I was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, daughter of two computer engineers and the middle child of two brothers in the business world, I’ve always been the “creative one”. In 2016, I obtained my bachelor’s degree in architecture from Venezuela’s top ranked Universidad Simon Bolivar, with outstanding recognition on my dissertation, “Architecture as a moderator between children and their community; transformable prototype to design schools in rural areas”. I designed a structural and functional prototype based on an easy constructive and rainwater recollection system. Its purpose was to find an alternative solution for the lack of schooling structures, a fundamentally problematic issue in the region. This innovative solution was highly recognized, fueling my interest in social design.
In January 2017, due to the political and economic distress of my home country, I moved to New York City for a short three-month internship at the boutique design firm, J Rich Design, while my brothers moved to Spain and Brazil, and my parents to Colombia. Little did I know, I would remain in the United States indefinitely. My role was quickly converted into a full-time position, where I continued to design residential interiors for another 14 months. In 2018, I earned admission and was offered a fellowship in the Adaptive Reuse graduate program in the Interior Architecture department at RISD.
During my last year at RISD, motivated by my love for my home country and my budding passion for social design, I explored vertical communities and the potential to convert unused high-rise buildings into accessible housing solutions. I was awarded recognition for questioning the role of adaptive reuse in complex urban environments with my thesis project “Ciudad Informal, A New Model for Urban Living”. It also earned a nomination from my department to represent RISD at Antenna by Design Indaba in partnership with Dutch Design Week. During my time at RISD, I was a two-time participant of the INTAR Graduate Biennial Exhibition and INTAR Triennial Exhibition and nominated by the head of the department for the Post-Graduate Teaching Fellowship of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD).
As a master’s student, I served as a graduate researcher and teaching assistant for multiple semesters and spent the summer of 2019 undertaking an internship as a designer with ERE LLC in Minneapolis, which focused on single family residential projects and pro bono community projects. Following graduation in May 2020, I continued to grow as an educator in architectural design. I served in a summer teaching fellowship position at RISD to assist with the first-year grad students summer program, which soon led to a full-time teaching career. The RISD faculty subsequently recommended me to serve as an Adjunct Faculty Professor at Roger Williams University, where I taught 3rd year architecture studio to undergraduate students in the fall semester of 2020. I currently work as an Architect and Interior Designer at Cannon Design, a global architecture, engineering and consulting practice. I serve on the dedicated commercial practice, where I design future-of-work office spaces for technology clients, with the goal of further advancing my skillset and broadening my horizons.