Hi! Hola! Salut! Marhaba!

 

Having grown up between Puerto Rico and Lebanon, the interplay of languages, art, and culture has shaped the way I listen to and discover the world. In this ongoing journey, I’m continually inspired by how people connect and the stories they have to tell, which is how I’ve landed here, today!

 

I am an interdisciplinary designer and social innovation strategist with 8+ years of experience leading co-design processes and advancing social impact initiatives. I believe meaningful change occurs when co-creation is embedded in how organizations define goals, make decisions, and invest in sustainable solutions.

 

Through participatory research and development, I help connect people and organizations from across disciplines with opportunity. I show up as a strategic partner, committed to synthesizing complexity and aligning vision with action. 

 

My work is grounded on community-centered design and systems thinking, key enablers for innovative social change and ecosystem development. From designing and implementing NASA’s Space Apps Collective to building a strategic engagement framework and facilitating co-design workshops for Puerto Rico’s reconstruction after Hurricane Maria, I actively apply my design, research, and facilitation skills across diverse contexts. In every engagement, I aim to curate experiences that empower communities to exchange knowledge, collaborate, and build shared visions of the future.

 

My work has spanned Puerto Rico, Lebanon, Mexico, the United States, China, and other parts of Latin America, where I’ve partnered with private organizations, nonprofits, governments, and academic institutions to co-design strategies that are locally grounded, yet globally informed.

 

I’m currently exploring the intersection of Middle Eastern perfumery, storytelling, and identity. Through this research and my recent reconnection with ceramics, I’ve found a sensory playground that expands my design practice and poses new curiosities about how culture is expressed and what experience design can be.

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- Cristina Fawaz López