Weekly AI mentorship
Ongoing weekly sessions on AI — what it is good at, where it falls over, and how to use it properly in real projects rather than as a novelty. It is the reason I build the way I do.
About
Student entrepreneur and creative builder.
I'm Brianna Savage. I combine design, business thinking and AI-assisted development to turn ideas into websites, products and experiences. I'm the founder of Savage Skincare, and I build websites for other people too.
The story
Minnesota to New York.
I'm originally from Minnesota and now based in New York City, where I attend a school focused on entrepreneurship. My interests sit in the overlap between business, AI, beauty, fashion and design — which sounds like a lot of different things until you notice they are all about making something people actually want to pick up.
That is the thread through everything here. I like turning ideas into tangible projects: websites, product concepts, packaging, digital tools, physical artwork. I would rather have a rough version of a real thing than a polished plan for one.
The biggest of those is Savage Skincare — my own company, where I registered the LLC, built the website and store, designed packaging, and have been working through what it takes to actually manufacture a product.
How I work
Honest about the tools.
I use AI constantly — to research, to design, to build and to improve what I have made. I have some coding experience and I work with AI-assisted development tools to build websites and small apps.
I am not an experienced software engineer, and I don't present myself as one. What I am good at is working out what something needs to do, designing it, writing it, and getting a working version in front of people quickly — then being clear about where the edges of that are.
DesignBrand & packagingWebsite copyAI-assisted developmentOnline storesEmail marketingProduct research
I'd rather have a rough version of a real thing than a polished plan for one.— Brianna Savage
Learning
Mentorship.
Two things that shaped how I think about building a business. Both were learning experiences, not jobs.
Finance mentorship with a CFO
A summer mentorship with the CFO of a home-services company — roughly ten hours a week with him plus another five on my own, learning finance and spreadsheets properly. It is where the numbers side of running a business stopped being abstract.
Leadership
Things I started or led.
Started and led a team. I wrote a full skincare business plan and pitch, covering customer positioning, pricing, manufacturing costs, packaging and fulfilment research.
Founded and led two. From deciding what we read to actually getting people in a room.
Mentored a younger student for five years. The same student, across five years — the long version, not a one-off.
Participant.
Helped with fundraising and gala planning.
Vacation Bible School leader, organising grade reunions, coaching my cousin in volleyball, and helping my brother start a cotton candy business.
Outside work
Circus, rivers and cake.
Circus arts
I trained for several years at a circus school in Minnesota. My disciplines are flying trapeze, trampoline and Spanish web — including flying without safety lines, and working on half-turn remounts and pushbacks.
Flying trapezeTrampolineSpanish web
Rafting the Salmon River
A two-week NOLS course rafting the Salmon River. Cold, rain, and a lot of group problem-solving — the kind of trip where morale is a real thing you have to actively manage, in yourself and in everyone else.
Baking and making
I have entered baking projects in the Minnesota State Fair, and I like cake design, developing recipes and cooking generally. I have also sewn an apron, which is a smaller achievement but I am counting it.
Perspective
Five continents, fifteen-plus countries.
A lot of my curiosity about design and manufacturing comes from having seen it in different places. I have looked at fabrics in Bali, visited fashion houses in Paris, and taken a fashion course in Milan.
I have also been inside manufacturing plants in China, Vietnam and India, which changed how I think about where products actually come from — and met a seamstress running her own business in Tanzania, where I also visited microloan beneficiaries through World Encounter and helped distribute final loans.
These are things I have seen and learned from, not professional experience.
BaliParisMilanChinaVietnamIndiaTanzania
School
Academics.
- GPA
- 4.0
- Coursework
- All available honours classes, including several years of honours maths and advanced literature.
- Recognition
- High honours roll.
Two ways in