What if there were a design school out there created for BIPOC individuals specifically—founded by a person of color, featuring work by people of color, and inviting speakers with diverse backgrounds? How might that change the future of design?

With the newly started Useful School, we’re going to find out.

“I think Useful School has been kind of a long time coming in my career, without me necessarily being conscious about it,” said Ritesh Gupta, founder and CEO of Useful School. Ritesh—a Wieden+Kennedy alum and former director at 2 Shark Tank companies—admitted that he didn’t really like his own school experience. In many ways, Useful School is the education he wished he could have had: something intellectually satisfying, incredibly fun, POC-centered, and with a class offering that felt, well, useful.