Luz Costello-Saucedo
Luz Costello-Saucedo is a first-generation Latina creative leader and accomplished graphic designer. Raised in Tijuana, B.C., Mexico, she discovered her passion for art at an early age. Her mother fostered creativity in the home through crafts and hands-on activities, inspiring Luz to consistently pursue art opportunities throughout her school years, where she excelled. Although she initially began college intending to pursue a career in teaching, her path shifted after enrolling in an introductory graphic design course. She immediately connected with the discipline, changed her major, and went on to earn her Bachelor of Arts in Applied Arts and Sciences with an emphasis in Graphic Design from San Diego State University.
Luz spent 12 years at Community Health Group working in healthcare administration while completing her degree, an experience that deeply shaped her professional mission. The organization’s flexibility allowed her to balance work and education, and during that time she gained firsthand insight into the healthcare system and the importance of advocating for underserved communities. After graduating, she continued her work in healthcare before joining San Ysidro Health in 2019 as a Graphic Designer. Today, she serves as Creative Services Manager, leading brand strategy and creative direction for the entire organization. She collaborates closely with providers, health educators, care coordinators, and social workers to develop culturally responsive educational materials in multiple languages that reflect the diverse communities of San Diego County.
In her current leadership role, Luz manages a growing in-house creative team that includes three graphic designers and two interns from San Diego State University. Together, they produce comprehensive campaigns spanning digital, print, and video, with Luz expanding her expertise into video direction to support the organization’s evolving storytelling needs. In addition to her corporate leadership, she co-founded a creative business with a fellow designer to support nonprofit organizations with branding and event design. Known for her collaborative approach and community-centered mindset, Luz remains deeply committed to empowering others through thoughtful design, mentorship, and culturally meaningful communication.
• San Diego State University-California State University - BA in Applied Arts and Sciences, Graphic Design
• Co-founded business helping nonprofit organizations with branding and events
• Latina Geek
What do you attribute your success to?
Persistence, continuous learning, and applying transferable skills from earlier healthcare roles; focusing on work that makes a measurable difference in community health.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Keep preparing yourself. Attend workshops as much as you can. Even if your job is not related to the graphic design career that you are looking for, don't take it for granted. That career can be turned into a quality that someone is looking for in their graphic design team. The work ethics can all be transferred to careers across the board. I struggled a lot to find the graphic design job that I have now because I spent 12 years in the healthcare industry doing data entry and a lot of freelance during that time. Every job interview I got asked why I spent so much time in the healthcare field, but these people couldn't understand that I was a mom and I couldn't just let go of a job that was giving me job security during that time for a temporary job. When I graduated, there were a lot of temp jobs, and I really needed a secure job as a mom. When San Ysidro Health opened up the position for a graphic designer, they were describing me in the job description, and I had all the experience from healthcare. All of those years in the healthcare field as a data entry person and a children cases specialist brought me to the job that I have now. I would say never, ever think that wherever you are is not going to help you to be on the next step of the ladder. Any experience can help you be in that job that you are envisioning.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think a lot of graphic designers are facing right now the reality that there's AI and a lot of applications out there that give people the tools to create their own branding. We are not afraid of AI or these tools taking our jobs, but there is a challenge of educating business owners on the proper use of their brand and how to make your brand unique and recognizable, and how to tell your unique story through unique graphics. I think that is the biggest challenge right now.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I think, overall, stability between work and family is important. We spend a lot of time at work, and we need to learn how to find that balance between family and work. Being accountable as a graphic designer for our work and the decisions that we make is crucial. Having ethics and integrity in your professional life is very important for you to hold your image of who you are out there. Being a team player is always one of the things that I hold in my team. We all collaborate with each other, we teach each other new things that we learn so that we can all keep succeeding as graphic designers. Being respectful and having empathy for other people matters because we all go through different things. One day we can be happy, and then the next day, you don't know how the person is feeling inside. People hide things, and we need to be really respectful for whatever people are holding inside when they all show up to work and carry their own situations. I lead a lot with holding empathy for my team. I try to assist them as much as possible and ensure that they are having balance and avoiding burnout.