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Cheers & Tiers: Bernardo Margulis, the Accidental Leader—How Saying Yes to Everything Shaped a Design Career

What happens when a fresh graduate gets thrown into AIGA leadership with zero experience and maximum enthusiasm? You get Bernardo Margulis, a designer-turned-engineer-turned-marketing director whose career reads like a masterclass in saying yes to opportunities you're not quite ready for.

Author

Rachel Elnar
June 16, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

Sometimes the best conversations happen when you sit down with someone who's been weaving through the design community for nearly two decades, collecting stories like souvenirs and wisdom like frequent flyer miles. That's exactly what happened when Erik and I caught up with Bernardo Margulis on the latest episode of Cheers and Tiers—and let me tell you, this man has stories.

The Accidental Board Member (Or: How to Say Yes When You Have No Idea What You’re Doing)

Here’s the scene: You’re a week away from graduation, your entire family has flown in from abroad to watch you walk across that stage, and your phone rings. It’s Mary Beth from AIGA Philadelphia, and your first thought is “Oh God, am I in trouble? Am I not graduating?”

Nope! They just wanted to offer 22-year-old Bernardo a spot as sponsorship chair. His response? “What do I know about raising money for a nonprofit?”

The beautiful answer, as it turns out, was absolutely nothing—and that was his secret weapon. While seasoned board members might have been cautious about approaching sponsors, Bernardo’s fresh-out-of-school naivety turned into fearless determination. He didn’t know it was supposed to be hard, so he just... did it. The result? $50,000 raised over two years and a complete transformation of how AIGA Philly approached sponsorships.

“Being 25 and stupid was actually an advantage,” Bernardo laughed, and honestly, there’s something beautifully inspiring about that kind of accidental confidence.

Leadership Retreats and the Magic of Design Community

What I love most about Bernardo’s AIGA stories is how they illustrate the real magic of design community; those moments when professional networking transforms into genuine human connection. Take his encounter with Debbie Millman. Fresh out of school, he walked up to one of his design heroes and essentially said “I love you.” Instead of running away (which, let’s be honest, most of us would have done), Debbie embraced the moment, leading to decades of friendship and mentorship.

These retreats became launching pads for careers and lifelong friendships. Job offers happened in taxi cabs. Mentorships bloomed over shared meals. And yes, there were legendary after-parties with Sharpie room numbers written on arms (because this was pre-iPhone era, folks). But beneath all the fun was something deeper—the understanding that being part of AIGA meant having a whole community that’s got your back.

“We're volunteers,” Bernardo reminded us. “It’s not like the business will fail if we experiment and try things.” That freedom to innovate, to take risks, to support each other through failures—that’s what makes this community special.

The Engineer-Designer Hybrid (Or: How to Confuse Everyone Beautifully)

Here’s where Bernardo’s story gets really interesting. After years in design and AIGA leadership, he went back to school for computer science, then worked as a software engineer at Amazon. Now he’s back in marketing, carrying this beautiful hybrid perspective that lets him shame engineers about their terrible UI choices while also understanding the technical constraints they're working within.

“When you learn to code and it works, you’re like ‘that’s great!’” he explained. “But then an engineer will look at it and ask ‘Where are your unit tests? Can you scale it?’” Meanwhile, he’s looking at engineer-designed interfaces thinking “Where’s your hierarchy? Can you indent this list?”

It’s the kind of cross-pollination that makes teams stronger, even if it occasionally results in some good-natured professional side-eye from both sides.

Talking with Bernardo reminded me why I love this design community so much. It’s full of people who say yes to things they don’t know how to do (like me with this podcast), who support each other through decades of career pivots, and who understand that the best learning happens when you’re willing to experiment and occasionally fail spectacularly.

Plus, anyone who can make volunteering for nonprofit boards sound like the adventure of a lifetime clearly has the storytelling skills we all need in our corner.

Want to hear more stories like Bernardo’s? Subscribe to Cheers & Tiers on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. We’ll have more episodes featuring your friends and your favorite design leaders, sharing their journeys, challenges, and triumphs.

Please subscribe, rate, and review Cheers & Tiers: Design Leadership Tales Retold wherever you get your podcasts.

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