Madison Maxey is an African American engineer, entrepreneur, and designer known for her innovations with e-textiles and advanced materials.

Early life and education

Originally from

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, Madison Maxey moved to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

at 18. Her father worked as an aerospace engineer at Northrup Grumman, while Madison's mother was a flight attendant. Her father was passionate about making things. Maxey was a student at the

Parsons School of Design The Parsons School of Design is a private art and design college under The New School located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhattan art ...

, but only attended for one semester. She preferred to learn independently and through experience, especially in fields like

3D printing 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer ...

. She later completed her degree in Materials Science and Engineering at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Career

Maxey is the founder of Loomia, a company that makes soft, flexible electronics. The original name for this company was The Crated, and the company began as a studio that combined textiles, engineering and design. Maxey has been called a “creative technologist.” in addition to materials development, she has used code to develop computational graphic design for clients. Using code for design is different from the traditional use of coding in computer programming. The Loomia Electronic Layer (LEL) is a soft, flexible, circuit that can heat, light and sense. Through Loomia, Maxey has created e-textile enabled prototypes for automotive companies, tech companies and clothing companies. Maxey decided to focus on materials after using electronics, firmware and textiles to make an LED dress for which she could not find the right electronic materials . She built the electronics for this dress through a partnership with fashion designer

Zac Posen Zachary E. Posen (; born October 24, 1980) is an American fashion designer. Early life Zachary E. Posen was born and raised in a American Jews, Jewish family in New York City, residing in the SoHo neighborhood of lower Manhattan. He is the son ...

and

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

. Maxey, also known as Maddy, became the first person with fashion industry experience to win the $100,000

Thiel Fellowship The Thiel Fellowship (originally named 20 under 20) is a Scholarship, fellowship created by billionaire Peter Thiel through the Thiel Foundation in 2010. The fellowship is intended for students aged 22 or younger and offers them a total of $20 ...

in 2013. At 22 years old, Maxey's work earned her recognition as one of

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

"30 Under 30" in 2016. She also won "The

Lord & Taylor Lord & Taylor was an American department store chain founded in 1826 by Samuel Lord. It had 86 full-line stores in the Northeastern United States at its peak in the 2000s, and 38 locations at the time of its liquidation in 2021. The Lord & Tay ...

Rose Award" in 2016. The award has recognized innovators for more than 6 decades.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maxey, Madison Wikipedia Student Program Living people Businesspeople from San Diego African-American inventors American women inventors 21st-century African-American women American women company founders African-American company founders African-American women in business American technology company founders Year of birth missing (living people) Inventors from California 21st-century American inventors 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesswomen 21st-century African-American scientists American technology businesspeople