Deepthi Welaratna is a strategic creative director focused on uplifting brands with creativity, data, and an ocean of stories. She is currently working on her first novel titled Lions Among Us.

From 2014 to 2019, she was Founder and CEO of Thicket Labs, a data-driven design lab and technology startup that spread innovation to millions of people around the world. Thicket was featured in Fast Company, USA Today, and at SXSW two years running.

Her work has been published or aired by San Francisco's KQED Public Media, Stanford Social Innovation Review, the International Documentary Association, and Third Coast International Audio Festival among other outlets. She wrote the foreword to the book The Art of Voting (2020), created as a fundraiser for Stacy Abrams, and is a contributor to the ebook Communities Creating Health (2015).

Her music under the name Dark Spring Thunder has been played on the program Swiss Air airing on 4ZZZZ in Australia, and she is a member of Society of the Wing and Scale. She’s performed at venues including NYC’s The Bowery Electric.

Her creative direction and sound and video design work for live performance and exhibitions has been performed or installed at venues including the Mark Miller Gallery, New Ohio Theatre, Dixon Place, Columbia University’s Schapiro Theatre, Page 22, the NYC Fringe Festival, and 924 Gilman.

She’s been invited to speak to audiences including the American Evaluation Association’s Annual Conference, The New School, Parsons School of Design, Fordham Law School, Pershing Square Ventures, Magnum Foundation, Generation Citizen, the BRIC Summit, AIGA, the National Academy of Medicine, and SuperNova South.

She has been a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce (RSA) since 2019 and has been a recipient of fellowships and awards from SOCAP, ADELPHI Strategy Collective, Personal Democracy Forum, Startup Leadership Program, The New School, and the Wilmer Shields Rich Awards. She was a judge for the Growing Up Asian in America essay contest.

She received her B.A. in English from San Jose State University in 2001 and her M.A. in Media Studies from The New School in 2010. She has completed certificates in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (St. Giles Language Teaching Centre), Data Analysis and Management (Global Market Insite, Inc. now part of Kantar), and Finance and Accounting (Harvard Business School Online).