Web and Mobile Application Lead, Allergan Aesthetics
London, UK

 

After graduating from Catholic University, Micaela earned an M.A. in International Affairs, International Finance, and Economic Policy from Columbia University.  Later she entered the immersive program in software engineering at Fullstack Academy: her projects during this training phase included “Baby Blocks”, an app that allows users to play a lottery based on blockchain; “King of the Jungle”, an online board game; and “Hopper Bakery”, an e-commerce site for a fictional bunny-themed bakery.

For nearly seven years, Micaela was based in New York City as a software engineer for Allergan, a company that develops and markets pharmaceuticals and medical devices.  During that time, she also founded Social Closet, a peer-to-peer fashion rental company that connects people who want to lend their wardrobes.  The aim is to instill environmental awareness of the consequences of clothing, the clothing industry, and people’s habits surrounding clothing.   She writes, “My fashion industry research showed me just how much waste is produced, and I started to see how bad it is for the environment, how much plastic goes into clothing.  Learning those basic facts on waste in fashion felt close to home and drove me to look at my own behavior in fashion.  I realized that for most of the clothes I’ve bought, I didn’t think much about the purchases at all, particularly about the larger environmental impact, since I didn’t know it was a problem.” (for more, see here)

As we were preparing this issue of Connections, Micaela transitioned to a new role with Allergan Aesthetics, entailing relocation to London.  Understandably this got in the way of the extended interview we like to do with our alumni profilees, but we are so proud of Micaela’s amazing career to date!