Interview with Diego Olcese Diaz, the CEO of Crehana, and its goal “to train the new generation of digital professionals”

Thanks to the infinite amount of resources available through the internet, our ability to learn new talents and skills is only limited by our determination. This has never been truer for aspiring graphic designers. While graphic design requires creativity and an expert eye, these are skills that can be learned and there are many tools which can assist with this process.

For example, a recent Mashable article brought to light PixelModo, a user-friendly design tool that is great for quickly creating clean, high-res assets for social media, websites, and more. However, for some, a quick design tool is not enough, and for those who are serious about taking their design career further, there are resources for this.

To get better idea of the online opportunities for aspiring artists, we spoke with Diego Olcese Diaz, the CEO of Crehana, an online training platform for creative professionals.

For the Crehana online courses, how are the industry professionals and designated tutors selected?

We have a content team dedicated to scouting the best talent in Latin America and Spain. Working professionals that excel in their creative fields. The tutors are selected by our education team, they are picked based on their educational expertise and soft skills. They have the responsibility to guide the students throughout their career.

I understand that one-fifth of young Latin Americans, 30 million people, are not employed or engaged in education or training. In your opinion, why do you think this number is so high compared to other parts of the world?

Education cost is one of the biggest barriers in Latin America, thus it not allows access to people with lower resources.

What was the main motivator to solve this problem and create Crehana as a potential solution? For example, did it arise from a personal experience or something you recognized others having issues with?

We recognized this problem from the beginning and decided to create a startup that could help improve the lives of young people in Latin America, therefore education became the best choice. Crehana´s mission is:  To train the new generation of digital professionals. Our main purpose is to offer accessible high impact education to everyone who has the desire to improve personally and professionally.

Who do you consider to be your main competitors and how do you differentiate yourself from them?

Domestika is one of our competitors.

These are our differences:

1. We have a startup mind: focused on accelerated growth
2. We focus in educational results
3. We target low/middle class populations

What do you consider Crehana’s greatest achievement within the past 6 months?

1. Careers launch (Graphic Design, Digital Illustration, Motion Graphics and 3D Modeling) student will now be able to follow a learning path, build to ensure accurate development of the chosen skill.
2. New Education team. This team is in charge of developing Crehana´s Methodology, based on practical training to accurately develop in demand skills.
3. Internal course productions, we are taking control over the production of courses, we have production sets in our main office in Lima, ensuring the best video quality in all of our content.  
4. iOS app launch – we are excited to share this news, now students are able to watch their classes on the go, they can also download the classes and watch them without wifi connection. This is one the biggest improvements for us, Android version should be available within a month.

What is the main focus for Crehana over the next 6 months?

Increase education quality and student outcomes. We are developing partnerships with the most important agencies in the region, to offer employment opportunities to our students.

What advice would you have for anyone considering a creative career with skills such as graphic design, digital illustration, 3D modeling and motion graphics?

1. Stay updated, technology moves fast.
2. Build a learning routine.
3. Build a digital presence through job networks like Linkedin, Behance.