Women Lead
Directing Design at New York City’s Top Museums

Alicia is the Head of Design at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York where she leads the team responsible for designing exhibitions, permanent galleries and institutional communications materials. Prior to The Met, she was a founding partner of MGMT. design, a collaborative women-owned studio focusing on exhibition design, museum publications, print, branding, and data visualization. Alicia serves as an external critic at RISD and has taught at Yale University and the Cooper Union School of Art. She earned her BFA from Barnard College and her MFA from Yale University.

Hilary is the Director of Graphic Design and Brand Creative for the Whitney Museum of American Art. Since 2012, she has managed the development of the museum’s visual identity across print, digital, and environmental platforms. Prior to her current position, she served as a staff designer and design columnist for The New York Times Magazine. Her work has been recognized by D&AD, London’s Design Museum, the BRNO Biennial, the Society of Publication Designers, the Type Directors Club, the Art Directors Club, AIGA, and the Society for News Design, among others. Hilary holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts, and has taught design at New York University, Parsons School of Design, and Johns Hopkins University.

Stina is the Creative Director of The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. She joined the institution in 2023 and leads the internal team that shapes all brand identity from print collateral to exhibition identities and marketing campaigns.

Prior to MoMA, she was the Executive Creative Director at Wealthsimple, a Canadian fin-tech company and before that, a Creative Director in The New York Times’ marketing department. Stina is a Fulbright Scholar and holds an MFA from Yale University.

Carolyn is a Canadian graphic designer based in New York. Currently, she holds the Graphic Design Lead position at The Frick Collection, where her work focuses on developing the visual identity system and institution-wide graphic design program. Previously, she worked as a freelance graphic designer in Berlin, Germany, as well as for studios Pure+Applied, Pentagram Design, and Office of Luke Bulman. Carolyn graduated from Parsons School of Design (BFA, Communication Design) and the London School of Economics and Political Science (MSc, Culture & Society). She is passionate about maps and interested in issues of spatiality and identity design.

Catharine has headed the exhibition graphics team at the American Museum of Natural History for 15 years. She has led design for traveling exhibitions on topics ranging from color to climate change – including at least four dino shows – and has helped shape numerous permanent halls, most recently the museum’s new Gilder Center addition and the revitalized Northwest Coast Hall. The AMNH design team has been recognized by the AIGA, SEGD and Graphis, among other design organizations. But the most rewarding part of her work is seeing a diverse and vibrant museum audience engage with scientific ideas made accessible by design!

Sarah is the Co-CEO and Creative Leader for Beardwood&Co, an independent, woman and queer-owned branding agency based in New York City, illumining possibilities to amplify brand growth. With a focus on big, creative ideas made to thrive in the real world, Sarah and team partner with clients to achieve brilliant outcomes, without the egos or silos often found in the agency world. She has led creative for global brands including Westin, Pottery Barn, Danone, Hello Products, and the nation’s largest affordable housing non-profit, Enterprise Community Partners.

In addition to leading Beardwood&Co, Sarah serves as the President of AIGA NY, where she has served on the volunteer board for 3+ years supporting the mission of “Championing the Future of Design for All” through organizing and hosting community-based events. She is a Mom, loves to run, and trek in the woods as much as the streets of NYC for inspiration.