Ashley Zingillioglu’s work lives at the intersection of special education, interactive media, and business. She earned her B.A. in English with minors in Computer Science, General Management, and Communication Sciences & Disorders from Monmouth University. Zingillioglu began “Talking with Friends” as an Honors thesis, but has since presented these developments at academic conferences and university business competitions such as the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (MAPACA) in 2024 and the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) in 2025. She advanced her work through NSF Regional I-Corps at Princeton as an Entrepreneurial Lead, where she conducted customer discovery research examining challenges professionals face in special education classrooms.
Zingillioglu is currently pursuing an M.S.Ed in Learning Sciences and Technologies at the University of Pennsylvania. She intends to continue developing her pipeline of educational tools with faculty support and plans to pursue a career in educational technology, combining elements of social entrepreneurship and interdisciplinary research.