Our Story

Born in Guatemala.
Forged at Fortune 500.
Built for what's next.

Act 1 · Origin
From Guatemala
to the design table.

Born in Guatemala, educated in design, Sara dreamed of working at the companies whose products she admired. She moved to the US and earned a seat at the table at Hasbro, CBS Interactive, and ultimately 14 years at Cisco — designing products, leading teams, and facilitating innovation across the Americas.

20+ Years
Hasbro · CBS · Cisco

From designing toy packaging to leading UX for enterprise platforms serving millions — every role deepened the same conviction: the best products start with the deepest empathy.

Act 2 · Insight
The gap nobody
was naming.

At Cisco, leading workshops for hundreds of people across the Americas, Sara noticed a consistent gap: US teams and LatAm teams were brilliant individually but struggled to innovate together. Language was only the surface issue — deeper cultural differences in how ideas are shared, decisions are made, and risks are taken were the real barriers.

The real barrier
Not language.
Culture.

When your Mexican engineering team says "sí" in a meeting, do you know whether they mean "yes, I agree," "yes, I heard you," or "yes, but I disagree and won't say so in front of others"? That's the kind of nuance that makes or breaks cross-border innovation.

Act 3 · Mission
Closing the gap.
Building the bridge.

Now, Sara is dedicated to closing that gap. She brings human-centered innovation — a practice that thrives on empathy, diverse perspectives, and rapid iteration — to the teams that need it most: cross-border teams building the future of LatAm-US business together.

The Real Lab
Real experiences.
Sin fronteras.

Two markets. Two languages. One truth. The real need has no border. Neither do we.

Bilingual Advantage

"I don't just translate words between English and Spanish — I translate ideas, business cultures, and innovation methodologies."

Sara · Founder, The Real Lab
La ventaja bicultural

"Innovación con alma. Tecnología con propósito. Diseñamos experiencias que se sienten, no solo se usan."

Sara · Fundadora, The Real Lab
Experience

The work behind
the work.

2010 — 2024
Cisco
Senior UX Designer · Led innovation workshops from 8 to 100+ attendees across Cisco Live Las Vegas, Cisco LatAm, and UX Y'all.
2008 — 2010
CBS Interactive
UX Designer · Interactive design for major digital media properties.
2005 — 2008
Hasbro
Product Designer · Consumer product design and brand packaging for iconic toy brands.
2016 — 2025
Design Thinking RTP
Founder & Lead · Built and led the innovation facilitation community in the Research Triangle from 0 to 740+ members.
Community
AIGA · UXPA
Active member and contributor. AIGA, UXPA, Creative Mornings communities. 2 design awards.
Workshops
100+ Sessions
Facilitated innovation sessions for teams of 8 to audiences of 100+, always bilingual, always in-person or live-virtual.
AI-Forward Studio

AI makes us faster.
Human insight
makes us right.

We use the most powerful AI design tools available — not to automate thinking, but to amplify it. Every AI output is filtered through human judgment, cultural fluency, and the question that matters most: does this feel right to a real person?

Miro AI
Real-time synthesis and affinity mapping
Figma Make
Rapid prototype generation from concepts
Claude
Research synthesis and persona development
Midjourney
Visual concept exploration and mood boarding
"AI-powered. Human-centered. Always real."
740+
Community members in the Design Thinking RTP meetup
100+
Innovation workshops facilitated since 2016
20+
Years of Fortune 500 UX and product design experience
2
Languages delivered natively — English and Spanish