As an architect and urban planner, I combine research and design to build collaborations among diverse stakeholders, aiming to improve both our environments and our relationship with them. I bring 16 years of experience leading multisector teams through the full cycle of community-based projects and capacity-building programs.
I enjoy co-creating community-specific solutions in partnership with funders, decision-makers, technical, and local experts. My work has taken me to Jordan and multiple countries in Latin and North America. As a creative, I adapt my medium to each community and context—whether devising a cellphone-based program for disaster survivors in Peru and Puerto Rico, improving public spaces neurodivergent New Yorkers, or creating a 3D model to inform fire-reduction policies in Chile.
In 2013, I co-founded Sustrato, a Mexico-based nonprofit that coaches community leaders as design thinkers, equipping them to turn challenges into local improvements. With Sustrato, neighbors of Barrilaco transformed 30 hectares of a polluted ravine into a birdwatching area; a group in Rinconada Santa Maria built a community center on a city-owned lot; and residents of NYCHA Stapleton improved their gathering spaces.