show me the magic . . .

COLOMBIAN CREATIONS

tinto y sol

Explore how a passion for Colombian craftsmanship led to the creation of TINTO y SOL, a subscription box service aimed at supporting local artisans. Learn about the project's origins, its mission to connect creators with socially conscious consumers, and the heartfelt story behind its evolution.

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Cooper Hewitt,

Smithsonian Design Museum

EDUCATION

Explore my partnership with the Cooper Hewitt, from mentoring at the Design Career Fair to guiding finalists in the National High School Design Competition, recording a teen program interview, and celebrating design at the 25th Anniversary National Design Awards Gala.

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Designing Your

Phygital World

TEACHING | University of Illinois

Discover how I co-designed and taught a 16-week honors course that bridged the physical and digital. Students explored interaction design, rapid prototyping, agile methods, and humanity-centered design to create solutions tackling societal challenges.
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Wyndham Hotels

Agentic AI Transformation

INNOVATION

Learn how I led design and engagement for Wyndham’s AI transformation, cutting 30-day workflows down to hours. Our team created a scalable, intelligent platform that unified global brand standards, improved franchisee experience, and reduced review times by 94%.

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Mammography

Empathetic AI Agent

HEALTHCARE

See how our team prototyped an AI assistant to reduce barriers to mammogram screenings. Designed to educate, reassure, and support women across languages and systems, the demo showed how AI can serve as a compassionate companion in preventive care.

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Designed

to Feel

MEMOIR

Explore my first book — a memoir and manifesto blending decades of journaling with AI collaboration. Written as a promise to my grandfather, Designed to Feel invites readers to design lives rooted in memory, belonging, and resilience.

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1st year

course

WOMEN IN ENGINEERING

Discover the First-Year Program for Women in Engineering at Grainger. Designed to help new students build supportive connections, this program connects women with a robust system of people, resources, opportunities, and strategies to facilitate their path to success and wellness.

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agave

run club

WELLNESS COMMUNITY

The Agave brand and community is a carefully designed vibrant, inclusive space where individuals unite through their love for wellness and running. It's a place to connect, support, and empower one another on a journey towards better health and fitness.

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  • “The speed, agility and morale Mariana brought to the team helped us deliver on time and within budget - positioning us well for the next phase of the work at this client. The field team leadership has responded with high degree of confidence and excited to see this new experience delivered soon.”

    Firm Director | Financial Services Client

  • "Mariana's natural ability to connect with people allowed our new hires to feel right at ease on day one. Multiple people called out how insightful she was and how her leadership inspired / excited them for working at the firm. "

    Firm Director | Life Sciences Client

  • "Mariana brings a unique set skills to the table as an engagement manager. As a champion for the end user, Mariana is able to bring her design background, functional skills, and growing technical knowledge to the table to deliver distinctive outcomes. Her collaborative approach helps foster deep relationships with both the client and the internal team. In addition, her skills are invaluable in helping to frame out opportunities during the sales process in order to gain alignment and drive excitement with the client.”

    Firm Partner | Hospitality Client

  • "Mariana developed into the 'go-to' person at [Client]; she anticipates needs, coaches the team, drives her own work, and manages difficult clients. Mariana has both vision and technical acumen to see it through - coupled with her people skills these are not attributes I would expect from a new senior associate.”

    Firm Manager | Hospitality Client

  • “Mariana took on the design lead role for five Salesforce solutions within a global team, often with multiple timeline overlaps. She was expertly able to juggle these tracks & deliver thoughtful design solutions that were SF compatible, while raising the bar of excellence for both visual and user experience.”

    Firm Director | Solution Accelerator Team

  • "Making it way easier for our team to get certified. Mariana has also helped with materials to help accelerate our ability to create proposals and also to help us communicate the skills we have and the value we deliver to the rest of the Salesforce team members."

    Firm Partner | Salesforce Training

  • "Mariana volunteered to help our team conduct a review of a pediatric healthcare mobile app for linguistic accuracy, as the app supports both English + Spanish. Mariana's feedback was prompt, thorough and well documented. "

    Fim Manager | Healthcare Client

  • “M’s work was exceptional. She was onsite at all the properties. Developed deep relationship with all the users and stakeholders. Oversaw /managed the work for requirements, user stories, process flows, demos, usability tests, change management, collaboration with dev team and managing expectations.”

    Firm Partner | Hospitality Client

  • “Mariana worked across leaders from the practice to help deliver the Dreamforce assets on time - requiring a lot of coordination going over and above her project/client commitments as well as reinvest initiatives.”

    Firm Director | Dreamforce Asset Creation

  • "Mariana was added in-flight to the project and immediately made an impact to our delivery pace, client-facing outcome and communications. She's highly proficient in her UI/UX skills and articulate well to both clients and project teams on the proposed experience and considerations."

    Frim Director | Financial Services Client

  • “Mariana's unique human-led design skills combined with her knowledge of Salesforce provides a potent combination for delivering innovative solutions for our clients. These skills help our clients re-imagine the future state, accelerating the requirements gather process and reducing rework at later stages. In addition Mariana is an excellent coach & mentor, upskilling new resources both in consulting & design skills, helping them to quickly make an impact.”

    Senior Manager | Hospitality Client

  • “Mariana stepped in and immediately delivered high quality designs in a tight timeline. She did so while collaborating with and upskilling a new hire associate, empowering them to co-deliver and co-present on many opportunities. Mariana's deliverables were remarked as top in industry amongst both the client's c-suite executives and the Salesforce account team.”

    Firm Partner | Hospitality Client