Bio

I am a UX and Service Designer at IBM's CIO organization and am part of the Business Process Transformation team. In this role, I use my workshop facilitation and user research skills to enable teams to visualize opportunities for improving internal processes and define the vision for more productive workflows. Additionally, I mentor designers in understanding the context of end-to-end, cross-platform experiences. I do my best work at the intersection of discovery, imagination, and creation.

Apart from my role at IBM, I also serve as an advisor for the San Francisco-based startup Hedlyner. Over the past decade, I have worked in design roles at leading technology companies, banking, e-commerce, design consultancies, and my own company.

Before joining IBM, I performed roles such as UX Design Lead for Capital One and Design Lead at the Brazilian e-commerce company Lua. In these companies, I led small design teams or contributed individually.

While relocating from Brazil to the USA, I founded the design studio feelScience, partnering with the cultural organization Fundação Roberto Marinho to develop engaging interactive experiences for the Museum of Portuguese Language. During this fully remote experience, I acted as Designer and project manager, coordinating the developers' work.

My design journey has also involved working with the Mesa Company, a design incubator that collaborates with Fortune 500 companies on complex challenges using an immersive design-sprint approach. In my collaboration with them, I acted as a guest expert on a project for Coca-Cola and as a prototyper/maker for the Brazilian news portal UOL. 

Before transitioning to design, I worked in content and communications. I served as Community Manager for Flickr, Digital Project Manager for the Blue Man Group, and the film production company Mixer. Moreover, I directed the documentary "Sneakers—Stepping into Urban Culture (2008)", which premiered at the São Paulo International Film Festival and in several Brazilian film festivals.

Creative childhood

Enacting a play during middle school

I grew up in a small town in the heart of Brazil called Iporá. Despite the predominance of cowboy culture around me, I was naturally interested in the Arts. After learning how to play by listening to my older sister, I convinced my parents to drop me off from soccer and enroll me in Organ classes. At school, I always found ways to turn my assignment into a play, often convincing my classmates to enact a story I envisioned.

Study and travel

University Of Sao Paulo, where I attended college

Due to my parents' financial struggles, traveling wasn't an option for us. Instead, I focused on education as a way to explore the world. At 13, I moved to the nearest capital, Goiânia, to attend high school. At 17, I was accepted at the University of Sao Paulo (USP) in their Journalism BFA Program. At 21, I went to Paris to study French and did an exchange program in Lyon for a year. At 28, I received a scholarship to attend NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program. Living in these places helped me develop a diverse perspective, resilience, and gratitude for everyone who supported me.

A career plot twist

Change By Design, a book that led me to a new career

Early in my career, a film production company hired me for a content-producing role; however, the third-party firm developing the website for which I was supposed to create content never completed the project. I had to invent my new role. I pitched and led the creation of the company's new website, the intranet, and a website for a TV series. My journalism background gave me the confidence to interview stakeholders and tell them about the vision for these projects. Reading Tim Brown's "Change by Design" helped me articulate my activities and realize that Design was my calling.