“The Dropout”, created by Elizabeth Meriwether, is a drama series about the life of Elizabeth Holmes. After dropping out of Stanford, Holmes starts his own company, Theranos, with the intention of revolutionizing the blood testing industry. However, Holmes finds herself full of challenges and becomes the focal point of a big scandal. The series is based on the ABC Audio podcast of the same name by Rebecca Jarvis.
In the series, Holmes acquires funding and decides to hire the best in the business to take his company to the top. Thus, Holmes secures the services of the famous designer Ana Arriola. Since the show draws so much from reality, it’s only natural for viewers to think about the real Ana Arriola. If so, here’s everything you need to know!
Is Ana Arriola based on a real person?
In the third episode of “The Dropout,” Elizabeth Holmes (Amanda Seyfried) meets Ana Arriola, renowned in Silicon Valley for her design prowess in technology. Holmes wants to hire Arriola to help design his new products, which will be compact machines for large-scale blood testing. After meeting with Holmes, Arriola accepts the job and works at Theranos. However, she soon realizes that Holmes is hiding things from her and the board members, leading to discontent. In the series, actress Nicky Endres tries out the role of Ana Arriola. The actress is known for her performances in shows such as “Lucifer,” “One Day at a Time,” and “On the Verge.”
Endres’ character is based on the real Ana Arriola, a transgender woman with extensive experience working with some of the most famous tech companies. Arriola was born in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, and attended school in San Fernando Valley. Shortly after finishing 12th grade, Arriola moved to Japan. After a decade, she returned to the United States and started working at Adobe in 1998. Arriola then joined Apple and was part of the original team that designed the iPhone. Around 2006, Arriola joined Holmes’ startup Theranos and served as chief design architect.
Where is Ana Arriola now?
Just four months after joining Theranos, Arriola became dissatisfied with the direction of the company under Holmes. Additionally, she learned that the unfinished device was being used to treat real patients without undergoing proper regulatory controls. Consequently, Arriola resigned from Theranos after finding his practices unethical. After leaving Theranos, Arriola worked as an executive at companies including Facebook and Samsung.
She then joined Microsoft and served as general manager of the company’s artificial intelligence and research unit. Since 2018, Arriola has been in charge of human and ethical product design at Microsoft. Arriola also spoke about his time at Theranos. She provided sources and ideas for author John Carreyrou’s non-fiction book “Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup” about Holmes and his business practices at Theranos. Arriola has founded two hardware startups and mentors LGBTQ entrepreneurs at Stanford’s D.School. Arriola is also an LGBTQ+ activist and was on Business Insider’s list of the most influential LGBTQ+ people in tech in 2019.
Read more: Where is The Dropout’s Sunny Balwani now?
