Cities, emojis, tech, language, data, maps, pussies, and other semi-related topics.
My projects have been covered by The New York Times en Español, The Washington Post's The Lily, New York Magazine Approval Matrix, Glam, The Today Show, Dame, Buzzfeed, CityLab, Next City, PBS, Vice-ID, Digg, Curbed, eleven major publications in France, Fast Company (here, here, and here), The New Yorker, and more.
They have also won a Webby, a 1st place at the Mexican National Design Biennale, and a Bronze Kantar Information is Beautiful Award.
My Substack, How to Have Fun in the Apocalypse is a Substack Bestseller. My book Pussypedia: A Comprehensive Guide received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly and praise from Roxane Gay, reached #1 in its category on Amazon, and was translated into 5 languages. My writing has appeared in Los Angeles Review of Books, The Washington Post, Slate, WIRED, Print Magazine, Next City, Hyperallergic, Fast Company, Yahoo Travel, the LA Times, in the essay collection, You are Here: Mapping the Soul of the City, and elsewhere. My research has appeared in the New York Times, This American Life, and Quartz.
I've helped clients like Airbnb, FREE THE WORK, DoorDash, RollingStone.com, the Mexico City Government's Laboratorio para la Ciudad, the Art Institute of Chicago, the AARP / Association of Young Americans, and many others organize, package, and present information.
I've worked with many agencies in creative capacities including: creative director, strategist, and copywriter. I've conducted market research, jammed on earned media strategies, conducted workshops, and concepted social campaigns. Client highlights include: Google (B-Reel), Facebook, Pinterest, 23andMe, Atlassian (Strike Anywhere), Apple TV+, (Hyphenated), Frito-Lay (Vocabulary), Netflix, Airbnb, Skype, Samsung (Cash Studios), MetLife, Pepsi (Sparks & Honey), Kuai (72andSunny).
I've spoken and given workshops at conferences, festivals, corporate headquarters, and universities in English and in Spanish on topics from the word "vagina," to the similarities between cities and emojis, to potential uses of data visualization to facilitate community collaboration. Here’s my TEDx talk about shame (it’s in Spanish). Here’s a live interview with Radiolab’s Molly Webster at Pioneerworks, which I kicked off by inviting the audience to unbutton their pants with me. Here’s a keynote talk at What Design Can Do, Amsterdam, 2022 where I talked about humping door frames as a child and using design thinking as a(n adult) writer.
In 2021, Quién Magazine included María Conejo and I on a list of 50 People Changing Mexico for our work on Pussypedia. I’ve been living in Mexico for a decade. The idea that I’ve contributed something made me feel very good.
You can learn more about me on my Instagram Account or in this Design Matters with Debbie Millman interview.
Education:
Barnard College of Columbia University, NYC
B.A. in Urban Studies
Also:
Sparks and Honey, NYC
Influencer Advisory Board since 2014
