Mariella Paulino is a disability advocate who creates systems and tools that help people interact better with the world around them. In 2014 she was pulled over by police officer but because of her hearing loss, her inability to follow commands was understood as noncompliance and created a situation that could easily have escalated. The experience left her so shaken she went on to do her Master’s degree in communications to explore how people with hearing disabilities receive and share information. From her thesis, she created her own company, Project Hearing, which among many other things, creates bumper stickers that say “Deaf Driver” in an effort to facilitate communication between deaf drivers and police officers. She has worked in tech as a software developer, designer, and now as a project manager working at the intersection of tech and social impact initiatives that create inclusion, accessibility, and equity.
