Monica Gomez

Based in Costa Rica

Monica is a multidisciplinary consultant from Costa Rica who works at the intersection of research, sustainability, and design to understand systemic problems and create innovative proposals that provoke social and environmental changes. She obtained an MA in Design for Change from the University of Edinburgh, where she combined learnings from systemic design, gender studies and participatory policy-making. Her dissertation addressed the prevention of domestic abuse against migrant and Muslim women in Scotland through the design of intersectional services and policies. She also graduated from Industrial Design Engineering at the Costa Rica Institute of Technology. Over the past decade, she has gained experience in multiple areas, such as Research and development, Product and Service Design, and Sustainable Innovation. She has worked at diverse organisations and led cross-disciplinary teams, such as Huli, a startup developing technology to transform the healthcare system in Latin America, and Fjord, a multinational innovation consultancy studio where she worked on digital and sustainable transformation strategies. She has also been involved in initiatives to close the gender gap in STEM, such as Mente en Accion, Laboratoria, and +Mujeres in UX, where she has provided mentoring and training to young women starting their careers and women escalating to leadership roles in the tech industry. She founded the consultancy studio BOND in 2021 with the purpose of connecting people to tackle complex problems that require interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration. The projects she has worked on tackle challenges like gender inequality in rural communities, digital violence against women and girls, optimisation of people-centred public services, and sustainable food agriculture. Her goal is to continue bringing design-led methodologies to more organisations and communities in Latin America to address the region’s most pressing challenges through participation, collaboration and inclusion. Monica enjoys exploring new places, food and activities, learning, hiking, running, dancing and crafting.