About
Rania is an award-winning design leader, who started as a graphic designer in Athens, Greece, studied and worked in London, UK and is now an Executive Design Director and an IBM Design Principal* at IBM Consulting based in New York & Miami. She is a also an IBM inventor and a keynote / TEDx speaker, guest lecturer, and industry mentor at some of the world’s best universities and has been invited to judge and mentor across the world.
Rania works at the intersection of design, business & technology and has won multiple awards recognizing her as one of the best in digital design & tech. She won the Greek International Women Award on the Design Category, presented by Her Excellency, the President of the Hellenic Republic, which recognizes the Greek professional woman that excels in the world in her field.
Recognized as a Global Rising Star of the Profession by Consulting Magazine and made it on Business Insider’s Top 40 Rising Stars of Madison Ave. who are revolutionizing advertising and The Drum list Top 50 under 30 UK. She also got listed at the Top 100 Women in Tech UK and has been a proud Founders of the Future member, launched by Founders Forum that recognizes the most entrepreneurial minds in Europe under the age of 35. She is passionate about design & people and one of her missions is to empower more women into design & technology and help connect the gaps between design and business.
She has been featured by The Times, Fortune, BBC, Huffington Post, The Evening Standard, The DRUM, Essential Retail, People, TechCrunch and many more.
Rania loves all about art, design, cats and chocolate!
*Design Principal (DP) is an IBM distinction for designers who've made substantial impact and have led transformational change at the company. They advance design through creating scalable and reusable artifacts, curriculum, and intellectual property across their business unit, service line, portfolio and/or studio.
These professionals are exemplars of design practice, craft, and leadership, and they are an integral part of IBM’s industry-standard design program.
There are only 64 appointed Design Principals in IBM!
“I’ve had the pleasure of mentoring Rania for 18+ months, and she is simply a force of nature. I have been able to watch as she has grown the rare combination of strong creativity, self-awareness, drive, and leadership that I have rarely seen in other leaders. Her creativity has let her work across and significantly impact multiple diverse industries. Her self-awareness makes her a leader that can create that impact and do it with a team who loves her. Her drive keeps her constantly pushing to be better. Finally, her leadership has made her a voice that makes a difference in her company and across the industry. As I said, it is a rare combination, and any company will always be lucky to have as one of its leaders.”
“Rania is both a visionary and a doer, making her a rare and powerful unicorn in the business world. She led the design and was the Creative Director for my invention IBM Instant Checkout, and in doing so, she created a brand system that was distinctive, emotive, and flexible. In leading the design team, Rania never failed to encourage and help others grow, while keeping a firm hand on the quality of the creative and all design outputs. Both a brilliant Creative Director and Visual Designer, Rania is also an incredible human being. People naturally want to be around Rania because her passion for life is contagious, and her desire to improve the world through great design is inspirational.”
“Rania is the best digital designer I have ever worked with - bar none. That’s a big statement, but is thoroughly true. She is also an absolutely ridiculously inspiring individual. I have watched her grow over the last 3 years, when she came to work in my team. She very quickly became a force to be reckoned with. Her design craft, and the innovation she brings to projects is immense. Her attention to detail, and ability to develop a story and purpose around a concept is exceptional. I’ve seen clients fall in love with her in minutes, as she builds rapport and demonstrates instantly that she understands their challenge, their brand but also brings something that they’ve never seen before. But there’s so much more to Rania. She is a leader and a mentor. She commits an inordinate amount of time to working with students, our graduates, but also young women specifically, to help them develop confidence and skill. She is a brilliant public speaker, and someone with an incredible level of conscientiousness. Rania - you are my inspiration, my hero and my soul sister. ”