Allison Cao

Allison Cao

Product Manager · New York City

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Allison Cao in her NYU soccer jersey
— About —

Hi, I'm Allison Cao

I'm a product manager based in New York City, working on global digital products at Mastercard. I'm endlessly curious about human behavior and how people experience the products they use. I try to bring that curiosity into everything I work on.

My Story

My story.

Two chapters: where I built the foundation, and where I put it to work.

01

Education.

Major: Finance and Data Science

I studied Finance and Data Science at NYU Stern School of Business, and spent those years leading, mentoring, and competing.

Business Analytics Club

President

Progressed from Freshman Liaison to Assistant Director of Mentorship to VP to President.

Led 4 departments and 10+ officers, setting the club's strategy and running weekly programming for 50+ students, including technical workshops and industry speaker events.

4Departments
10+Officers led
50+Students weekly

NYU Women's Soccer

Player

Four years competing at the NCAA Division III level.

On the side I helped develop the team's social media strategy, thinking up creative content to promote the team and grow sports culture at NYU.

Stern Professional Development & Career Education

Tech Mentor

Selected as 1 of 3 mentors from a competitive pool to advise students pursuing tech careers, helping them build career plans and strengthen industry knowledge and professional skills.

Student Athlete Advisory Committee

Study Abroad — Florence, Italy

English Teaching Assistant

Graduation at Madison Square Garden
Graduation at Madison Square Garden
Senior Award Ceremony - Academic Excellence in Technology, Operations & Statistics
Senior Award Ceremony - Academic Excellence in Technology, Operations & Statistics
NYU Soccer Senior Day
NYU Soccer Senior Day
02

Professional

Product · GTM · Strategy

Early-Stage Startups

GTM, Product & Strategy

Worked across 30 Friends, Resprana, and TakeOne, supporting go-to-market strategy, product positioning, and customer research across digital and physical products.

Endless Frontier Labs

Startup Accelerator

Researched trends across Deep Tech, Digital Tech, and Life Sciences and supported startup evaluation and onboarding, including application review and market research.

Now

Mastercard

Global Product Manager · Consumer Acquisition & Engagement

Mastercard

Today, I'm a Global Product Manager at Mastercard, working on the Consumer Acquisition & Engagement team.

My work sits at the intersection of product, technology, and consumer payments, using insights from issuers and their relationships with cardholders to create products that drive acquisition and engagement at scale.

Projects

Things I've built.

Mastercard screenshot

Mastercard

Professional

A global learning platform using gamification to enable sales teams.

Learn more
Resprana screenshot

Resprana

Academic

Go-to-market strategy for an early-stage venture, built during my time at NYU.

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TypeA Travel screenshot 1
TypeA Travel screenshot 2
TypeA Travel screenshot 3

TypeA Travel

Personal

An itinerary builder for trips — inspired by being the self-appointed trip planner.

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Disneyland App screenshot

Disneyland App

Personal

A product strategy for redesigning the Disneyland mobile app to improve the guest experience.

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Personal

Off the clock.

01 · Soccer

A ball at my feet since age 3.

I played competitively with Skills Unlimited Soccer Academy (SUSA) before being recruited to play NCAA Division III at NYU.

These days I play in adult leagues and I coach! I started with co-ed 6 and 7 year olds at South Bronx United and now coach U9 and U10 girls at Manhattan Kickers. It's one of my favorite things I do.

Manhattan Kickers logoManhattan Kickers
South Bronx United logoSouth Bronx United
SUSA logoSUSA
Playing for NYU
Playing at NYU
02 · Dance

My favorite form of creativity.

Dance has been part of my life since I was 5. I grew up doing ballet, tap, and jazz but hip hop was always the one I loved most. Soccer took over for a while and dance took a back seat, but toward the end of college I made a promise to get back to it. I've been taking hip hop classes in NYC ever since and recently picked up tango too, which is a completely different world. Movement has always been how I express myself and dance is the purest version of that.

Me in a hip hop class dancing to Justin Bieber
03 · Fun Facts

A few things about me.

Favorite book

Station Eleven

Emily St. John Mandel made me think about what we hold onto when everything falls apart. I've recommended it to everyone I know.

Favorite movie (at the moment)

Project Hail Mary

Read the book, loved the movie even more. Funnier than I expected and Ryan Gosling was perfect. Science fiction at its best.

Favorite team

Arsenal

I grew up watching matches with my dad, who has been an Arsenal fan his whole life. It was never really a choice — just what we did on weekends.

Favorite food

Chinese

Grew up eating it. Nothing else comes close. Always my first choice and never a bad decision.

Favorite product (at the moment)

Partiful

I love hosting and planning events. Partiful makes it easier and more fun for everyone involved, both the host and the attendee. That's what good product design should do.

Favorite creative project

My High School Parking Spot

Every senior officer gets to paint their spot. Mine was Spotify inspired. One of my favorite things I've ever made.

— Contact —

Let's talk.

Whether it's a product idea, a matcha in the city, a dance class, or a pickup game in the park — I'd love to hear from you.

© 2026 Allison Cao