Alyssa graduated from Barnard College/Columbia University with a double major in Middle Eastern Studies & Philosophy. She left her graduate studies at Columbia’s SIPA to pursue a career in fashion. She enjoyed a 13 year career producing shoots for Vogue Paris, as a Style Editor for Vanity Fair and a stylist for Interview Magazine, Revlon, Vogue Italia, US Vogue and others.
While raising her two sons she worked as a photographer, studied landscape architecture at UCLA Extension, and was a volunteer and school garden leader at local schools, serving on the Seeds to Plate Board, starting garden programs, and teaching and running beautification projects, In 2021 she co- taught in a joint LAUSD/UCLA Extension landscape architecture program with Stephanie Landregan, FASLA.
Her life passion is ecological justice that drives design and engagement toward the holistic well being of communities and nature. Her capstone project was the design of an eco industrial park in Watts and received a National ASLA Honors Award in Urban Design in 2022. In 2024 she founded Terra Brava/Wild Earth Landacape Architecture to pursue collaborative projects with clients and partners with shared values.
Alyssa is passionate about service and has served on the So Cal chapter’s Youth Outreach committee, President of the UCLAX ASLA Student chapter, and now serves on the UCLA Extension Alumni Connection Board.
In her free time, she enjoys gardening at her ranch in Tepusquet Canyon, cooking with friends and family and sketching. She is deeply influenced by her Brazilian roots, the city of Rio de Janeiro, her travels and her explorations of the unique, raw beauty of the California Wilds.
