After spending 8 years at Google, I left the company in 2018 to launch my independent practice, Sandra By Design. My mission is to empower individuals to catalyze change and drive positive impact in the world by harnessing the full power of diversity, inclusivity and creativity with and by design.
I draw on a decade of experience in human-centered innovation and digital transformation, training in the social sciences and design strategy, and lived experience across different cultures, countries and languages.
My undergraduate studies in identity politics, anthropology and American & French civilization at Brown University have given me a critical understanding of intercultural relations and historical and systemic inequities across the lines of race, gender, class and sexual orientation.
During my postgraduate studies in design strategy at Ensci-Les Ateliers, I explored the nuances of intercultural design and research in the humanitarian sector through field work with the French NGO, Libraries without Borders, and in my master’s thesis, Design without Boundaries.
My experiences at the heart of the tech industry equipped me with the ability to experiment and scale, to embrace agility and to dive head first into complexity and ambiguity.
Through core roles and side projects that took me all over the world, I worked in a very fast-paced, innovative environment alongside product managers, marketing experts and learning designers.
Throughout my entire career, I’ve woven a design sensibility and an obsession for seamless user experiences into my deliverables, trainings and workshops.
My passion for artistic and creativity stems from childhood – at age 9, I started teaching myself how to paint, draw, design graphics and build websites. I spent years working as a freelance web designer in high school and university and brushed up on my typography skills at the MassArt Design School in Boston in 2013.
Today, I run a pet portrait design business – One of a Pet – as a passion project on the side.
