When I was seven years old my letter to Santa Claus included a single item – a leopard print dress. My grandmother, a longtime merchant, complimented me on my awareness of fashion trends and we put the letter in the mail. While I did not find any leopard print dresses under the tree that year, it is a moment I often look back on as the start of a lifelong passion for all things fashion, and eventually all things retail.
I studied fashion design in Mexico City and had my work featured in ELLE Magazine before I graduated and moved to New York City – another long-running obsession of mine. I would quickly realize that I was too “left brain” for many creative departments. I tended to be more concerned with sales trends and consumer insights than it was deemed necessary for designers to be at the time. Early on, I pivoted into more technical aspects of the business – working in product development, planning, and merchandising across several product categories. After pursuing an MBA at Columbia Business School, I found my way into consulting, and in early 2020 I joined the Consumer & Retail Group at Alvarez and Marsal.
From hosting client workshops leveraging design thinking frameworks to identify new areas of growth, to ensuring presentation materials bring our findings to life in a visually compelling way, I find myself leveraging design skills and tools in my everyday work today.
The CRG group at A&M is a place where I can leverage my full range of skills to help our clients tackle complex business issues. We are a diverse group of people that recognize the value of different perspectives. From hosting client workshops leveraging design thinking frameworks to identify new areas of growth, to ensuring presentation materials bring our findings to life in a visually compelling way, I find myself leveraging design skills and tools in my everyday work today.
As I look back on the path that brought me to this point in my career, I see a long winding road and I feel very fortunate to be part of a firm that appreciates the value of each individual’s journey. Regardless of the path we each took to get here, as a group we have a shared passion for the retail and consumer space, helping our clients navigate an ever-changing environment, solving complex problems together, and in the immortal words of Project Runway’s Tim Gunn we “make it work”.