I’m Mel.

I’m Melkizedek Mirasi Owuor – a young man brimming with energy and creative and innovative ideas to turn the niches I occupy into inspiring and lasting success stories.
My ability to learn myriads of topics, morph the knowledge, and apply them in my projects has helped me produce concrete bodies of work.
I’m a lifelong learner and an avid vipassana meditator.
User Experience Lead
I am an experienced software usability testing and ethnographic research expert who has traversed the Kenyan landscape working with both local and international clients, collecting insightful information for the betterment of their various software and products.
Some of the projects that I have undertaken include Read and Prosper; a UK-based organization that aims to encourage reading in non-academic capacities (for fun) and increase the overall number of readers and make the reading process more enjoyable, Certell; a US-based non-profit company which develops, markets, and distributes online courses (such as basics to economics) and course materials, and Wikonnect; an open-source eLearning platform that sought to bridge the digital divide through the provision of digital literacy skills.
I’m currently working as a UX regional coordinator for Colmena, a DW-funded open-source digital toolbox for local and community media productions. I’m responsible for co-developing testing methodology toolkits, organizing user feedback, systemizing the conclusions of the testing, documenting usability levels, and onboarding UX partners from three African countries, namely Kenya, Tanzania, and Ghana.
Co-Founder
I co-founded Kibera Aeronautics & Space Academy, a Kibera-based project that teaches the basics of space travel in 9 courses to young people preparing them for an amazing journey to discover future possibilities.
Under my leadership, the project aimed to inspire and coach the next generation of innovators and astronauts who will, one day, be among the first inhabitants of the red planet. By doing this, we purposed to assist learners to improve their access to job opportunities, get a better understanding of the challenges in their communities, and equip themselves with the right skills to tackle those challenges.
I oversaw the project’s general growth, took part in the development of its first 3 courses, and organized and hosted dozens of kids’ STEM bootcamps. I also birthed the project’s monthly moral, science, and economics meetup sessions dubbed ‘KASA Junto’ with the aim of bringing together like-minded young people to discuss a broader list of topics that include the role of science in Africa’s development, capitalism & economic models, mental health, education systems, space exploration in Africa, among other utopian Kenyan and African ideas.
In addition, under my leadership, the project forged partnerships and collaborated with industry leaders such as the Kenya Space Agency, The Travelling Telescope, Space Generation Advisory Council, Africa Space Workshop, Amateur Astronomical Society of Kenya, Leo Sky Africa, and Model Mars, among others.
Web Designer
I am a web designer who has worked with diverse clients, both local and abroad. I have worked with a US-based musician, non-government organizations, the founding father of Kenya’s graffiti artist[1], the largest community network in East Africa, a refugee initiative, a corporate coaching consultancy firm (as a contributor), and a US-based plumbing firm (as a contributor).
Clients decide to work with me because of my creative & minimalistic design concepts.
Podcaster, Podcast Editor, and Podcast Producer
I am a podcast host for Zack & Mel Talk Music, a biweekly podcast co-hosted by my friend Zack to discuss music and other topics of our liking – such as comedy, health, wealth, and epistemology.
Sometimes we invite our friends and local musicians.
I am also a podcast editor and producer. My portfolio boasts working to produce a 4-part podcast series for a women empowerment program that took place in January 2022.
Project Highlights: Content Editor
In 2021, I led a team of 5 digital content editors who worked on an open-source community eLearning platform.
As the honcho of the editorial team;
- I oversaw the communication between the editorial team and the overall project manager.
- Set the vision of the final work and organized the team around that.
- Edited content and uploaded the edited content on the eLearning platform. Editing included a check on;
- The flow of content.
- Sentence structure, and spelling & grammatical errors.
- Content design and layout.
- Content research and attribution.