Lea Verou

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States Contact Info
3K followers 500+ connections

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About

I’m passionate about making products that give people creative superpowers. This includes…

Activity

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Experience & Education

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

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Licenses & Certifications

Publications

Projects

  • PrismJS (0→1)

    Impact:
    ‣ Used all over the Web, including top tech websites like like Mozilla Developer Network, Google’s web.dev, Sitepoint, Smashing Magazine, A List Apart, CSS Tricks and many others.
    ‣ Over 1 billion cumulative npm downloads, ~9M/week.
    ‣ Over 11K stars on Github
    ‣ Ecosystem: 3.6k dependent projects, 1.6k merged PRs

    Description:

    Zero-config, lightweight, modular syntax highlighting library with pioneering DX and aesthetics. Easy to extend with minimal JS…

    Impact:
    ‣ Used all over the Web, including top tech websites like like Mozilla Developer Network, Google’s web.dev, Sitepoint, Smashing Magazine, A List Apart, CSS Tricks and many others.
    ‣ Over 1 billion cumulative npm downloads, ~9M/week.
    ‣ Over 11K stars on Github
    ‣ Ecosystem: 3.6k dependent projects, 1.6k merged PRs

    Description:

    Zero-config, lightweight, modular syntax highlighting library with pioneering DX and aesthetics. Easy to extend with minimal JS knowledge, giving rise to a blooming ecosystem of language definitions, plugins, wrappers, etc.

    I designed, built, and launched the product, and gradually assumed a more advisory/leadership role in later years as it attracted a skilled grassroots team of 5 core maintainers.

    Other creators

  • Design for the Web: Languages and User Interfaces (0→1, MIT EECS course)

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    ‣ Co-created “Design for the Web: Languages and User Interfaces”, a pioneering course combining UI design and Web technologies offered to CS undergrads as an elective.
    ‣ Co-taught it 3 times (Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023)
    ‣ Course was recently adopted as a permanent MIT subject, under number 6.4500, and will be taught every 2 years.

    Other creators

  • State of CSS 2022

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    ‣ Client: Google
    ‣ Led the 4th iteration of the biggest CSS developer annual survey.
    ‣ Solicited input and needs from various stakeholders both within Google, and from the developer community.
    ‣ Pioneered a co-design process to facilitate community input into survey design, which improved awareness resulting in a response rate 64% higher than the previous year (2021) and even 58% higher than the year after, 2023.

  • Dabblet (0→1)

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    Innovative HTML & CSS sandbox.
    ‣ Pioneered a JAMStack architecture before the term was coined.
    ‣ Its previewers predated similar features in today's editors by several years.
    ‣ Launch buzz by Wired.com, TNW, CSS-Tricks, Smashing Magazine
    ‣ Adoption: ~90k visitors/month (2013), ~50k/month (2014-2018)

  • MyCat.gr (0→1, Greece)

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    Curated reviews of cat products, articles on cat health, and online community of cat owners.
    ‣ A local market segmentation still cited as pioneering for its time.

    Other creators

  • e-steki.gr (0→1, Greece)

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    ‣ An online community that was a safe space for sensitive discussions, through a combination of UI innovation and an extensive CoC, enforced through strict moderation.
    ‣ 0→1, Fresset’s flagship product.
    ‣ User base of 80k users (0.75% of the country’s population)
    ‣ ~500k visits and ~2.5M pageviews/month.

    Other creators

Honors & Awards

  • Thomas G. Stockam Fellowship Award

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology

    Awarded for “excellence in teaching and mentoring undergraduate or graduate students”.

  • George and Marie Vergottis Fellowship Award

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology

    Selected among all applicants of Greek descent across all MIT departments.

  • Paris Kanellakis Fellowship Award

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology

    Selected among all incoming EECS graduate students of Greek descent.

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