M Paula Navia
Contact Information
Job Title
Senior Lecturer
- navia.4@osu.edu
Areas of Expertise
- Design Strategy
- Design Thinking
- Life-centered Design
- Design Research
- Co-Design
- Innovation
- Entrepreneurship
- Business Design and Strategy
Education
- MBA in Design Strategy, California College of The Arts, San Francisco, California (2014)
- BA Industrial Design, Minor in Entrepreneurship, Minor in Textile Design, Universidad de Los Andes, Bogota, Colombia (2008)
Select Recognition
- Patent US 10,470,535 B2 - Menstrual tracker wearable device SmartCycle® Applicant: BeGirl Inc. Role: Inventor (2019)
- Spark Health Design Award / Winner - Platinum. Awarded for outstanding design in health, well-being, medical, and universal design. Nominee: BeGirl Inc. Role: Design Strategist. (2015)
- A’Design Social Design Award. Product design in the Social Design category. Nominee: BeGirl Inc. Role: Design Strategist. (2015)
- CCA IMPACT Social Entrepreneurship Award. Awarded $10,000 to invest in the creation of the community-led engagement framework to increase trust and resiliency of vulnerable communities in Central America.
- XI Premio Lápiz de Acero Award / Winner in the graphic design: Labels and Visual Identity categories. Role: Designer and Account Executive (2010)
- Meritorious Thesis Project. Universidad de Los Andes, Department of Design. Bogotá, Colombia (2008)
- Speaker / BWxD Better World by Design Conference / Design for women’s health and education session. Rhode Island School of Design, Brown University. (2016)
- Speaker-Panelist / Sustainatopia. San Francisco, CA. (2016)
Paula is a design strategist whose work advances impact-driven initiatives by aligning needs with system-level change. She integrates life-centered design, systems thinking, and business strategy to uncover insights, find possibility hidden within complexity, and translate those insights into opportunities for innovation. With experience spanning social entrepreneurship, innovation consulting, and design strategy, Paula navigates projects from discovery to execution, bringing clarity to ambiguity. Her interdisciplinary and collaborative approach enables her to guide teams through complexity, connect diverse stakeholders, and shape solutions that scale.