Meet the team - Melissa Ayers

I'm the head of engineering which means I'm responsible for all the tech, the development of the frontend product, the backend, dev ops, release management, everything related to the technology stack we have. I also manage the development and design team. We help our customer support team to ensure our customer queries are resolved in a timely manner. We also support the team internally who build storyworlds and create rich media articles using our internal tools which are used to create the immersive environments.

We get to learn new stuff every day! I love being able to make a product with a genuine aim of making the world a better place. We are lucky enough to get lots of lovely feedback from customers who love our product, who share stories of the impact exploration of the platform has had on their students and in the classroom - this is definitely a highlight.

I worked for many years as a software engineer, starting with writing embedded software for networking equipment. Then slowly moved up the stack working in many domains such as networking and logistics and now in education technology. I worked in many tech stacks, most currently my area of expertise is Ruby on Rails. I've also used my tech background to work as a volunteer for a couple of years. I spent a year in Burkina Faso helping create a database for a HIV screening clinic, and a year in Cambodia helping to run a vocational training program. I was responsible for the web development program and for the trainers, making sure the students had the right sort of curriculum to help them get a job after they completed their 2 year degree.

It has to be the Awra Amba storyworld series. At the time I applied for the Lyfta role, by chance I happened to be going to Ethiopia but had never heard of Awra Amba. During the interview process I explored this storyworld as part of the process and was so amazed by the stories from this fascinating community that we decided to add a detour for 2 - 3 days to go and visit them during our trip. It was wonderful to actually go and see the project and the people after having experienced it on the Lyfta platform. There is exciting new content launched each term but I think it would be hard for one to replace the place in my heart for Awra Amba.

It has to be Muhammed in Dinnertime 360, because his story is both heartwarming and sad. It evokes so many emotions. Muhammed is so open, honest, kind and positive in the way he tells his powerful story.

I guess Kids' Cup, because as a child growing up in New Zealand I went to school just to play sports. I had no idea I would be sitting behind a computer for my job, I thought I was going to be a PE teacher. Every weekend I was out playing in a competition or athletics tournament which I really enjoyed. It taught me many valuable, transferable skills such as teamwork, communication, working together to achieve a goal as well as being great fun.

Anything Stephane (my husband) cooks, he makes delicious Mauritian food. We live in France and he makes delicious French food too. Mauritian food is a mixture of Indian, Chinese and Creole European cuisines. Many of the curries use milder spices, and there's a lot of octopus, fish and marinated veggies as side dishes. One dish I particularly like is called vindaye, it uses mustard seeds and turmeric and lots of other spices - it is marinaded for days and is eaten cold.

I started learning French when I was in Montreal, then Burkina Faso, and then re-learned it when I moved to France more recently. I speak Japanese because of the year I spent there as a teenager. I am also taking weekly Japanese lessons on Skype to keep up with the basics as we like to travel there every couple of years. I also have a basic level of Italian.

Kintsugi, which means golden joinery. It's a form of Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with gold to make it more beautiful. It is not actually broken, it has been added to, it is more beautiful because it has a history, it has a story, you can value and appreciate the cracks. This feels really poignant to me, looking back at the last year or so.