Doreen Lorenzo started her career off as a filmmaker. She would produce a spectrum of films, in the early ’90s: from documentaries to commercials. Lorenzo foresaw that the internet was going to be the next media and communications channel so she jumped at the opportunity to work at a computer company, where she launched the idea of selling computers online. It was easy for Lorenzo to jump at the next chance since her parents installed in her, early on, to never say “no” to an opportunity.
This early decision led her into the great career journey she has achieved. Lorenzo hired a small web designing firm to work on the online computer store. The firm ended up getting bought by Frog, who its founder, Hartmut Esslinger, later asked her to join their team as a Digital Media Leader. Over her 16-years of working at Frog, she went from Digital Media Leader to Chief Operations Officer to President—growing the team from a 40-person company to more than 1.1k person company over 11 different locations—worldwide. Lorenzo has also been the President of the invention company, Quirky, where she supervised their product development and operations. Other accomplishments have been co-founding Vidlet, being the advisor for Fortune 100 companies, featured on New York Times, Fortune, Forbes, Bloomberg Radio, and ABC News, giving TED Talks, etc.
At the moment, Doreen Lorenzo is Assistant Dean of The University of Texas at Austin, School of Design and Creative Technologies. Lorenzo has had incredible successes and career in leadership in the design world. She claims that part of her leadership success has been in part from her empathy, she also believes that the world sees this as a weakness; not fit for business. Lorenzo states that women often feel that it is necessary to change their demeanor in order to fit in and to be taken seriously. Lorenzo does recognize that the world and its sentiments are improving every day as more and more women are becoming successful on their own.
Bibliography
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“Doreen Lorenzo – Creative Growth and Innovation.” The Duncan Anderson Design Lecture Series, IDSA-LA, 27 Feb. 2014, idsala.wordpress.com/duncan-anderson-lecture-series/feb-27-doreen-lorenzo/.
“Doreen Lorenzo, M.A.” School of Design and Creative Technologies – College of Fine Arts, University of Texas at Austin, designcreativetech.utexas.edu/doreen-lorenzo.
“Doreen Lorenzo.” SEGD, Society for Experiential Graphic Design, 21 Feb. 2019, segd.org/doreen-lorenzo.
Lorenzo, Doreen. “Lines and Curves.” Medium, Medium, 11 June 2015, medium.com/@doreenl/lines-and-curves-7cc9d651efa1.
Sobel, Bill. “Doreen Lorenzo: What a Cat Herder Can Teach You About Leadership.” CMSWire, Simpler Media Group, Inc., 27 Feb. 2015, www.cmswire.com/cms/customer-experience/doreen-lorenzo-what-a-cat-herder-can-teach-you-about-leadership-028268.php.
