What I do on my me time

Read philosophy

Climb mountains

Visit classic concerts & clubs

Enjoy the beach

I'm Melisa, Product Owner and design-led product leader currently shaping the future of the Mercedes-Benz App at MBition in Berlin.

I'm also an entrepreneur, an activist, someone who expresses through design, projects, and the occasional home music session and someone who still thinks the best ideas come from people who genuinely care about what they make. 

I started on city walls.
I ended up building products for millions.

I started as a graffiti artist, drawn to the walls, the boldness, the urgency of making something that lands. That instinct never left me. It just evolved. From city walls to brand campaigns, from startups to Mercedes-Benz. I've always been driven by the same thing: making ideas real, and making them matter.

☾

Today I co-create AI products from scratch, design platform architectures, and own the product direction of tools used across one of the world's most iconic automotive organizations. Before AI agents, Copilot, or ChatGPT plugins became industry standard, I saw the opportunity and the need to build something genuinely usable and impactful that didn't yet exist. I conceived Agentic Chat, an AI tool that lets product and design teams validate decisions by talking directly to expert and user personas, and designed the House of AI, a unified AI ecosystem for MBition. I bring design instinct to product decisions, and product thinking to design. Beyond the organization, I mentor the next generation of sustainability and impact leaders as part of the Mercedes-Benz beVisioneers program because I believe building great products and building a better world are the same kind of work., 

Entrepreneur.
Activist.
Founder.

I'm also an entrepreneur and an activist. I co-founded Colectivo Americana in Guadalajara, a living cultural movement that transforms art into action through public interventions, urban activations, and creative expression rooted in social change. And I created xsassy in Berlin, an artisanal vegan cacao brand made entirely by hand, with five days of preparation per order, no shortcuts, no machines, no animals and 10% of every sale going to Love Living Being Ug, the environmental nonprofit I founded.

☀︎

Outside of work, I play the handpan and make music at home to create, to express, to feel. I live a vegan life, a choice rooted in deep care for animals, the planet, and myself. I read philosophy. I swim in the sea and climb mountains whenever I can. And I'm constantly learning about product, about people, about what it means to build something that lasts.
I don't separate who I am from what I build. Both are driven by the same conviction: the best ideas come from people who genuinely care.

☀︎

My biggest passion now? Using my creativity to shape a better future, investing my energy into ideas that make life better for everyone humans and beyond.

♥︎

Resume

Product Owner and design-led product leader with 10+ years building consumer mobile products at Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen.

I work at the intersection of user insight, product strategy, and AI-owned decisions, not just deliverables.
I started as an Art Director leading creative teams, transitioned through digital and product design at Rocket Internet and Volkswagen Group, and moved into product ownership at MBition, Mercedes-Benz's software subsidiary. Before AI agents and Copilot became industry standard, I saw the opportunity to build something that didn't yet exist. I conceived Agentic Chat, an AI product for rapid validation through virtual experts and B2C user-persona conversations, and designed the House of AI, a unified AI ecosystem now used across the organization. I own the B2C persona system and built a Figma plugin to embed persona validation directly into design workflows.

Today I lead the largest cross-functional frontend team in the MB App, 11 developers across iOS, Android, design, QA, and localisation owning the broadest feature portfolio on the consumer-facing side: Remote Controls, Security, Charging, Comfort, and Personalization.
I bring design instinct to product decisions and design rigor to product decisions. I'm direct with stakeholders, structured in delivery, and I raise the bar on quality and on what the product actually needs to be.

Let's connect

©2026 Melisa M. Pelayo