About me.
I've loved creating things since before I can remember. I did my first drawing (that I can recall) at the age of 4. It was the robot from The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Alpha 5. It was horrible. My parents told me it was brilliant. Like the naive child that I was, I told myself “I will draw for the rest of my life.”
Once I got into college, I left behind my desire to make things and picked up a degree in Psychology. Although I hadn't given much thought to becoming a professional psychologist per se, I used the knowledge I acquired to get internships at marketing agencies like BBDO and McCann Group. After graduation, I wanted to do something different, so I went to law school.
While looking through my notes I noticed that there were a lot of tiny sketches all over the place. And so, I started using my legal pads as drawing notebooks. One day, a friend called me up to see if I wanted to help him paint a mural, and I accepted. The thrill of painting again, letting my imagination run wild, was an extraordinary feeling. A couple of months later, I participated in the mural festival Santurce Es Ley. I decided to stop lying to myself and take the opportunity to create again. I haven't looked back since.
I decided that I wanted to “learn the classical way” and studied a year in the Puerto Rico School of Fine Arts to learn “the fundamentals.” With this new set of learned skills and my previous agency work experience, I was able to land the role of Lead Creative Designer at Parallel18. As their Creative Director, I created every aspect of the brand, from color palette, to company tone, logo design, while at the same time working with startups that go through the Parallel18 program with their design needs: UX/UI, branding, personas, tone, etc.
I got to a point where I was teaching the best practices in the field of UX/UI at Codetrotters, while obtaining my Masters in UX: Usability, Interaction Design, and User Experience. After 3 years of working with startups, I felt burnt out and needed something new. I felt that a change of scenery would do me some good. Because, you know, sometimes you need a break from a tropical paradise where it’s 75- to 95-degree weather all year long. But in all seriousness, I felt like a big fish in a little pond. Although I loved it, I wanted more.
The Head of Design of Numerator at the time was visiting Parallel18 at a company retreat and casually told me, “If you ever feel like taking on a new challenge, let me know.” I think I wrote to him that same day. He told me the only “downside” was that I would have to move to Chicago. I had said my goodbyes 2 months later and went to start my new journey in the Windy City. Fast-forward to 2 years later, and I’m still loving the Chicago lifestyle as a UX/UI Designer for Numerator.
Work Experience.
UX/UI Designer
Numerator | Feb 2019 - present
Contributed to the UX/UI design process and strategy for various Numerator products, including newsletters, apps and websites. Work with PMs and engineers to build requirements in order to conduct usability testing, build prototypes, product version iterations that align with organization’s long term goals.
UX/UI | Instructor
Codetrotters | Sep 2018 - present
Instructor in the discipline of UX/UI Design. Planned, organized, and taught in a manner that encourages the development of design thinking, harmonious workflow and user-centered thinking.
Lead Creative
Parallel18 | Nov 2015 - Dec 2018
Built a unique brand and its design system for the first startup accelerator based off of the Caribbean. Crafted the visual identity of the organization and contributed in the definition of the program’s voice along side the communications manager. While growing the P18 brand, I was also tasked with coordinating strategies with participating startups to cater their company’s user experience to their specific market.
Creative Director
Lote23 | Dec 2016-Dec 2017
Contributed to the UX/UI design process and strategy for various Numerator products, including newsletters, apps and websites. Work with PMs and engineers to build requirements in order to conduct usability testing, build prototypes, product version iterations that align with organization’s long term goals.