Mariana Inciarte-Balza

Mariana Inciarte-Balza completed the iJay Practicum program across two semesters - Spring 2022 (Cohort 17) and Fall 2022 (Cohort 18) - as a member of the Branding team, before graduating from Creighton University in 2023. Her creative and analytical work at iJay established the foundation for her current pursuit of intellectual property and business law.

Currently, Mariana is a Law Student at the University of Miami School of Law, where she focuses on intellectual property and business law. The creative and strategic skills she developed during her Practicum experience continue to inform her understanding of copyright, trademarks, and brand protection.

"My time in the iJay Practicum strengthened the creative and analytical skills I now rely on as I pursue a law degree focused on intellectual property and business law. Working on branding, visual strategy, and client-style projects taught me how ideas, design choices, and creative assets function as protectable intellectual property and as business drivers. Those experiences shaped the way I understand creators' needs today and continue to guide how I approach copyright, trademarks, and brand protection in my legal studies."

During her time at iJay, Mariana mastered visual design tools like Photoshop and Canva while developing comprehensive creative strategies for the brand. Her work on client-style projects taught her to view design choices not just as aesthetic decisions, but as valuable intellectual property and business assets. This unique perspective from the creator's side now enhances her approach to intellectual property law, where understanding both the creative process and its legal implications is essential for protecting clients' innovations and brand identity.