As a 2024 fellow I am engaged in a year-long immersive experience exposing the operations and partnerships required to run the City of New York. Through engagement with elected officials, leaders and operators in the public, private and non-profit sector I am learning the civic leadership skills and developing the network to effect change in the largest and most powerful US city.

Venture Partner on the Capital One Growth Ventures Team amplifying innovation value from the startup ecosystem to Capital One

General Manager of the Enterprise Innovation Lab, managing a team of product managers, strategists, designers and operations folks in deep partnership with technology, legal and risk to generate the next generation financial products, platforms and internal software. Advisor for Innovation investments across the company including: E-commerce, Blockchain, Crypto Currencies + NFTs, Associate Productivity + New Consumer Experience Design.General Manager of the Merchant Insights and Identity platform making credit and debit card transaction information clear, insightful and useful to customers and the business. Accountable Executive for Hispanics in Technology and member of our Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Executive Council ensuring we support our Latinx employees in development, mentorship and sponsorship to make the Tech industry more representative and inclusive for all.

Head of Product and Design for the Enterprise Innovation Lab, responsible for all hiring, developing the product and design practice and Product lead for all Payments/E-commerce projects. Lead of the Enterprise Mentorship program providing a structured group mentorship program to designers, product managers, strategists, and business analysts with quantifiable results in driving higher performance, promotion and inclusion rating for participants.

Lead of the Enterprise Design Strategy team working to define new opportunities soup to nuts for consumer banking experiences, e-commerce and associate experience. Focus on early stage research, opportunity mapping, ideation, prototyping, pilot launch + product evaluation.

First Design Strategists hired by Capital One to help define the Human Centered design approach for the company. Built and taught Design Thinking curriculum which trained thousands of employees setting the tone for the modern design and product management discipline. Advised senior executives in how to manage the change and support modern product development.

Coached executives in the Executive Education program in the fundamentals of Design Thinking to bring innovation to their respective organizations.Teaching team member providing lessons to 40-100 executives and provided direct coaching to 5-8 person teams of executive students. Content including: Human Centered Design, Empathic Research, Problem Definition, Ideation, Rapid Prototyping & User Testing.Coached teams and executives on how to storytell and sell their learnings, problem spaces and product/business ideas into their organizations.

Advisor on strategy, marketing and sales.

Developed and launched a cooking company based on my masters thesis asking the question "what if we could highlight the immense skills and cultural richness which immigrant women bring to the US?" Built the core cooking class and cooking kit product from deep user research securing us initial seed funding and early customers. Was responsible for:- Developing a product and brand that spoke to need for adventure, knowledge, comfort and desire for authentic stories from real people around food. - Launching our web and social presence- Transitioning the company from a single product of in person cooking classes to a multi product cooking kit offering. Took the second product from launch to sale in over 40 states in less than 7 months. - Securing seed funding from the Stanford Bases Social Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competition, Angel investors and 500 Startups Accelerator program- Securing partnerships and distribution form Whole Foods and FAB.com- Securing press coverage from Forbes online, Univision TV, Tasting Table, Fast Company, NBC Local TV and NBC Latino Online.

Assisted undergraduate and graduate students of the Mechanical engineering & Art department execute on their design projects. Specifically working to flesh out the concepts of their work then to discover ways to bring their concepts to life. Utilized the Design Thinking process, Ethnographic Research, User Experience testing, as well as CAD software and soft good production processes, woodworking and machining.

Worked with the housewares, decorative accessories and bed and bath team to develop designs for Fall and Holiday 2010 collections.

Conducted the initial ethnographic research for a smartphone application in a research project for the National Institute of Health. Specifically targeting elderly adults with highly sedentary lifestyles for whom exercise would be critical in their continued health. Worked with elderly care centers in english and spanish to conduct user research to unpack exercise habits of the elderly, then working with a partner developed a slue of games and programs using behavior change methodology. Final user interface was selected after 3 months of pre-development testing to be brought to life as application on the Nexus One phone for the medical research study.

Served as a liaison and advocate for the students between the marketing and outreach departments, and director. Conducted ethnographic research on the undergraduate students both participating in the art programs and not. Helped review and collect the first major survey on Arts behaviors and sentiments on a college campus. Used grassroots techniques to get survey partipants and draw awareness to the interest the University was having in arts participation of the students. Directed an undergraduate arts organization to increase visibility of the Hopkins Center to student body, in turn increasing participation in arts programs and programming. Worked with the students to create additional programing in alternative venues, created the marketing collateral and secured the funding to take Art outside of the institution and into the lives of students.Created the first social media for the Hopkins Center focused on the student body and ways to increase their engagement with the institution. The work I began has continued now and serves as a main information route for students and community patrons.Served on the initial committee imagining the 50 year anniversary of the Hopkins Center, with a focus on student participation.

Created a collection of jewelry, a series of small metal sculpture for display, followed by a lecture on the work.Instructed students in basic and advanced metalsmithing techniques. Created a series of design and fabrication workshops. Supervised a staff of 15 student employees, managed the studio in the absence of the director, and lead marketing efforts increasing student participation for the 2008-2009 academic year.