Juli Mata
Innovation strategist, product and service design specialist
Design-driven business development via empathy and co-creation
As a value and impact-driven professional with 15 years of international experience, I have worked with clients from the US, Europe, and Asia in a wide variety of industries. My expertise lies in applying design tools to strategy development, helping businesses build, improve, or expand. I bring a holistic approach to your challenges with a wide understanding of design research, business model work, data-driven business development, product development, and UX design.
My work focuses on enabling innovation through co-creation. I believe that lasting change starts with micro-innovation. True change comes from collective adoption, and an organization's long-lasting success depends on its ability to adopt empathy in business. Let me help you create valuable change and make a lasting impact.
Professional Background
Education & Design Path Seeking
My studies encompassed design, digital technologies, and service design, with a strong emphasis on multidisciplinary teamwork from the outset. I pursued experiences across multiple countries—studying in Italy, the Netherlands, and Hungary, and completing internships in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the USA—working alongside talented teams and learning from diverse national standards and approaches.
Product-Service System Design, Msc - Politecnico di Milano, 2008
Industrial Design, BSc + MSc Budapest University of Technology, 2009 Technical University of Eindhoven, 2005
Since 2017, I’ve run my freelance practice, working with organizations to tackle challenges such as limited expertise, resources, or time. My goal is always to help clients overcome internal hurdles and create meaningful, lasting impact. I take a co-creative approach, integrating internal stakeholders to ensure solutions fit the organization’s needs.
Acting as a change agent, I bring fresh perspectives and best practices from a diverse range of industries, including healthcare, finance, education, and technology, helping organizations adopt new ways of working and innovate successfully. Projects typically last 3–6 months, though I’m open to longer engagements.
Beyond client work, I produce a podcast that explores the realities and challenges of product design and contribute pro bono to organizations aiming to create meaningful social impact.
Freelance
Employment & Partnership
Before freelancing, I spent six years working in academia, corporate environments, and startups, focusing on end-to-end digital product and service development. My last two years included co-owning a digital product and venture firm under a holacracy framework, giving me the opportunity to explore multiple management roles while balancing operations and client projects.
These experiences shaped my ability to build systems, processes, and teams that deliver real impact, regardless of an organization’s industry or design maturity.
Global & Hybrid Experience
With over a decade of international experience, I’ve collaborated with teams across Europe and the US, adapting to diverse work cultures and learning from each one. Since 2010, I’ve been exploring remote and hybrid work, developing practices that keep distributed teams connected and productive while balancing on-site collaboration.
As an expert in this area, I help organizations build the processes, team dynamics, and frameworks that allow cross-functional, hybrid teams to thrive. If you’re exploring this approach, I’d be happy to work with you to create a setup that fits your team and your business.
Beyond Client Work
Podcast
Paths, Puddles, Products | Trails to innovation: Wandering in design, development & business on foot
PPP is a podcast by two international product designers sharing insights, stories, and lessons from over a decade of work across industries. On our walks, we go beyond buzzwords to explore the real challenges and joys of product design, development, and business. Listen here
Icons Used
from the Noun Project
Healthcare Edication - IconMark | Food&Drink - Yoyon Pujiyono | Travel - Millenials | Pharmaceutical Research - Tri H | E-commerce - Papergarden | Green Mobility - Martin Köngismann | Animal Rights - Andy Horvath | Human Rights - Marius Edel | Sustainability - Made by Made | Logistics - Irvan Rhomadhani | Culture & The Arts - Kiran Shastry | Mobility&Sports (bike) - DTD design | Multimedia - Andrejs Kirma | Cloud Technology - Justin Blake | Mobile Technology - Suhatijda
Photos Used
from Unsplash
HOME/Michel Rocha, Dillon Mangum, Leone Venter, Nordwood Themes, Marcella Marcella
ABOUT / Delfi de la Rua, Kuiye Chen, Elodie Oudot, Markus Winkler