About Me
Hi there! I’m Alexis – strategic designer and researcher, interested in the intersection of design and urban justice. My work focuses on how we can better design our communities and the services that support them to create a more equitable and sustainable future for the people who live in them. I believe co-design and policy reform are critical components of enduring, meaningful change.
I was raised in Austin, TX on a steady diet of breakfast tacos and live music. After completing my undergraduate degree in corporate communications and business, I embarked on an eight-year career in SaaS product marketing, first at a start up and then at a publicly-traded, global Fortune 500 organization. As a Senior Product Marketing Manager at Salesforce, I cultivated a deep understanding of the organization and its products, developing stories, building relationships with senior leaders, and understanding user needs to drive impactful outcomes.
This led me to pursue my MS in Strategic Design at Management at Parsons School of Design (The New School), which has equipped me with the tools to develop inclusive systems and implement them effectively. I’ve had the opportunity to reimagine DEI frameworks with Gensler, examine local housing policy impact through an Urban Colloquium studio, design service blueprints with Brazil-based FICA, and conduct my own research and design intervention into expanding access to housing for NYC’s most at-risk individuals (thesis in progress).
From Left to Right: ULI Homeless to Housed (H2H) station at the ULI Fall Meeting conference; the inaugural ULI H2H Local Technical Assistance Cohort Gathering at Fall Meeting; panelists at the inaugural ULI Homeless to Housed Symposium, hosted during ULI Fall Meeting.
Optimism is core to who I am, and it’s the reason that I look at the world we live in and see boundless opportunity for improvement (instead of a minefield of problems.) I am inspired by complexity and energized by learning.
Perplexed by the seemingly-impenetrable yet worsening social crises I had observed in both Austin and
San Francisco, I wanted to understand the why behind the what, and therefore determine the how: what are the systems compounding social issues like homelessness, why are the systems designed the way they are, and how can we redesign them to work better for the people who experience them?
Most recently, my tenure at the Urban Land Institute (ULI), where I’ve played a pivotal role in building the Homeless to Housed initiative, cemented my passion for addressing complex, community-based challenges. As graduation looms (May 2024), I'm pursuing a career in strategic or service design, specifically focused on urban justice and social impact.
What does it mean to be a strategic designer?
Like theoretical archeologists, strategic designers are experts in uncovering the roots of a challenge. We use ethnography, qualitative, and quantitative research to identify the human, policy, physical, geographical, historical, and technological elements.
Once a system is mapped, we reframe the challenge and use human-centered design tools to identify opportunities for impact. We translate human needs to effective products and services.
My Design Philosophy
My design philosophy centers around: designing with, not for; approaching each challenge with curiosity and a beginner’s mind; gathering insights with empathy; and imagining what could be, working backwards to find a path to possibility.
Wow, you made it far!
Thank You.