offers a unique perspective on how emerging technologies are reshaping storytelling, creative ownership, artistic expression, and the role of human talent in entertainment.
At Emotion by Design, Marlene brings the perspective of an artist who has spent her career shaping how audiences feel through storytelling and design. As AI and robotics transform creative expression, she invites us to explore what technology can learn from artists about empathy, identity, emotional connection, and the power of human imagination—and how we can embrace innovation without losing the humanity that makes art meaningful.
Wei Houng — Co-Founder & Chief Visionary Officer, HumanOp® Technologies
Wei Houng has spent more than three decades exploring what helps human beings grow, overcome limitations, and realize their potential.
With a background in computer science engineering from UCLA, Wei approaches human development with the curiosity and discipline of an engineer. His work as a coach has taken him from leaders at some of the world's largest companies to entrepreneurs building businesses from their spare rooms.
Through HumanOp®, Wei brings together technology, personal transformation, and human connection, exploring how the systems we create can better support the people living within them.
At Emotion by Design, Wei brings a question that becomes increasingly important as AI and robotics enter our daily lives: What if we approached human potential with the same intention and curiosity that we bring to engineering intelligent machines?
Carissa Karban — Co-Founder, Astrapuff
Carissa Karban is a technologist, leadership strategist, coach, and entrepreneur exploring how artificial intelligence can become a companion in human growth, creativity, and connection.
As co-founder of Astrapuff, she is helping imagine a new relationship between humans and AI through shared interactive worlds. Rather than treating AI simply as a tool for efficiency or productivity, her work explores how humans and intelligent companions might play, learn, build relationships, and flourish together.
Her background across technology, organizational development, coaching, and leadership informs a deeply human approach to innovation—one that recognizes the importance of belonging, curiosity, emotional awareness, and meaningful connection.
At Emotion by Design, Carissa invites us to imagine a future where interacting with AI isn't only about what machines can do for us, but about what humans and AI might discover, create, and experience together.
Tim Taylor — Moderator | Director of Business Development, Kranz Consulting
Tim Taylor is a finance and business development leader whose career spans accounting, strategic partnerships, investment-related conversations, and high-growth companies.
His experience includes roles at KPMG, Charles Schwab, and Wine.com, along with his work at Kranz Consulting supporting the relationships and financial infrastructure that help growing businesses succeed. He holds an MBA from the Wharton School.
What makes Tim's perspective particularly interesting is his ability to bring the human side of business into conversations that often revolve around numbers, strategy, and technology.
At Emotion by Design, Tim will guide our speakers through the intersections of AI, investment, emotional intelligence, human development, and robotics—exploring not only what we're capable of building, but what those innovations mean for the people who will live alongside them.
Because the future of intelligent technology isn't only a question of capability. It's also a question of compassion, trust, and what it means to be human.
Wei Gao is the creative force behind RESONANCE, where the audience becomes the instrument. With a simple movement of a finger, people in the room shape the performance along with the musician. Enriched by their feelings and preferences, RESONANCE is a unique live music experience that evolves and reshapes itself like a kaleidoscope. You can get a preview of the music on 01melody.com
Wei brings more than a decade of enterprise discipline to the work. An MBA from Columbia Business School, he has led technology and operations programs at Cisco Systems and Indeed, and co-founded MetaOrigin, an AI Music Education company whose mobile app listens to young pianists and guides them like a patient teacher.
At Emotion by Design, Wei asks: when we truly listen to one another, what changes? Come find out. The concert of the future is already alive inside every audience.
Lex crafts immersive, multi-layered soundscapes designed to move both the body and the inner landscape through the art of ecstatic and meditative dance. Weaving subtle minimal techno grooves, deep house rhythms, and evolving atmospheric textures, Lex creates a fluid, organic journey that invites dancers into states of presence, release, and connection.
Meet the Hosts
Samah Damanhoori — Founder & CEO, Blendbound Inc
Samah Damanhoori is a founder, storyteller, emotional intelligence coach, and creative strategist exploring how technology can be designed around the emotional experience of being human.
As Founder & CEO of Blendbound, she is building Folded: Inner Journey, an emotional sandbox game that replaces combat-driven progression with curiosity, connection, self-expression, and emotional discovery. Her career spans technology, entertainment, operations, and storytelling, including work with Apple, Meta, HBO, and Genentech.
Alongside her work in technology, Samah supports founders, creatives, students, and high-achieving professionals through emotional intelligence coaching, storytelling workshops, and strategic advisory work at the intersection of product, community, narrative, and human behavior. Samah is an operational advisor at Kayeh AI and Daanx
Her work asks a larger question that sits at the heart of Emotion by Design: if we can intentionally design technology to capture attention, can we also design it to help people feel more connected, understood, and alive?
Liz Nguyen — Co-Host & Community Builder
Village Builder & Connector, HumanOp® | CEO, SMP Factor
Liz brings people together and helps founders find the relationships, resources, and operational support they need to thrive. Through HumanOp and her fractional COO practice, SMP Factor, she builds communities and systems that support both business growth and human connection.
🌸 Why We're Gathering
At our first Emotion by Design, something beautiful happened.
People from industries that rarely share the same room discovered how much they had in common.
We came together to talk about technology, longevity, investment, creativity, and human experience. But what stayed with us was something simpler: the connections we made and the possibility of building something meaningful together.
We want to continue creating spaces where people can bring their expertise without leaving their humanity behind.
Because the future isn't only about what we can build.
It's about who we become while building it.
Monday, December 7 | 6:00–9:00 PM
HumanOp®, Cupertino, California
Your ticket supports an intimate evening of conversation, live music, movement, and connection.
Come curious. Come as you are. Bring your questions, your ideas, and your humanity.
This is not just a conversation about the future. It's an invitation to experience it together.
With love,
Blendbound Inc. × HumanOp®