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Originally from Colombia, María Alejandra (Male) brings a unique perspective and global expertise to her position as Design Director at Dalberg Design. With over a decade of experience spanning service design, visual design, creative facilitation, and human-centered design, Male specializes in conducting research and crafting solutions at the intersection of climate resilience, rural livelihoods, and financial justice.
Male joined Dalberg Design in 2018 in the New York studio. Currently, she divides her role between the Mexico and Nairobi studios, fostering stronger South-to-South design collaborations between LatAm and Africa. Her vision is to build a design practice that centers on South American and African knowledge, lived experience, and community practices to drive sustainable social change.
Throughout her tenure at Dalberg Design, Male has spearheaded transformative projects, leveraging design to tackle pressing global challenges. Notable initiatives include developing a digital experience for young citizen scientists and a collaboration with USAID that played a crucial role in preventing Zika outbreaks in Peru. Led qualitative research for CGAP, focusing on improving the financial well-being of platform workers across multiple African and Asian countries. Male’s commitment to equitable design extends to her involvement in establishing an advisory council with immunization professionals to operationalize COVID-19 vaccine delivery in low-income countries through the COVID-19 Vaccine Equity Project. Most recently, she led the design of financial and non-financial services that support smallholder climate resilience in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy and led the design of the Gender4Climate Africa Challenge competition in Kenya.
Male pioneered expanding Dalberg Design in Latin America, strengthening networks, and extending our regional work to 12 countries in the region. Today, she leads the evolution of Dalberg Design’s practice, championing strategies for more inclusive, equitable, and community-centered design approaches.
Male holds a Master’s in Design for Social Innovation from the School of Visual Arts in New York, a Bachelor’s in Design, and a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts from Universidad de Los Andes Bogotá, Colombia.