Mayara Sousa

Product Designer & Builder
Paris, France· Authorized to work in France· hi@mayara.design· mayarasousa.com/work· linkedin.com/in/mayarasousaco
Summary

Brazilian product designer and builder based in Paris. I design and ship products from brand to code: strategy, brand systems, UX/UI, and the production code behind them, on WordPress and Shopify, with custom PHP and MySQL when a product needs it. Six years with startups and boutique businesses, an 18-month SaaS redesign as sole designer, and my own iPhone app, Tavla, launched in 2026. I build with AI in the loop (Claude Code, Codex), can read, shape, and debug the code I ship, and hold an MBA in AI for Business.

Work Experience
Founder & Product Designer 2026 – Present
Tavla · Paris
  • Founded Tavla, a company making tools for getting your attention back; launched Tavla Block for iPhone on the App Store in October 2026.
  • Set the product strategy: the user, not the app, decides how hard it is to end a block early; no accounts, and notes stay on the phone.
  • Designed the brand and the product, built it in Swift and SwiftUI with Claude Code, and shipped through three rounds of App Review in 72 days from first commit; a Mac writing app and a shared subscription are next.
Product Designer & Builder 03/2020 – Present
Self-Employed (Freelance) · Startups and boutique businesses across Europe, the Middle East and Latin America · Remote, Paris
  • Designed and built Mimoo Baby, a baby-shower gifting platform for the UAE market: two personas, account types with their own permissions, Google and Facebook sign-on, and custom order-to-account logic in PHP and MySQL.
  • Designed and built EverSafe, a first-aid training platform in Dubai, from brand identity to a four-step booking flow; ongoing client since 2025.
  • Build documented component systems rather than one-off screens; ship brand, product and live site in six to ten weeks, with design and build in the same pass.
  • Since 11/2025, built Shelf Beauty's internal platform in PHP and MySQL with Shopify, WhatsApp (Twilio) and OpenAI; 14.4% of shoppers sent its cart reminders went on to buy.
Product Designer (Freelance Contract) 06/2020 – 04/2023
Swiftic · No-code mobile app builder · Remote
  • Sole designer for almost three years on a SaaS app builder for small businesses, working with a product manager and the iOS and Android developers: new app templates first, then an 18-month platform redesign, plus email marketing and day-to-day design.
  • Interviewed close to 100 users over six months and analyzed support tickets to map pain points across copy, trust signals, visual consistency and broken flows.
  • Shipped visible wins first to rebuild user trust, then consolidated five-plus conflicting design systems into one, cut dozens of marketing pages to five, and redesigned the flows from landing page to publishing an app.
  • Support tickets about app submission dropped by 30%; the company was acquired in 2023.
Sales Attendant, then Marketing & Sales Assistant Manager 10/2014 – 01/2020
MSC Cruises · Italy · Onboard boutique operations, then retail campaigns, visual assets and junior-staff training
Skills
DesignProduct Strategy · UX & Product Design · User Research & Interviews · UI & Visual Design · Design Systems & Documentation · Wireframing & Interactive Prototyping · Accessibility · Brand Identity
BuildWordPress · Shopify · Custom PHP & MySQL · Semantic HTML, CSS & JavaScript · APIs & Integrations (Twilio, Resend, Google & Facebook sign-on) · Git-Based Workflow · AI-Assisted Development (Claude Code, Codex) · Reading & Debugging Code
ToolsFigma · Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop · Git · Google Analytics · Notion
Achievements
The Break Fellowship: Top 10% Selection
EU-funded program supporting women entrepreneurs with international business training and a strategic development residency in Spain.
Education
MBA in Artificial Intelligence for Business
Faculdade Exame, Brazil · Part-time, remote
2025 – Dec 2026
BA in Multimedia Arts
Centro Universitário Belas Artes de São Paulo, Brazil
2021 – 2023
Languages

Portuguese Native  ·  English Fluent, professional  ·  Italian Conversational  ·  Spanish Conversational  ·  French Learning