Today we’d like to introduce you to Maca Baigorria.
Hi Maca, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I had a passion for teaching from a young age but decided to study engineering in college. After graduation, I worked for Boeing as an engineer but found that my role wasn’t very fulfilling.
Feeling a bit lost, I quit my job, moved back across the country from Seattle to Miami, and moved back in with my family—before it was cool to live with your parents!
I spent a year teaching myself UX/UI and then a couple more months finding design jobs on Craigslist to build my portfolio. With time, I began landing job opportunities that led to a successful design career.
As I made my UX/UI career pivot, I experienced the challenges of self-teaching first-hand. Learning the hard way inspired me to start Avocademy. Now, I spend my time providing educational mentorship and career guidance to help others.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I think one of the biggest struggles along the way was quitting a job that provided a lot of financial security and benefits to start my own business without knowing how successful it would be. It was really scary for me and I think a lot of it stems from my childhood. I didn’t have a lot of money growing up and I believe that is still showing up in the work that we do in terms of the fear of scale and growth in the business. My risk tolerance definitely impacts the decisions I make for the business and I work to make sure it never impacts our growth opportunities.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Avocademy is a career education platform that helps people transition to the UX/UI design field. Since we launched our UX/UI Foundations Program in 2020, we’ve mentored hundreds of students, added new course offerings, and grown our team exponentially.
It’s our goal to create an affordable way for newcomers from all backgrounds to join the next generation of UX designers. Our learn-by-doing approach helps students build portfolios and gain real-world experience. We also offer a Career Jumpstart program which provides students with tailored job search assistance to ensure their long-term success.
We seek to help underrepresented groups learn essential UX/UI skills and land opportunities in the field. Our student and alumni body is 35% LGBTQ+, 75% racial minorities, and 80% women. Our students also come to Avocademy with a wide variety of educational and professional backgrounds. By fostering a diverse learning community, we aim to build a more effective and inclusive UX/UI industry.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I used to drive my siblings crazy. I’m the oldest of three siblings and we would always play school growing up and I always played the teacher, never the student. Education and learning new things was always of interest to me. Instead of going to traditional summer camps, I asked my dad to enroll me in week-long Miami Dade College classes to learn different things like Photoshop and HTML code when I was 13.
Over the summer, I did programs that took middle schoolers to college campuses for 2-3 week-long classes on topics like Aerospace Engineering and Computer Science for 2-3 summers in a row. So I would say I was pretty nerdy growing up.
Pricing:
- Avocademy UX/UI Foundations Course: One-time payment of $1497, or pay over 3, 6, or 12 Months with an Affirm loan program.
- Avocademy Career Jumpstart: Income Share Agreement (ISA) 7% of student’s first-year salary, paid monthly (or $5000 up front)
Contact Info:
- Email: Maca@avocademy.com
- Website: https://www.avocademy.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/avocademy_/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCukzTGUNq9ZrdbqwWoXyArA
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@avocademy
