Our About
designEDengagement, PBC (DE) is a Latina-owned, education consulting firm launched in 2019. The heart of our vision is ensuring that all students have their families, educators, and community members at the table to support their hopes and dreams. We are a national consulting firm that collaborates with leaders to drive culturally responsive program strategy, support the improvement of organizational excellence, assist in cultivating meaningful relationships, and comprehensively evaluate desired impact.
Our Mission
We are bold champions of the pursuit of happiness through antiracism, access, opportunity, and freedom.
⮕ We dream big to revolutionize education.
⮕ We are anchored by empathy and justice.
⮕ We believe in restoring humanity for kids, schools, and communities.
Our Core Team
Our work is supported by an experienced network of consultants and organizations across the country in the collective delivery of human centered solutions meeting each of our clients needs.
PRESIDENT AND CEO
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Marcela is a business and education leader with nearly 20 years of demonstrable success in achieving measurable results. She is a goal-driven leader and recognized change agent in the field of education with a passion for changing how families and educators partner to improve student outcomes. Her experience in underwriting commercial risks, codifying policies and practices to support companies growth and scale, to program development, strategic planning, and leadership development with specialization in programs that support underrepresented students, families, and communities position her to effectively collaborate with colleagues to drive transformational impact.
Marcela holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Saint Edward’s University and a Master of Education with a focus in organizational leadership and community advocacy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Additionally, Marcela is a Six Sigma Yellow Belt and holds a certification in project management from Saint Edward’s University PMP program.
Associate Partner
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Mayra Garcia was born and raised in Dallas, TX. As a first-generation high school and college graduate she first handedly experienced the adversities commonly faced by students with similar backgrounds. As a result, Mayra is now focused on supporting system-level changes in order to help make higher education more obtainable for all regardless of their background and shifting mindsets on the accessibility of high quality education.
Mayra is a graduate from The University of Texas with a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Development and Family Sciences. Her undergraduate research experience within the Social Psychology field focused on prosocial behavior in humans. Passionate for advocating and serving underrepresented populations, Mayra also volunteered to serve communities and schools during her years as an undergraduate and contributed in the creation of events to benefit potential first-generation high school students win scholarships funded through year-long fundraising.
Research Intern
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Fernando was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and moved to Corpus Christi Texas when he was 5. He’s a first-generation American, both of his parents moved from Mexico to the US.
Fernando graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. Currently, Fernando is a second-year bioengineering Ph.D. student at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research is on anti-aging with a focus on muscle and lung regeneration.
Fernando is passionate about making the school system in the US equitable and easily accessible. He would like to support underserved families and communities receive high-quality education and learning opportunities. During his time as an undergraduate student, he volunteered to teach science concepts to elementary school students in the Austin Independent School District and has interned with designEDengagement since January of 2021.
Values
Excellence
Equity
Democracy
Humility
Coherence
Integrity
Core Beliefs
Every life is a masterpiece.
Communities are created by families.
Families are the nucleus and backbones of our communities — the very fabric of our democracy.
Schools are just one part of the larger community ecosystem that support families and students.
Schools are the public institutions where we can deeply and meaningfully engage families.
Leaders at the helm of our public institutions are responsible and need support to create systems of equitable engagement and access for all.
Our Why
parent engagement
family engagement
Our logo embraces the Sigma and Fibonacci symbol as a representation of how we approach our work with partners. The Sigma symbol denotes the technical nature and the Fibonacci symbol the adaptive aspect of our work - both critical to effective research and analysis of designing equitable systems.
