andre elijah

worldwide spatial computing experience strategist @ .

in a previous life andre ran an interactive agency and game studio. his work spans vr and ar games, experiential activations, mobile apps, and omnipresent ai experiences. projects range from new york fashion week and fortnite to beyoncé’s “live at roseland” concert film.

rooted in fine arts and new media, he brings creative direction, hands-on engineering, and product strategy to spatial computing. today, that practice continues at apple.

andre splits his time between the bay area and los angeles.

selected work

selected clients

rejected

unbuilt proposals, alternate futures, and ideas worth keeping.

a proposal for bringing dua lipa’s music into a playable fortnite experience. developed following an approach from warner records uk, the concept brought her management and epic games into the conversation. status: unbuilt proposal.

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requested by yeezy's lead app designer, this pitch summarizes a few ways in which the company and ye could enter into the immersive and gaming space to help them sell merchandise/apparel, as well as market the various "vultures" album projects.

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"the gate" is a project that was a conceptual project proposed by virgil abloh prior to his passing. this pitch is a version of that vision to be brought alive inside of fortnite that was presented to virgil's wife by an employee of epic games.

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pitched to the execs and ceo at rocnation and tidal.

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pitched to the execs and jay z's team at rocnation and tidal alongside deadmau5.

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pitched to kia's marketing agency, innocean worldwide.

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pitched to mike winkleman aka beeple.

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pitched to sony playstation after they approached publisher dreadxp for a psvr2 port for a year. as we pitched our vision of a vr version of the game sony cut off all funding for future psvr2 titles as the platform had not been performing as expected.

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pitched to r&r partners - the city of las vegas' agency of record.

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press + mentions

talks + interviews

Revision Path André Elijah 2023
Art School Graduate Podcast The XR Visionary Changing How We See Reality – Andre Elijah 2025
Snap Gamifying Halloween Using AR with Andre Elijah Behind the Lens 2022
The LightTwist Show Episode 3 With Guest Andre Elijah 2023
Mind Meld Podcast Creative Entrepreneurship, Working with Beyoncé, and VR/AR with Andre Elijah 2022
VR World Congress Andre Elijah on Creating Magic 2019
Snap Lens Fest Building the Future of AR with Spectacles 2021
Snap Lens Fest Changing The Lenscape 2020
Niantic Lightship Competition Project Astral 2022
Santa Monica History Museum + Snap Broadway to Freeway Exhibit 2023
Snap Lens Fest Building the Future of AR With Brands Today 2021
Snap Lens Fest Next Gen Creators Building the Future with Snap AR 2021

awards & noms

judging

interactive annual - communication arts magazine 2023

nominated

  • best immersive experience for social impact - raindance immersive 2022
  • best immersive game - raindance immersive 2022

winning

  • best in mapping - niantic lightship winter challenge 2022
  • best headworn device - awe auggies - 2021
  • epic mega grant - epic games 2021
  • riaa gold (standard edition) · riaa platinum (deluxe edition) - riaa 2011
  • interactive media award - applied arts magazine 2005

resume

Profile

  • I am a product strategy and design engineering leader shaping digital shopping and spatial experiences at Apple, with a track record of building a profitable immersive studio and shipping interactive products.
  • My practice spans film, music, games, spatial environments, and digital commerce. I combine creative direction, interaction design, and hands-on engineering to take ideas from visual expression to working products.
  • I lead cross-functional teams and use AI-assisted development to move from research and prototypes through debugging, testing, and review, retaining product judgment and technical accountability.

Highlight

  • Built Andre Elijah Immersive into a profitable AR/VR studio generating multi-million-dollar revenue with approximately 70% average operating margins.
  • Originated and led a Meta-funded Alo Yoga mixed-reality fitness product: secured Alo's participation, won platform funding, built AR/VR curriculum with Alo trainers, and led development; the work produced a published spatial fitness and instruction patent application.
  • Built early spatial health and commerce applications: a Penumbra REAL physiotherapy and rehabilitation game in Unreal Engine on modified Vive Focus devices, and Canada's first VR new-home sales suite, where buyers customized homes before purchase.
  • Shipped VR games and 17 Fortnite music experiences; prototyped for Snap and Qualcomm to inform platform product decisions; owned all Qualcomm Snapdragon Spaces developer samples and documentation.

Experience

Apple Inc. WW Spatial Computing Experience Strategist

Cupertino, CA 2025 - Present

  • Lead strategy for best-in-class digital shopping experiences at Apple, connecting customer needs, emerging technology, and business priorities to shape the future of commerce.
  • Translate strategic opportunities into working experience prototypes to evaluate customer value, test assumptions, and inform new product and experience direction.
  • Combine commerce strategy, spatial computing, and interaction design to explore future customer experiences, balancing usability and technical feasibility.
  • Develop executive narratives, experience principles, and roadmaps that align design, engineering, product marketing, and operations around customer and business priorities.
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Full experience, recognition, education, skills, and tools.

download pdf

Experience, continued

Andre Elijah Immersive Founder & Creative Director

Toronto + Los Angeles 2015 - 2025

  • Built and led a profitable AR/VR studio with multi-million-dollar revenue and approximately 70% average operating margins.
  • Repeatedly identified opportunities, built working prototypes, and used them to win executive support, platform funding, brand partnerships, and commercial engagements.
  • Owned the P&L, opportunity framing, pitching, negotiation, resourcing, technical direction, delivery, and QA across entertainment, health, technology, and commerce partnerships.
  • Originated a mixed-reality fitness opportunity with Alo Yoga; secured the brand's participation contingent on platform funding, pitched Meta and won the budget, developed the AR/VR curriculum with Alo trainers, and led product development.
  • Developed patent-pending IP from that work: 'Systems and Methods for Use of Spatial Computing in Fitness and Instructional Applications' (published application US 2025/0381466).
  • Among the first teams to extend the FDA-cleared Penumbra REAL platform into an Unreal Engine physiotherapy and rehabilitation game/experience running on modified Vive Focus devices.
  • Built Canada's first VR new-home sales suite: an architectural-visualization experience that let prospective buyers customize their homes before purchase.
  • Led 17 Fortnite music experiences for Interscope and Epic Games; artists included Billie Eilish, J. Cole, Kali Uchis, MGK, Willow, and Imagine Dragons.
  • Directed Amid Evil VR and Jupiter & Mars Definitive Edition. Prototyped for Snap and Qualcomm to inform platform product decisions; served as a Snap AR Creator in Residence and owned all Snapdragon Spaces developer samples and documentation.

New Blood Interactive Head of VR

Toronto + Los Angeles 2022 - 2024

  • Directed Amid Evil VR and led VR strategy across New Blood's catalog, balancing fidelity, comfort, performance, and player expectations.
  • At PAX East, moved more than 1,000 attendees through headsets at the New Blood booth and revised demo builds nightly across the long weekend in response to live playtesting.
  • Led business development for Quest, Pico, and Steam releases and opened discussions with Sony and other platform partners about bringing New Blood titles to additional ecosystems.

TRIPP, Inc. Chief Operating Officer (Contract / Interim)

Los Angeles, CA 2023

  • Selected and vetted by the Board to step into an interim executive role during a critical operating period.
  • Strengthened operating cadence across product, engineering, and partnerships; led TRIPP's first strategic meeting with Google, positioning the company as a launch partner for the Android XR announcement.

Vancouver Film School VR + AR Advisory Board

2021 - 2024

  • Advised on curriculum relevance and industry alignment; reviewed immersive work and guided toolchain and portfolio quality.

Earlier Career

Film Production RED Camera Workflow Specialist

2006 - 2011

  • Led on-set and post-production workflows using RED systems, including international documentary work for Radio Television Hong Kong.
  • Led the first-ever 10-camera RED multicam shoot for Beyoncé: Live at Roseland: Elements of 4.

Freelance Interactive Production Artist

2008 - 2015

  • Delivered design, motion, interactive, and digital production across Toronto agencies for Hudson's Bay Company, Coca-Cola, and FIFA World Cup.

Selected Engineering Projects

  • DOOM 3 VR — Apple Vision Pro: Ported the idTech 4 stack to visionOS, built a native stereo renderer, corrected per-eye projection, scissor, compositor alpha, and depth defects, and validated the signed build on physical hardware.
  • Ciderworks — macOS Gaming Platform: Platform engineering for native Mac and Windows Steam games, spanning per-game profiles, Vision Pro presentation, ScreenCaptureKit streaming, Core ML depth-assisted stereo, and recovery logic.
  • Command & Conquer: Generals — Apple Vision Pro: Legacy C++ engine adaptation for arm64 visionOS, with DXVK, MoltenVK, Vulkan, RealityKit, a custom bridge, independent per-eye rendering, and hand-tracked pinch input.
  • Amid Evil VR / Vite Engine: Engine and interaction adaptation for Apple Vision Pro and Mac, spanning immersive VR, desktop presentation, and keyboard, mouse, and gamepad input.
  • Spatial Experience & Moving Image: Compose spatial environments through scale, light, texture, and carefully framed arrival views; connect film and interactive design through a stereoscopic portfolio reel and a website that extends into spatial experiences.

Selected Collaborators & Brands

Beyoncé Deadmau5 Michael Jackson Gigi Hadid Epic Games Interscope Warner Music Columbia Records Paramount NFL Google Snap Niantic Qualcomm AT&T DirecTV Uber Eats Alo Meta HTC Pico Penumbra New Blood Interactive

Recognition

  • RIAA Gold - Beyoncé: Live at Roseland, Standard Edition, 2011
  • RIAA Platinum - Beyoncé: Live at Roseland, Deluxe Edition, 2011
  • Interactive Media Award - Applied Arts Magazine, 2008
  • Epic MegaGrant - Epic Games, 2021
  • Best Headworn Device (Snap Spectacles) - AUGGIE, 2021
  • Best in Mapping - Niantic Lightship Challenge, 2021
  • Nominated — Raindance Immersive, 2022: Best Immersive Game and Best Immersive Experience for Social Impact
  • Judge, Communication Arts Interactive Annual, 2023

Skills

Technical

Spatial Computing Gameplay & Level Design Realtime 3D Rendering & Stereo Pipelines Engine Integration & Porting Hand, Gaze & Pinch Interaction AI-Assisted Engineering Rapid Prototyping Performance, QA & Device Validation

Design

Creative Direction Experience Strategy Interaction & Interface Design Visual & Spatial Design Product Design Game Direction Immersive Experience Design User Research

Business

Founder Operations Business Development Partnerships & Negotiation Strategy & Roadmapping Executive Storytelling Cross-Functional Leadership Brand & Experiential Marketing Retail & Commerce Media Trained

Education • Tools

EDUCATION Ryerson University - BFA, New Media, 2012

ENGINES + SPATIAL Unreal Engine • Unity • Godot • SwiftUI • RealityKit • ARKit • WebGL • Lens Studio • Blender

CREATIVE PRODUCTION Final Cut Pro • DaVinci Resolve • After Effects • Photoshop • Illustrator • Logic Pro • Ableton Live • Sketch

AI + DEVELOPMENT OpenAI Codex • Claude Code • Agent Orchestration • MCP • Xcode • Visual Studio • Git • Perforce

reference

A living index of aesthetic inputs behind the work — images, objects, and ideas that inform the practice.

849 references · preferences stay on this device

voices of vr podcast

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