Juliana Castro Varón


Hi! I’m Juli (pronounced who-li). I’m interested in using technology—writing, design, or artificial intelligence—to connect people with art and stories. 

I’m a Senior Design Editor of A.I. Initiatives at the New York Times. We use machine learning to uncover data patterns, and make journalism more accessible—not to write articles but to support reporting. I also draw, and my cartoons have appeared in The New Yorker

I founded Cita Press, a publisher of open-access books,  in 2017. Alongside a small but mighty team and Educopia, we raised ≈$1M to create digital readers, eBooks, and ensure Cita remains free for everyone. You should check it out

I’m also an affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard. When I was a fellow there in 2022, I studied the history of image manipulation, from darkroom to AI.

Previously, I wrote a book about art and artists, lived in nine cities in four countries, was invited to a bunch of podcasts, taught interaction design and typography at the college level, gave a few talks (including a keynote), got a Fulbright scholarship, and worked for a couple contemporary art museums. 

Finally, just because I can, here’s a list of things I love: jokes, Times New Roman, memes, the literary line between poor memory and fiction, taking baths, rocks shaped as rocks, rocks shaped as UFOs, when my cat looks like a loaf of bread, crying at the movies, and sunset. 

Online: Insta, Ex Twit, Threads, Arena, Email.
Offline: I’m around!
CITA PRESS (2018 - present) 

citapress.org
    Cita is an award-winning open-access feminist digital library and publisher that promotes and distributes the writings of women authors whose works are open-licensed or in the public domain. Initially an all-volunteer passion project, Cita has now received nearly a million dollars in funding from the Mellon Foundation, and is currently sponsored by the wonderful Educopia Institute. I am the founder and design director, and I also lead cita.studio, our client-facing design service.