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In the following interviews, you’ll hear from four women from around the world — India, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, and Japan — and learn their perspective on the AR landscape. It’s a great reminder to not only celebrate the women in our community, but also that there are millions of innovative women out there ready and eager to share their perspectives and join the table.

So as we head into the rest of the year, let's remember that women's empowerment isn't just a month or a day; it's a daily commitment toward building a better world for everyone. Women like Gauri, Maha, Vitória, and Chakky are an essential part of AR’s future, and these interviews show just how bright that future is.

Gauri Kumar, India

Snap AR: What draws you to AR as opposed to other mediums?

Gauri Kumar: AR allows you to funnel creativity and technology into one pursuit. As a creator, I’m able to apply existing techniques to my Lenses, like 3D animation and 2D illustration, so I’m able to enhance each of them and provide exciting alternatives. Aside from that, I love bringing objects to life, making them tactile, and interacting with them in an existing environment. It’s something that I’ve always been interested in and adds to my technical curiosity. 


Snap AR: What do you love about the creator community?

GK: The Snap creator community has the most diverse set of people, not just in terms of their ethnicities but also in terms of their professional backgrounds. They are collaborative, open to sharing experiences and sharing their expertise with others. Vitória Cribb and I have connected a few times and she has always given me helpful tips. I also attribute a lot of my learnings to Ben Knutson’s YouTube videos in my initial days of navigating around Lens Studio.


Snap AR: Where do the ideas for your Lenses come from? What inspired them?

GK: A lot of my ideas are sparked from the features within Lens Studio. I like to capitalize on its capabilities, as well as my skill set. One of my favorite Lenses to have worked on was Our Body, where I incorporate 3D Body Tracking to see how far I can push the Lens visually. 

Meanwhile, I like to draw inspiration from the subjects of the Lens I’m working on and definitely the art world. Recently, while working on a project with an agency, we did some mind-mapping exercises that I found to be quite freeing and inspiring. We wrote down the central topic and filled the board with words, emotions, materials, and even recipes that are related to the topic. It is definitely a lot of fun and opens up your mind to other possibilities.

Snap AR: What are you passionate about right now?

GK: I’m passionate about creating experiences for social impact and education. Hopefully, I’ll get to work on more projects in that space this year. Through Lens Studio, I’m excited about 3D hand interactions and physics. I spend a lot of time experimenting with gravity and being able to move objects with my hand in AR. Applying real-world physics is thrilling, as you can make objects collide, gamify the Lenses, and more.


Snap AR: How do you think AR can positively affect the world?

GK: AR has proven it can have an enormous impact in not just the storytelling aspect but also by activating a younger demographic. It’s not limited in terms of the subject matter or industry. Experiences that tackle climate change, art history, and education have more potential to reach vast audiences as compared to offline campaigns. 


Snap AR: What’s on the horizon for your creative career?

GK: I’m hoping to broaden my horizon with the kind of Lenses I work on. I would love to create AR experiences for a museum. In addition to this, I’m working on strengthening my skills in scripting and streamlining my process for Lens creation. 


Snap AR: What does it mean to be a woman in this field?

GK: In my work, oftentimes I am conscious of the color palette or visual direction while pitching to clients so as to avoid being labeled “too feminine.” But, in the past two years, there has been a considerable shift in acceptance. 

As a South Asian woman of color, I feel empowered being a representative of my community and have started to understand the importance of passing down my skills to others. As a rule of thumb, I also make it a point to collaborate with women on personal projects and recommend them for suitable jobs. At the same time, there is a lot to be done for teams to truly have an open culture where diversity isn’t just an item on the checklist. 


Snap AR: What advice would you give to others looking to create their next Lens creation?

GK: I would say it’s really good to have a clear idea, palette, and direction before you begin your Lens. Look at championing one or two features and tools that best convey the message to your audience. Make sure your concept is original, visually engaging, and interactive!

Maha Aldosary, Saudi Arabia

Snap AR: What draws you to AR as opposed to other mediums?

Maha Aldosary: Augmented reality is one of the fastest-growing areas in tech, and it offers so many great benefits because it can make life easier and more accessible and is not restricted to a certain age, or educational level. It offers the opportunity to experiment and integrate real and digital worlds, allowing you to share with friends and colleagues.

Snap AR: What do you love about the creator community?

MA: I love communicating with other creators/innovators and get excited to see them thrive and innovate in their own ways. Creators have so much passion for what they create. They’re people who are working hard to apply their creativity in a specific field and have sacrificed a lot of their time to reach their goals.

Snap AR: Where do the ideas for your Lenses come from? What inspired them?

MA: I always like to look for inspiration from pictures, visual objects, as well as world news. This sparks my imagination and enables me to generate ideas.

Snap AR: What are you passionate about right now?

MA: In the past, I’ve had a hard time learning to create Lenses because there were no lessons in Arabic. One of my goals is to create an AR company to train novice designers in my own language, showing them how to create Lenses more quickly and effectively. 


Snap AR: How do you think AR can positively affect the world?

MA: AR technology miraculously unites the virtual and physical worlds. Enhanced reality has become part of people's daily lives to live digital, interactive, and comprehensive experiences that enhance the realism of the world around them. It’s a priceless tool for providing an innovative learning space as well as a very important marketing tool.

Snap AR: What does it mean to be a woman in this field?

MA: My favorite part is connecting with my female colleagues who have the same passion to help build this exciting new future together. I love to encourage more women to join this beautiful, fun, and useful world. There's a lot of space for women's presence in augmented reality, technology, and the whole future. Women can do whatever they want.


Snap AR: What advice would you give to others looking to create their next Lens creation?

MA: My advice for anyone looking to create their own Lenses is that it's okay to fail. It’s no reason to stop. Keep practicing, keep failing, and one day you'll realize how far you've come. You're capable of doing it. Try something you haven't tried and don't be afraid or ashamed to ask for help, because a great community of developers is ready to answer any question you have! 

It is important, too, to participate in the community and build friendships with other creators. I recommend exploring and learning the tools and templates in Lens Studio that help you to be creative. You can acquire skills as you progress, but you don’t need to learn everything at once. Just practice, be confident, and trust your abilities.

Vitória Cribb, Brazil

Snap AR: What draws you to AR as opposed to other mediums?

Vitória Cribb: Building and attaching a digital layer onto the physical world fascinates me. I love understanding how the audience is going to interact with my digital creations and simulations in their daily life. It’s very fun and makes the creative process less solitary. For me, AR gives us the possibility to digitally interact in real-time with our friends and share not only videos and images, but a piece of ourselves in cyberspace. As a creator, I feel that I have a lot of space to grow my skills because AR is in constant growth as well.


Snap AR: What do you love about the creator community?

VC: I love the variety of projects and people's diverse backgrounds! There are people from around the world and having the opportunity to e-meet them and share thoughts and projects is amazing. For me, being in touch with other creators helps me to expand my perspective on the importance and role of AR in our society.


Snap AR: Where do the ideas for your Lenses come from? What inspired them?

VC: In my personal Lens projects I try to push the limits between nature and technology, taking inspiration from animals, minerals, plants, and natural textures to create an AR Lens. Both of my parents are engineers. My dad is an Agronomy engineer, my mom is a Zootecnist, and I’ve found a way to connect my young tech personality with my family background. 

For my body-tracking Lenses, I like to bring colors and textures that resemble the natural components like on ASTRAPIA, CORVUS, and IMAGO Lenses. For my World/Spectacles Lenses, I like to create AR pieces that can work as a good AR layer when using it in a natural environment like on LIBELULAS and ETHEREAL Lenses. It’s always a challenge for me to avoid the artificial aesthetic that people usually associate with new technologies but, at the same time, it's also the best part.

Snap AR: What are you passionate about right now?

VSPC: Right now, I'm very passionate about Lens Studio’s Physics feature. I definitely want to experiment more with this new tool and use it to create different Lenses. The possibilities with that feature seem to be infinite and I can’t wait to use it on my personal projects.


Snap AR: How do you think AR can positively affect the world?

VSPC: For me, AR can positively impact how we perceive and deal with content in general, not only receiving the digital content but being part of it. It’s a great medium for bringing a new approach, especially to education, games, and interactive applications of different kinds. Unlike other mediums, AR creates an intersection between real life and the digital world, bringing a different layer without blinding us from what’s in front of us.


Snap AR: What’s on the horizon for your creative career?

VSPC: In the short term, I'd love to be more involved in projects that connect art, music, fashion, and entertainment to technology. I’m looking to bring different functional approaches to these fields for different clients and collaborators. In the mid-term, it would be really nice if I could not only create and be involved in good projects but also have space to approach AR in a theoretical way, researching and discussing the role of AR in contemporary society.


Snap AR: What does it mean to be a woman in this field?

VSPC: Being a woman in the AR field is definitely a good challenge. We are building a sense of belonging and embracing other people that identify like us, while also helping to push the limits of AR technology and being part of this chapter of history. Besides that, it's very worthwhile to be a reference for other people and encourage them to start a tech/art career.


Snap AR: What advice would you give to others looking to create their next Lens creation?

VSPC: I would say breathe, respect your own creative time, and try to experiment with the different tools that software provides to us. Let yourself enjoy the excitement of solving creative problems using AR technology. When I started to focus more on the development of a project, instead of the final aesthetics, everything started to flow better and I discovered that I was able to push my own limitations without being stuck in a single pattern of creation. Don’t be shy to ask for advice and allow yourself to collaborate with other creators.

Chakky Kato, Japan

Snap AR: What draws you to AR as opposed to other mediums?

Chakky Kato: One thing that draws me to AR is the quick responses and feedback you can receive from AR users because it can be used anywhere, by anyone with a smartphone. 


Snap AR: What do you love about the creator community?

CK: I love the ease of collaboration with talented artists across the world.


Snap AR: Where do the ideas for your Lenses come from? What inspired them?

CK: Most of the time, my Lenses are connected with my fine art or music. I use materials, objects, and words to highlight specific contrasts and contradictions that I see in Japanese society and culture. I enjoy finding aesthetic forms and ideas in the space that makes up the gray areas in between.

Snap AR: What are you passionate about right now?

CK: I am passionate about using AR Lenses to create more interactive art. Last year, I designed AR Lenses to use along with my sculptures in Japan. Augmented reality lacks “weight,” so I enjoy mixing AR Lenses with my physical sculptures.


Snap AR: How do you think AR can positively affect the world?

CK: AR can positively impact the world since anyone in the world can be a creator and share their dreams and ideas, even those with limited resources. AR can create instant happiness for anyone, regardless of age, wealth, disability, or culture.


Snap AR: What’s on the horizon for your creative career?

CK: In order to make people feel closer to art, I would like to continue making and mixing AR, live performances, CG, and other fine artwork. I’d also like to create a foundation that promotes and supports creators around the world for generations to come.


Snap AR: What does it mean to be a woman in this field?

CK: In Japan, I have not seen as many female AR creators as in the U.S. or Europe. I hope this changes, as Japanese women have their own rich expressiveness and style which could be shared with the world. 


Snap AR: What advice would you give to others looking to create their next Lens creation?

CK: Run with your great idea and don’t worry too much about the details. Also, always keep an eye out for collaborative opportunities!

A huge thanks to these talented women for sharing their time and perspectives with us. You may have noticed that each of them mentioned collaboration and its importance to a career in AR. So as you navigate your own career, don’t forget to ask for help and offer assistance to those around you. Each creator represents a wealth of talent and creativity just waiting to be unleashed.