Brittany Ransom, EDI '25Design Engineer, ComEd & Health Tech Startup Founder (POMwear)
Alumni Interview
Tell us what your current title is and what your role entails.
I am currently a Health Tech Startup Founder and a Design Engineer at ComEd. I am building POMwear, a femtech startup focused on developing wearable technology to support women experiencing menstrual and pelvic pain. At ComEd, I work in design engineering, contributing to the infrastructure and systems that serve communities across the Chicago area.
When you started EDI, did you know what industry you wanted to work in?
When I started at EDI, I actually intended to pursue a career in Architectural Design, which is crazy to look back on now. My goal was to design spaces that improved the quality of life of the individuals they served.Looking back, I think the through-line has always been improving quality of life. Although my career has taken a different direction than I originally expected, that motivation hasn't changed. Today, I get to contribute to the quality of life of everyday Chicagoans through my work at ComEd while also working toward a future where women experiencing menstrual and pelvic pain have better tools and support through POMwear. I've learned that the industry or medium may change, but the purpose behind the work doesn't have to.
Tell us about an EDI course that made an impact on you.
The EDI course that made the biggest impact on me was Introduction to Industrial Design with Michael Saubert during my first Fall Quarter. That's where my startup idea, POMwear, was born. We were challenged to create a wearable that would benefit our day-to-day lives, and on that particular day, my pain was the loudest thing on my mind. Safe to say POMwear has become more than a classroom assignment.
I'd also say Design Strategy was incredibly impactful because it changed how I viewed design in practice. I began to see how products could operate as part of larger systems rather than existing as isolated solutions to individual problems. I know I'll continue applying those strategies as I develop POMwear, particularly in its launch, positioning, and marketing.
What is one lesson you learned during your EDI journey that has stuck with you?
One lesson I learned early at EDI was to embrace the ambiguity of design. Coming from a traditional engineering background, I was trained to approach problems in very black-and-white terms. The gray areas were often something to eliminate. But through EDI, I began to appreciate that the gray is where much of the human experience lives. It's the humanity that connects people, and designing products and tools with that humanity in mind is what makes them meaningful. That mindset has stayed with me, especially as I've navigated building a startup. Entrepreneurship is full of uncertainty, unanswered questions, and operating without a clear roadmap. During those seasons, what grounds me is the singularity of building something for a cause bigger than myself.
What was your EDI thesis project and what inspired you to pursue it?
My EDI thesis project was LIO, a multimodal organizational tool designed to help students better engage with classroom materials, homework, and learning resources.The goal was to address the "Middle School Slump," or the decline in student engagement that can happen during the transition into middle school. I was inspired to pursue this because I had previously mentored middle school students and noticed a significant decline in their personal and academic confidence during those years. There seemed to be a constant internal battle over what to prioritize, both academically and personally. I'd still love to bring LIO to life one day. Education and women's health are two areas that have always had my heart. At that point in my EDI journey, I was already set on pursuing POMwear, so I saw my thesis as the perfect opportunity to explore another area I cared deeply about and apply what I was learning to a different human-centered challenge.
What advice do you have for an EDI student interested in working in your industry?
My advice for anyone interested in working in the startup space is to build loudly. As a founder, it's easy to be afraid that someone will steal your idea. And the truth is, someone will probably have a similar idea at some point. But you, as an individual and as a designer, have a unique perspective and something distinct to offer the world. Let that perspective be the through-line in everything you build. There can be dozens of similar ideas, but there's usually one that comes to mind first when you think of a particular industry or product. What separates a general idea from one that truly resonates with people is often the perspective behind it.
And if someone builds something similar, you'll think of something else. If you fail, you'll learn, adjust, and build again.
Be confident in your path because it's yours. The work you do, the risks you take, and the experiences you collect will shape not only who you become but also the rooms you may find yourself in, even the ones you haven't entered yet.
