Hello,
I'm Derek.
I work at the intersection of child rights and responsible technology, helping build digital, social, and AI products that put kids first.
I've spent over two decades building the field of youth safety, often before the industry had a name for it. I was part of the team that sold Togetherville to Disney. I built kids' technology products inside Disney, Facebook, and Yahoo! back when "kids' online safety" was a footnote, and built the child rights and wellbeing by design infrastructure at BeMe Health that became a competitive edge in its acquisition by Hazel Health.
Most tech gets built for kids the way it gets built for everyone, then someone bolts on a safety feature once the lawyers get nervous. I work the other way around. Safety, privacy, and wellbeing aren't checkboxes you add at the end. They're design decisions you make at the start, or you don't really make them at all. The hard part isn't protecting kids from technology. It's building technology that fits how they actually grow, develop, and figure out who they are.
The short version: child trust and safety patents, a Disney Inventor Award, adjunct professor at Pepperdine's Graduate School of Education & Psychology, judge for the Children's & Family Emmy Awards, creator and producer of BeingMe, a two-time Signal Award-winning teen mental health podcast, and author of The Gen Z Frequency (Kogan Page), out in four languages. I've also served on the judging committee for the Children's & Family Emmy Awards (CAFE) and co-authored a report on boys and media for the Children's Media Association (CMA).
When kidtech, edtech, youth behavioral health, and entertainment brands need to build something safe, credible, that actually earns their trust, I'm who they call.
Services
Build it safe from the start
Trust and safety programs, Child Rights by Design, and product architecture that bakes in protection instead of bolting it on. Age-Appropriate Design Code, COPPA, and KOSA compliance, child safeguarding policy, and ethical AI for kids. The work that keeps regulators satisfied and kids actually protected.
Earn trust with young audiences
Youth brand positioning, culture alignment, and the insight to know the difference between talking to kids and talking down to them. For brands that want credibility with a generation that can smell inauthenticity instantly.
Build community kids want to be in
Social and community strategy, creative direction, and program design built for safety and engagement simultaneously. Fan experience, editorial voice, and the operational backbone to run it.
Tell stories that land
Content strategy and production across video, audio, and social, anchored in wellbeing by design. From sponsored content to social impact campaigns, the kind of storytelling that moves a young audience without exploiting it.
Writing and Press
World Economic Forum: Child Safety
The Gen Z Frequency: How Brands Tune In & Build Credibility
Children's Media Association: Expanding Boyhood
BeingMe: A Teen Mental Health Podcast
Brands I've Worked With
Testimonials
Dervala Hanley,
Senior Strategist,
Stone Yamashita Partners
"Derek and I collaborated on an ambitious project for Yahoo. Derek is an extraordinarily able educational media technologist and adviser. He doesn't just observe the ed technology and media space, he lives it—and as a result, he has a deep understanding of how social media is shaping education and youth culture. I recommend Derek highly and would love to work with him again.”
​
Bill Scott, Netflix
“Derek is the most passionate guy I know about the intersection of education, youth, social media, technology & tech for good. Derek & I worked together on Yahoo! Teachers. Totally amazingly really connected in this space with a solid knowledge of what goes on in the space.”
​
Anastasia Goodstein
Founder, Ypulse
“I don't know anyone better versed or connected in the ed tech space who also gets youth media and marketing. Derek is thoughtful, articulate, one of the best partners I've ever worked with on a project.”
Kerry Snyder, Walt Disney Co
“Derek is simply top-notch. He is a superb human being with a powerful mind full of incisive wit and wonder. He cuts through the B.S., harnesses his encyclopedic understanding of a plethora of sectors, and knows the path to follow like few others I've encountered. If you have the chance to work with Derek, jump."
Mandeep Dhillon, Facebook
“Derek is a rare combination of large company experience, independent thinking and deep insight in an area few people understand - children and technology."
Samantha Murphy, Founder, The Highway Girl
“There are many people claiming to know social media and very few who actually understand it inside and out. Derek has a deep understanding of how the Internet plays an integral part in any company. He has an incredibly keen knowledge of how to leverage social media to bring a company its target market."
Tell me what you're building.
If you're making something for kids or teens and you want it safe, credible, and built right from the start, that's the conversation I want to have.
Made in San Francisco, CA