DV Faces: Alex Briñas, Senior Communication Designer, New York
“Being at DV has pushed me to be more assertive with my decisions and boundaries, advocate for my team to larger audiences, and have more creative confidence in the work I produce.”
Meet the world-class talent building the game-changing businesses of the future. At BCG Digital Ventures, we’re shaping tomorrow one game-changing venture at a time. From ideation to testing and launch, building game-changing businesses from the ground up takes a spectrum of different skills, a variety of expertise, and, of course, a lot of collaboration.
That’s where our talent comes in. BCGDV is home to a diverse community of high-caliber talent hailing from some of the most exciting companies around the world. Each of our multidisciplinary experts brings a wealth of knowledge and career experience, along with a unique perspective to each of our builds. Together, they’re creating innovative solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges.
Our talent makes BCG Digital Ventures what it is today. In this series, we speak to our unique talents about their exciting career journeys, their unique BCGDV experiences, and why they’re passionate about creating the businesses that are changing the world.
BCGDV: Tell us about your unique background and journey that led you to BCGDV.
A: My journey so far has quite a few twists and turns. Although I started out in physical product design, over the past several years, I’ve worked in a variety of creative fields and industries, including: designing packaging and tools for a tea brand; creating maker spaces and student programming at a school in Japan; and producing branding for a community health nonprofit, to name a few. I never found myself specializing deeply in one particular type of design, but my mixed background ended up being a natural fit for my role at Digital Ventures.
BCGDV: Briefly describe your role and cohort at BCGDV.
A: I’m a designer on Digital Ventures’ NAMR Communication Design team, a small squad of creatives that sit under the Operations umbrella. I like to think of my team as Digital Ventures’ in-house creative agency. We help venture teams bring their ideas and stories to life and get to touch a vast array of projects and work with DVers across cohorts, which is part of what makes our team unique.
BCGDV: Why did you choose a career at Digital Ventures?
A: For most of my career, I’d gravitated towards startups or organizations that were either very new, very lean, or very fast-paced, and the changemaker ethos of Digital Ventures aligned pretty well with my mindset and path. I also knew that both Digital Ventures and BCG value inclusion and diversity, so it was affirming to know that there’d be communities around my identity that I could tap into and support for things like LGBTQ+ family planning, if I wanted to pursue it in the future.
BCGDV: Are you a member or ally of any of BCGDV’s Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), such as DV Pride, Latinx, BEN? If so, please share your experience with the program.
A: I recently became a co-lead for DV Pride and have helped organize events to socialize, inform, and support local communities. In the greater BCG Pride network, I also co-started a subgroup for LGBTQ+ people of color (QPOC Pride) to connect and share experiences. And I’ve participated in events and programs held by APN and Womxn. I’ve actually never been part of a workplace that was large or intentional enough about DEI to have groups like these, so it’s been refreshing and affirming to connect with people with similar identities in the workplace. There’s certainly still room for change and improvement, but Digital Ventures and BCG are both pretty conscious of this and both have shown intention to address areas for growth.
BCGDV: Throughout your career at BCGDV, how have you grown and developed both personally and professionally?
A: Since working at Digital Ventures, I’ve learned to let go of some of the doubts I carry about being a designer. On the whole, being at DV has pushed me to be more assertive with my decisions and boundaries, advocate for my team to larger audiences, and have more creative confidence in the work I produce.
BCGDV: Tell us about a mentor or colleague at BCGDV who has influenced your career.
A: One person who comes to mind is Gary Forsyth, Production Manager for my team. Gary has influenced not only my growth, but also the way I think about leadership. From the moment I joined Digital Ventures, he has pushed me to take ownership of my projects and has given me space to take initiative. The designers on our team all have different backgrounds, skills, and interests, and Gary recognizes this and uplifts our uniqueness. He’s also encouraged me to craft my own future, including supporting my decision to take classes around EISJ (Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice) in design to expand my creative practice. Speaking to the rest of my team, I also just feel lucky to work alongside and collaborate with a group of clever, talented, down-to-earth people. I’ve learned something from each of them and working with them motivates me to keep growing.
To learn more about Operations roles at BCG Digital Ventures, visit our Cohort page.
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