In which we share exciting news about O/M’s growth.

If you’ve been following our updates elsewhere, you probably know that O/M has grown considerably over the last few months. We’ve been carefully expanding our team in an effort to advance our vision to create a world that is accessible and beneficial to all by using design as a tool for bettering people’s lives.

At O/M, we feel strongly about ensuring that our hiring practices are equitable and that our compensation standards are similarly unbiased. We’re proud that, even as a small business, we’re able to follow through on these commitments to our values and people. This isn’t just talk for us, it’s core to who we are and what we do.

We’re thrilled about the new folx that have joined our small but mighty team this year and thought we’d take a moment to introduce the new faces at O/M.

Yasmeen Famy (she/her)

Yasmeen joins O/M as a Project Manager focused on running healthy projects and ensuring our folx have the space, resources, and direction to do their best work.

Yasmeen brings both theory and practical experience to the role with 5+ years of experience managing complex projects in the arts, education and nonprofit spaces and her most recent role at a creative studio. In addition, she studied project management theory at the NYU School of Professional Studies and is PMP® certified.

Yasmeen believes listening and empathy are central to making collaborative efforts successful and enjoys energizing teams with humor, synthesizing ideas, eliminating barriers, and giving actionable feedback in a way that excites a team.

As a third culture kid raised by an immigrant parent relying on government assistance and affordable housing, Yasmeen understands the challenges faced by marginalized groups and is focused on centering, nurturing, and celebrating previously excluded voices, specifically those in the SWANA diaspora.

She loves hiking, gardening, drinking tea, and creating Kufi calligraphy pieces alongside her partner and cat in Lambertville, NJ.

Mika Albornoz (he/him)

Mika, (pronouced “meekah”) joins us from Minneapolis, MN as Senior Product Designer.

Mika is a Venezuelan creative director and designer who immigrated to the United States at 18. He graduated the Minneapolis College of Art & Design in 2014 earning a BFA in web + multimedia environments with a focus on graphic design.

Mika specializes in a variety of creative work from UX/UI, interactive, exhibition, branding, print, book, & interior design. He has worked as a designer & creative director at 2x4, Rumors, the Walker Art Center, Foundry, Fallon, Children’s Theatre Company, & Backroom Caracas.

His personal work in print, digital and installation spaces has explored topics of self-discovery, nationality, the lasting trauma of the US immigration process on people impacted by it, and the interplay of that experience with trans identity.

In addition to his full-time work as a senior product designer, Mika maintains a personal design practice focused on a variety of creative projects working with non-profits, small businesses, and arts institutions. In 2020, Mika drew from his love of interiors and architecture to start his own online interior design service, Gael, with his mother Magalys, a former engineer.

He’s passionate about FC Barcelona, chairs, childhood friends, the color red, and his dog Hunter, who is named after Hunter Schafer.

Abbie Grueskin (she/her)

Abbie is excited to join the O/M team as a Product Designer to engage in an empathetic, collaborative design process that results in clever and creative solutions.

She brings a background in multidisciplinary design to her role, developing and executing design strategies and solutions for clients ranging from restaurants groups to tech startups, nonprofit organizations, investment funds, healthcare companies, enterprise SaaS solutions, and professional service providers. Past clients and collaborators include: GoodRx, Google, IDEO, MASS Design Group, New York Times, Selfridges, Snapchat, and more.

Abbie is passionate about using her design powers for good — solving problems to improve lives, equity, access, justice, amplifying marginalized voices, etc. To put it simply: making things people want > making people want things.

Abbie recently moved back to Denver, Colorado after 10 years on the east coast in Connecticut and New York. She loves discovering new hiking trails, attending Rockies games, going to pilates, listening to womxn-led comedy podcasts, trying new restaurants and recipes, and petting all the dogs.

Lily Chen (she/her)

Lily is thrilled to join the O/M team as a Product Designer and self-professed full-time cat lady.

She has a background in book arts and is a recent M.S. graduate from the Integrated Design & Media department at NYU. She is interested in lending personality and play to technology and media, and believes in the powerful ability of design to shape learning and behavior.

She aspires to create products that champion accessibility, education, and joy. In her free time, Lily is learning to make lofi beats and working on her Duolingo streak. She lives in New York with her two cats, Helen Ruth and Mimi.

Angel Seay (she/her)

As a Product Designer, Angel loves working with audiences and clients to create delightful, accessible experiences. She previously studied computer science and brings a creative, analytical approach to her design process. Before joining the O/M team, she worked with nonprofits and government agencies on web redesigns. She enjoys the ideation stage of design the most because she gets to collaborate with teammates, think outside of the box, and brainstorm solutions.

Angel is inspired by compelling stories, whether it be through music, movies, or one-on-one conversations. She sees strength in moments of vulnerability and strives to identify opportunities where the team can build empathy and trust with users.

Angel is currently based in Alexandria, VA. In her spare time, you can catch her doing deep dives into artists’ discographies, watching video essays on costume design, and finding any excuse to have ice cream!

Luis Aguilar (he/him)

With a background on software development and process management/improvement, Luis brings experience in both client-facing projects and behind-the-scenes operations. With this, he hopes to help O/M improve its day-to-day processes, as he believes that continuous improvement is the key to every great organization. Luis loves the opportunity to work in the product design world — an area that has always interested him and facing this new challenge is very exciting.

As a born a raised Costa Rican, Luis enjoys going on trips to the beach and mountain with his wife Ana and his dog Oliver. Although, since moving to the New England region 4 years ago he has been taking a like for cold weather activities as well, specially snowboarding.

Kate Gilbert (she/her)

Coming from a background in visual design and ethnographic research, Kate is committed to approaching design problems with a critical lens and creating user experiences that account for a wide range of positionalities and perspectives.

Kate is an avid student of mindfulness practices, and her interest in self-reflection and growth has led her to an earnest obsession with the self-help genre.

Kate lives in Los Angeles with her girlfriend and anxious-but-coping dog. She loves to recreate and is particularly into tennis, running, and most recently hot yoga. She has a lot of cookbooks and likes natural wine. Kate has turned many people on to Notion and dreams of integrating more tech solutions into her personal life. She and her girlfriend are constantly working on their apartment.

We’re honored to have these seven new folx on our team here at O/M and can’t wait to share with you what we have in store for the rest of this year as we advance our mission to create a more inclusive world through design. If you have any questions, or are interested in working with us or joining our team, head on over to www.omstudio.co to drop us a line. Until next time!