1. How do you define the Tijuana-San Diego region?
As a place with both creative freedom and some restrictions. It was not until I became an adult that I understood that other borders were not the same, and neither were other cities in Mexico. I grew up in a binational environment, singing in Spanglish, immersed in national and international content. I feel like I am at the intersection of two Venn diagram circles of different colors, with a third in the middle. There is a constant tug-of-war to be able to realize one’s dreams or to carry out one’s ideas with very different levels of access to resources; despite all of this, we are able to do it.
2. How do you define your own work?
Successful, even when it is hard for me to define it. My work is honest. I see myself as a creative thinker who gets excited easily and is committed to being involved in work projects with clients or in the community that have to do with design, music, urbanism, art, and more.
3. How is the geographical context of the Tijuana-San Diego region reflected in your work?
My work is a reflection of living in this region. Not on a conscious level, but actually in how I express myself creatively. I am fascinated by discovering myself through my borderlands context, above all when I have the opportunity to build relationships in other cities within Mexico and abroad.
Katalina is a cross-border designer, a graduate of the Universidad Iberoamericana Noroeste, co-founder of Enigma Creative and Tijuana Design Week, an annual festival that fosters interdisciplinary connections from a community perspective. In her role as creative director at Enigma Creative, she leads communication and design strategies for commercial projects, accumulating more than 25 years of experience with brands such as BBVA Bancomer, Telmex USA, Telnor, Carl's Jr. and World Design Capital 2024, covering branding, writing, design and production.
Active participant in the creative scene, she co-authored and coordinated in Tijuana the winning proposal for San Diego-Tijuana to be the World Design Capital in 2024 and a collaborator on its Advisory Committee. Selected for the UCSD Design Lab Designer-in-Residence program in 2021 and 2022, since 2014 she has strengthened the local creative community as a host organizer for the Tijuana chapter of CreativeMornings. Since 2020, she has been a member of the organizing committee of San Diego Design Week and, since 2022, she has been a collaborator at Design for Good.
In 2023, he co-founded Here and There, an initiative that presents residencies and events for the San Diego-Tijuana creative community. Additionally, he leads communication and design at Pragma, a platform that facilitates planetary transformation in Latin American contexts.
