Originally from Houston, Texas—I moved to New York in 2008 where I started my career as a visual designer. Working at agencies and freelancing, I learned from incredible folks before shifting my focus to user experience at Pow Interactive in 2013.
I started as a senior designer using GUI photoshop files to create application screens and eventually, shifted to helping companies establish and extend design systems. Since then—I've moved across the country, swapped a few job titles, but continue to work with financial institutions: being a trusted partner and collaborating with them to define and create human-centered experiences for users.
About Monica
Core Values
Be proactive
Be informed
Be flexible
Be transparent
Be kind
and have fun!
Design Things
UI & UX design
Creative & art direction
Design systems
Information architecture
User journeys & flows
Wireframing & prototyping
Visual design & illustration
Responsive design
Feedback sessions
Mentoring
Tools
Figma
Jira
Axure
Areas of Exposure
Goals planning
Asset allocation
Portfolio construction
Private investment modeling
Equity-based compensation
Estate planning
ESG & sustainability
Client management systems
Research tools
Charting / Infographics
Work Experience
2 0 1 3 – C U R R E N T
Pow Interactive, Associate Design Director
NYC to PDX • powinteractive.com
Design enterprise applications—primarily for financial professionals
Own and lead sessions with product, business stakeholders, & technology to share work, brainstorm, and move products and conversations forward
Ensure a strong understanding of product goals, steer UX solutions so they tie back to broader business initiatives
Collaborate with research & business teams to create discussion guides, create low to high fidelity prototypes, and distill & implement user feedback
Partner with product and engineering to move designs into development, using Jira and weekly sessions to stay aligned, plan sprints, and QA
Contribute to design systems. I’ve experienced different stages of design system maturity and evangelized for unified design language & best practices across the platforms I work on
Key clients:
Morgan Stanley, 2014 - 2019, 2022 - Today; Sr. Product Designer
BlackRock: Aladdin, 2019 - 2022; UI/UX Design Lead for Aladdin, AladdinStudio
Annalect, 2013 - 2014, Sr. Designer
2 0 1 2 – 2 0 1 3
CDM Group, Art Director
NYC • cdmny.com
Design, develop and deliver a wide array of collateral within the pharmaceuticals industry
Deliverables include concept and creation of product information kits and material used by doctors and patients with advanced kidney cancer
Collaborated with copy, research, and legal to inform designs & content
Participation in vision and pitches for new business and campaigns
Key clients: Pfizer Oncology, Enbrel, Amgen
2 0 1 2
VaynerMedia, Visual & UI Designer
NYC • vaynermedia.com
Key clients: General Electric, Discovery Channel, Barclays, Campbell's
2 0 1 1 – 2 0 1 3
Freelancer, Visual & UI Designer
NYC
Key clients: Shape Magazine, Men's Fitness
2 0 0 8 – 2 0 1 2
Broadcast Music, Inc., Visual & Print Designer
NYC • bmi.com
