Maria Ruiz joined UTRGV Athletics as the athletics graphic designer that will be working cross-functionally with University Marketing and Communications in July 2024.
Ruiz, a UTRGV alum, returns to UTRGV Athletics after spending five years with the department as a graphic designer. She contributed to diverse marketing materials, print, apparel, brand identity, and digital assets. She also collaborated with various departments across the athletic department to help execute design briefs and helped brainstorm ideas and concepts.
In June 2022, Ruiz founded her own company, mcmystery L.L.C, an illustration and design business featuring original designs and artwork. As founder, Ruiz built a robust online presence through social platforms, established and managed in-house printing and manufacturing, executed marketing strategies to boost brand visibility and engagement, and oversaw the complete design process.
Ruiz also has experience with video editing as a freelancer with IDEA Public School where she attained beginner proficiency in Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects while showcasing creativity in editing promotional videos and social media clips.
Ruiz also spent one year as a graphic design freelancer for Pescador Fishing Apparel where she made on-brand, creative graphics for fishing apparel and collaborated on seamless graphic integration into apparel.
Ruiz graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from UTRGV in 2018.
