Mother,
design researcher, educator.

Hi, I’m Adriana. I advise inclusive research at SOUR, serve as associate chair of MFA Interaction Design at the School of the Visual Arts, and write about inclusive design for UX Magazine. As part of Consciousness Leaders, I give talks about inclusive design, co-design, and the magic of other qualitative research goodies.

I have 15+ years of experience leading design research that focuses on centering the experiences of historically excluded and underrepresented people for startups, government, non-profits, and corporate clients. Previously, I led research and strategy at Stae, a platform for cities to manage civic data and new mobilities. I was the head of consumer research at littleBits, a STEAM platform for kids and educators to invent their own technology. And most recently, I crafted community experiences at 3x3 and shaped communications, business development, and the urban design practice at Openbox.

I became a researcher because I lived in many places and learned from wonderful people. I grew up spending summers with my family in Caracas and winters in Chinatown in Honolulu. I worked at a women’s prison in Upstate New York, co-designing summer camps with children and their incarcerated mothers. I founded a school for undocumented immigrant families in Providence, Rhode Island. I researched privatized-public spaces in India, China, and the Middle East. I studied politics in a small city outside of Moscow at the time when Putin was first elected.

I hold a BA in History from Brown University and an MSc in City Design and Social Science from the London School of Economics. I am the woman who lived in the Providence Place Mall and made a cute dress out of an IKEA bag.