Margarita Barrios Ponce works as a strategic and visual communications professional, combining extensive experience in Strategy, Branding, and Design through private practice and academia. Margarita is committed to advancing the communication field and nurturing socially minded individuals, she has been a faculty member at Northeastern University since 2002 (causeinform.com). In 2007, she founded Plural – a communications firm for Mission-driven organizations (pluralco.com). In 2015 she became Faculty Advisor to Scout – Northeastern’s student-led design studio (northeastern.edu/scout).
As Faculty Advisor to Scout she has guided students to exemplify the interdisciplinary, experiential learning, entrepreneurial, and innovation tenets that define Northeastern University. In her role as Faculty Advisor she is responsible for the mentorship of over 40 students from various disciplines and for direct tutelage spanning the learning areas of Design, Marketing, Finance, Advancement, Community Building, University Relations, Client Management, and Social Innovation.
Throughout her career Margarita has worked with a wide range of clients across a broad spectrum of industries, from large institutions to small organizations to innovative businesses. She has a passion for mission-driven work and social causes and understands the importance of developing comprehensive and effective training tools and institutional vehicles to educate and communicate with constituents and key stakeholders. As a longtime Bostonian she is committed to the State of Massachusetts and the City of Boston, always exploring ways of supporting important social issues through civic involvement, offering counsel on effective communication strategies and developing innovative ways to collaborate in our community.
Margarita graduated Magna Cum Laude from the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning at the University of Cincinnati and earned her graduate degree from Yale University. In the course of her education and career she has been a co-op student, a co-op employer, a manager to a wide-range of designers, and a coach to client-side in-house designers. Nurturing others and helping their growth as designers is a central and constant purpose of her design practice.
