Meet NDC's New 2026 Hires
Neighborhood Design Center has welcomed some wonderful new team memebers over the summer and into the fall! Read on to learn more about our new staff members and interns.
Maria
Maria Ramirez is a Senior Project Manager at Neighborhood Design Center. She is deeply interested in the intersection of design, creative placemaking, place keeping, and community development, and previously contributed to the Greater Columbus Arts Council’s Greater Columbus Public Art Strategy. She has both a Masters in Architecture and in Urban Planning from UCLA, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from The Ohio State University. Beyond NDC, she will be continuing her independent consulting with the Greater Columbus Arts Council and continue serving on the board of the McConnell Arts Center. She is also a Worthington City Council member and loves gardening, hiking, and exploring Columbus’s Metro Parks.
Dan
Dan Foley is a Designer at Neighborhood Design Center. With a background in film, theater, and architecture, he brings a narrative lens to everything he designs—whether it’s a home renovation, a museum exhibit, or an interactive play space. He works at the intersection of architecture, experience, and imagination. He loves turning big ideas into real, touchable things—sketching, modeling, prototyping, and refining until it all clicks. Spaces should speak. He helps them tell stories people remember.
Audrey
Audrey Kocel is a recent graduate from Bowling Green State University, having received a Bachelors in Architecture and Environmental Design. She is a Design Intern at Neighborhood Design Center and was most recently the Freedom by Design Director at Bowling Green State University for American Institute of Architecture Students, where she coordinated fundraising, designing, and building efforts for flower bed shade covers for a local plant nursery. She sees architecture as a force that plays a big role in shaping our relationship with our environment, our communities, and ourselves. She wants to be a part of nurturing these relationships and creating a positive impact on our community through design. In Columbus, she loves attending various festivals and events and exploring the city’s diverse food scene.
Abdulrazzak
Abdulrazzak “Zak” Felemban is working towards a Masters in City and Regional Planning at The Ohio State University’s Knowlton School and earned a Bachelor of Architecture before coming to OSU. He is a Planning Intern at Neighborhood Design Center, and is especially interested in urban design, transportation, community engagement, and the relationship between architecture and city planning. This past summer, he worked with NDC on community engagement for the LinkUS West Broad Street corridor and on the City of Columbus Power of One Storefront Facade Improvement Program. His background in architecture crafted an interest in not just individual buildings, but also in how streets, neighborhoods, transportation, and public spaces shape people’s everyday lives. He enjoys photography, design, and pickleball, and in Columbus, he enjoys exploring the city and discovering new places.
Riahna
Riahna Jackson is a second-year undergraduate student majoring in Architecture and minoring in African American studies at the Ohio State University. She is an Architecture Intern at Neighborhood Design Center, and is a part of the Knowlton Society, SERVitecture, NOMAS (National Organization of Minority Architecture Students), and the Black Students Association at Ohio State. She was most recently a program facilitator for NDC’s Youth CoLab Summer Internship program. Riahna’s passion for architecture comes from a love for designing and understanding and how things are made and come together. In Columbus, she loves to explore the city’s many trails, especially the Scioto Mile and Sharon Woods Metro Park.
Miles
Miles Dobson is a fourth-year Visual Communication Design major with a minor in Art History. He is a Graphic Design Intern at Neighborhood Design Center and a member of the design committee at TEDxOhioStateUniversity. Most recently, he was a Community Engagement Intern at Urban Arts Space, where he worked on gallery programming and installations. Miles believes that design is a powerful force of social change and loves working with nonprofits like NDC that focus on the active and tangible support of communities. As an artist, he deeply appreciates the lively and interconnected art scene that Columbus fosters and all the incredible creatives he’s met in the city.
Ricky
Ricky Minniti is a Visual Communications major with a minor in Psychology at The Ohio State University. He is a Graphic Design Intern at Neighborhood Design Center, and is also President of the Animation Club, Treasurer of the Design Club, former Actor for "Off the Lake" Theater, and a former Design Committee Member for TEDxOhioStateUniversity. Most recently, he was a Graphic Designer for OH-TECH, an Animation Intern at Essence Cartoons, and a Community Engagement Intern at Urban Arts Space. He is always trying to better his design skills to create work that helps and informs others and is looking forward to expanding his understanding of how design projects operate on a larger, more professional scale. He enjoys exploring the hidden gems around Columbus- from restaurants, art spaces, stores or other types of establishments, the city is always a place where he’s able to find something exciting to do and enjoy.
Haadia
Haadia Hyder is a second-year Public Management, Leadership, and Policy major with minors in City and Regional Planning and African American Studies at The Ohio State University. She’s a Planning Intern at Neighborhood Design Center, and is also the Digital Editor for the Sundial Humor Magazine, a member of 8th Floor Improv, and recently joined the Undergraduate Caucus Committee. Most recently, she was a Strategic Partnerships and Campaigns Intern at the National Low Income Housing Coalition and a Community Engagement Intern at Urban Arts Space. As a Columbus native, she is deeply passionate about place-based policy, especially in a city with an often inequitable built environment like Columbus. She loves the kind, creative, wacky, and driven people that make the city of Columbus what it is.
