Our Team

Our practice rests on the shoulders of generations of activists, organizers, thinkers, and freedom-fighters to whom we owe gratitude for their contributions in building towards a just world.  We carry on in the tradition of community-centered work that we hold to be key for our collective liberation.  

 
Screen Shot 2018-03-05 at 12.54.29 AM 2.jpg
 
Brooke Staton Co-Founder, Managing Partner Brooke Staton is an equity design innovator and facilitator. Brooke draws on her background in city planning, public health, and participatory research to devise community-driven approaches to creative problem solving. Prior to Reflex, Brooke worked at Human Impact Partners, a national leader in participatory research, and the SF Department of City Planning. She is a multi-time published author and has presented work both nationally and internationally. Brooke holds dual masters degrees in city planning and public health from UC Berkeley.

Brooke Staton

Co-Founder, Managing Partner

Brooke Staton is an equity design innovator and facilitator. Brooke draws on her background in city planning, public health, and participatory research to devise community-driven approaches to creative problem solving. Prior to Reflex, Brooke worked at Human Impact Partners, a national leader in participatory research, and the SF Department of City Planning. She is a multi-time published author and has presented work both nationally and internationally. Brooke holds dual masters degrees in city planning and public health from UC Berkeley.

Julia Kong Managing Partner Julia Kong is an equity designer with a background in digital design and social innovation. She is currently a managing partner with Reflex building the practice of design for social justice. Before this, Julia was a design researcher at IBM Design and the founder of a chapter of Design for America. She also co-founded Cubic, a successful affordable storage startup. At her alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis, she explored what it means to create spaces of belonging in a city with complex power dynamics. She has spoken at SXSW, SF Design Week, and Allied Media Conference.

Julia Kong

Managing Partner

Julia Kong is an equity designer with a background in digital design and social innovation. She is currently a managing partner with Reflex building the practice of design for social justice. Before this, Julia was a design researcher at IBM Design and the founder of a chapter of Design for America. She also co-founded Cubic, a successful affordable storage startup. At her alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis, she explored what it means to create spaces of belonging in a city with complex power dynamics. She has spoken at SXSW, SF Design Week, and Allied Media Conference.

Dr. Pierce Gordon Co-Founder Pierce Gordon has a Ph.D. in Energy and Resources from the University of California, Berkeley. He investigates frameworks, methodologies, and contexts for evaluating innovation for social change. By analyzing design-centric stories for their topics, areas of interest, how they interact with target communities, and how they evaluate their outcomes, he characterizes current best practices for innovation praxis.

Dr. Pierce Gordon

Co-Founder

Pierce Gordon has a Ph.D. in Energy and Resources from the University of California, Berkeley. He investigates frameworks, methodologies, and contexts for evaluating innovation for social change. By analyzing design-centric stories for their topics, areas of interest, how they interact with target communities, and how they evaluate their outcomes, he characterizes current best practices for innovation praxis.

 
Julia Kramer Co-Founder Julia Kramer is a Ph.D. Student in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of California, Berkeley. She received her degree at the University of Michigan in mechanical engineering. She investigates design thinking methodologies, histories, and how design thinking aligns and contributes to issues of global poverty and social justice. Julia recently won First Place in the Global Health Category for the Big Ideas contest for Visualize: Saving Lives with Training for Cervical Cancer Screening.

Julia Kramer

Co-Founder

Julia Kramer is a Ph.D. Student in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of California, Berkeley. She received her degree at the University of Michigan in mechanical engineering. She investigates design thinking methodologies, histories, and how design thinking aligns and contributes to issues of global poverty and social justice. Julia recently won First Place in the Global Health Category for the Big Ideas contest for Visualize: Saving Lives with Training for Cervical Cancer Screening.

Cesar Viramontes Visual Design Lead Cesar Viramontes is an Industrial Designer who has been working in design consultancies on a wide range of physical and digital products. He’s a hands-on as a designer to solves problems through physical prototyping, sketching and design thinking. While working on products in medical, self care, housewares, etc, he uses those tools to create the best user experience. He received his B.S. in Industrial Design from Cal State Long Beach University.

Cesar Viramontes

Visual Design Lead

Cesar Viramontes is an Industrial Designer who has been working in design consultancies on a wide range of physical and digital products. He’s a hands-on as a designer to solves problems through physical prototyping, sketching and design thinking. While working on products in medical, self care, housewares, etc, he uses those tools to create the best user experience. He received his B.S. in Industrial Design from Cal State Long Beach University.

 
 

Friends & Family

Jaryn Miller Jaryn is a hands-on, passionate service designer, researcher, and maker with the Veterans Experience team. Throughout his career Jaryn has used design thinking to develop products and services across the consumer, medical, military, and social sectors. From early childhood education to the environmental impacts of consumer waste, Jaryn has always enjoyed utilizing design to tackle complex societal issues.

Jaryn Miller

Jaryn is a hands-on, passionate service designer, researcher, and maker with the Veterans Experience team. Throughout his career Jaryn has used design thinking to develop products and services across the consumer, medical, military, and social sectors. From early childhood education to the environmental impacts of consumer waste, Jaryn has always enjoyed utilizing design to tackle complex societal issues.

Lauren Valdez Coming from an environmentally burdened Latinx community in Los Angeles, Lauren's work focuses on shaping the built environment to improve health outcomes in communities of color. Lauren was part of the founding of RDC helping create workshops at UC Berkeley and conferences. Lauren believes in using design methods for community understanding and healing, which she carries into both grassroots community spaces and large institutions. Currently, Lauren consults on developing nonprofit programming for multi-sector initiatives and advises both nonprofits and social good startups. She also is the founder of WinAFulbright.com and resides in Mexico City.

Lauren Valdez

Coming from an environmentally burdened Latinx community in Los Angeles, Lauren's work focuses on shaping the built environment to improve health outcomes in communities of color. Lauren was part of the founding of RDC helping create workshops at UC Berkeley and conferences. Lauren believes in using design methods for community understanding and healing, which she carries into both grassroots community spaces and large institutions. Currently, Lauren consults on developing nonprofit programming for multi-sector initiatives and advises both nonprofits and social good startups. She also is the founder of WinAFulbright.com and resides in Mexico City.