About

Hi! I’m Marcy Carbajal, a strategic research and design leader with nearly two decades of experience helping organizations focus on the right opportunities, create products and services that address genuine customer needs, and empower their teams in the process.

My academic training spans ethnography and cognitive science (linguistics), and I have additional certifications in interaction design, service design, art direction, product management, and digital accessibility.

As a practitioner, my core strengths are systems thinking and strategy—plus principal-level skills in both research and design. I use a broad range of methods to help leaders and teams focus on the right areas to deliver value. I’m skilled at diagnosing root problems, discovering patterns, pinpointing opportunities, modeling and prototyping possibilities, and setting teams up for success.

As a leader, I’m collaborative and cross-functional. I believe in establishing a clear vision and outcomes to help teams do their best work. In my career, I’ve built practices, led both junior and senior staff, and advised executive teams. I take great joy in developing talent, and my personal mission is to help diversify the research and design fields by creating opportunities for growth.

Praise

“Marcy has the unique ability to approach complex problems with an incredible amount of clarity and thoughtfulness. I was part of a large team trying to overhaul software for a Fortune 100 company when Marcy joined our team as a design strategist.

She immediately went to work helping us answer the big questions we struggled to answer ourselves. She empowers design teams to advocate for the best possible user experience, and she does so with the skills of a talented practitioner and the 10,000-foot point-of-view of a seasoned strategist.

What’s unique about Marcy is her ability to switch gears on a moment’s notice and to handle whatever challenge is tossed her way. I’ve witnessed her interact with business, technology, and other design partners within the organization, and she’s able to have intelligent, knowledgeable, and influential conversations with all interested parties.

In addition to being a uniquely talented strategist, Marcy’s a great person to work with! She’s constantly helping those around her improve as designers. I’ve rarely worked with someone as intelligent and as genuine as Marcy!”

— Jon Tinman, Associate Director of Experience Design, Bounteous

Experience

Industries

Educational technology, enterprise systems and employee tech, SaaS products, financial technology (fintech), travel, retail, higher ed, nonprofits and social innovation, green communities

clients and teams

REI • Discover • United Airlines • UnitedHealthcare • Walgreens • Bedford/St. Martin’s • DLI Language Institute • Dynos.io • Houghton Mifflin Harcourt • Inlingua • Macmillan Learning • National Geographic Learning • Thinkful • Tutor.com • Adelante • Center for Humans and Nature • Forest Preserves of Cook County • St. Edward’s University • Tec de Monterrey • University of Chicago + more

Education and Professional Development

UNIVERSITY

M.A., Applied Linguistics, with distinction (covering cognitive sciences, ethnography)
B.A., International Studies, summa cum laude and valedictorian

Certification

Web Accessibility Professional, University of South Australia
Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Scrum Alliance
Applied Interaction Design, ADMCI
Courses in Design Communication Arts (Art Direction), UCLAx
LEGO Serious Play (Facilitation), Strategic Play