“Good design is simple, resourceful, aspirational and responsive; but its even more important that design should be inclusive. I believe that every person has the right to feel ownership of products that fill him or her with pride and a sense of dignity. I am dedicated to creating extremely affordable and high-performance products that support, enhance and enable women’s and girls’ autonomy and confidence while generating opportunities to radically improve their quality of life, in other words: empowering women through design. I believe deeply that the role of design is to improve people’s lives at all levels, regardless of their circumstances and limitations. In this way, it is central to help communities in challenging environments to work with the available resources and generate suitable and practical products and solutions upon which they can build and propel themselves towards a sustainable future. Design is just a word unless it has purpose!”
Diana Sierra is the co-founder and CEO at Be Girl, a social enterprise focused on empowering women by design, dedicated to creating extremely affordable, aspirational and high performance products that support women and girls’ autonomy and generate opportunities to radically improve their quality of life. For more information on Be Girl, click here.
In developing countries, she has worked in East Africa and South America on better designs for cookstoves, agro-processing machines, soil testing devices and women empowerment programs through business and design.
Diana built her career in industrial design as a consultant, working for almost 10 years for different multinational companies and consultancy firms such as on Smart Design, Frog Design, Nike, Panasonic, Energizer, Tommy Hilfiger, Arnell Group, Curve ID, B.Robinson, and Playtex.
Diana holds a Master of Science degree in Sustainability Management from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Industrial Design from the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia.