Alejandra Charrabe
I’m Alejandra, I’m Spanish and I’m currently an interior designer at my own firm, called AIC Design. I do renovations based in Madrid, but I’m also doing some freelance work in A Coruña. I’m in the process of deciding where in the world I want to live, so I like that in this digital age I can choose where I work and that my clients are very flexible. I think a lot of people are drawn to the Master in Business for Architecture & Design because we’ve not been taught anything about business or numbers before, so it’s a really valuable opportunity.
"One of the reasons I chose IE University is because they have a very good networking program, and one of my main priorities when applying was working in teams and being a teammate."
Working in an international team
Alejandra chose to come to IE University thanks to its networking potential. She knew that since IE University is known around the world, she would be able to connect with classmates from many different cultural backgrounds. She also wanted to develop her team skills and ability to delegate, so being able to work alongside people with different learning experiences was the ideal opportunity. Alejandra also earned herself a scholarship for the program.
“One of the reasons I chose IE University is because they have a very good networking program, and one of my main priorities when applying was working in teams and being a teammate.”
She is excited to start working in the Venture Lab with her team, composed of other like-minded women working in architecture. Although they all have different backgrounds and experiences both in Europe and Latin America, Alejandra finds they can still relate to one another. She’s learning a lot about her career and her classmates at the same time.
Alejandra has recently been challenging herself with a new project as part of her freelance work. She’s working on a residential project in A Coruña, in the north of Spain, for a meditation center with holistic treatments. It uses different features than what she typically works with in her designs, but taking on this new project incorporates her philosophy that if you’re scared of making a choice, it’s probably the right choice to make.
Alejandra hopes to make an impact on her surroundings with her designs, and says it would be amazing if her work became a reference for other interior designers. To future designers, Alejandra says that nobody really knows what they’re doing, so don’t feel like you have to have everything laid out immediately.
The most significant moment in her career so far was when she realized that she didn’t need to have wanted to be an architect since she was a child—she realized that dreams can change. Finding her passion in interior design was a sum of everything she liked doing when she was younger and it puts her creativity to work.
