Hello, I'm
Cecilia Morales
Mentor. Advocate. Educator.
I am design leader that has enjoyed an incredibly fun career of over 20 years.
I have had the opportunity to lead amazing cross functional teams and contribute to the thought leadership to startups, large enterprises within an array of industries such as consulting, finTech, healthcare, techEd, retail and franchising and cloud technology.
About Me
Call me Ceci
I believe design practices and what designers bring into an organization enrich and strengthen other areas.
The presence of design creates diversity, value and relevance in the marketplace just by having design involved in the definition process.
Recent Experience
Highlights
Independent consultant
March 2022 - May 2022
Design project manager and mentor
Design management for consulting projects. Most recently edtech content design for research study to validate hypothesis around Social Studies learning for Grade 2 and 5.
NextCapital - Chicago, IL
2020 - 2022
UX Director
Incorporated UCD framework for product design and established new design ops for Chicago fintech startup achieving transformative team engagement and strengthening client relationships in doing so, aligning everyone around one thing: the user.
Acumen / Salesforce - McLean, VA
2019 - 2020
UX Architect
Helped lead the establishing of UCD into a Salesforce consulting practice by building leadership relationships and understanding diverse groups’ needs. Transformed key client relationship affected by previous challenges using user research and user empathy practices. Advocate for company-wide design thinking and user-centered approach.
Cleversafe / IBM - Chicago, IL
2014 - 2019
Product Design Lead / UX Strategist
Successfully leveraged generative research practices, analytics, UX architecture and IBM’s Design Thinking practice to educate stakeholders of the value of research-driven design by executing product design with a highly strategic approach and curated storytelling.
Circle Imagine - Chicago, IL
2002 - 2014
Executive Design Director
Self-owned consulting practice spanning brand design to complex, highly political digital transformation projects in various industries from edtech, fintech, transportation, health insurance, alternative health, entertainment, automotive, construction, and more. Hired and managed 5 developers, 3 content strategists and 5 designers.
WYNWYN - Chicago, IL
1999 - 2001
Design Director
Established design department for “google local” type start up. hired designers, budgeted and executed design operations as well as design language and executive decks for funding. Hired and managed 3 designers.
INFOSEL / Terra - Monterrey, MX.
1996 - 1999
Creative Director
Started as the second designer at this ISP start-up (think of it as the AOL of Mexico). Established design department for fintech product, then was internally hired as Creative Director of portal products, managing 13 product designers in industries spanning legal services to job seeking boards.
Certifications, awards and
Education
- AIGA Design Mentor Fall 2019 Program
- GD USA American Graphic Design Awards 2012 - 4 awards GD USA
- GD USA American Web Design Awards 2012 - 3 awards
- American Graphic Design Awards 2011 - 7 awards
Universidad de Monterrey, Mexico.
1992 - 1996
Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)
Major in Graphic Design. Thesis in interactive design completing interactive kiosk for international glass and plastics corporateion Vitro.
IDEO U
2019-2020
Creative Leadership
Unlocking Creativity
Cultivating Creative Collaboration
Foundations in Creative Leadership
Storytelling for Influence
Leading for Creativity
IBM
2016 - 2019
Design leadership
Design thinking practitioner badge
IBM
2018 - 2019
AI and data science
