Toni Del Rio

Cohort: 9
Del Rio Living – Real Estate (Co-Owner & Lead Designer)

Toni Del Rio at Harvard Graduate School of Design, as part of the Design Discovery Program Summer 2025.

To start, if I approached you at a picnic and asked what you were up and enjoying these days, how would you answer?

There’s a remodel project I’ve been designing since the beginning of the year, and we broke ground at the start of summer. Most of my work (and fun) has been at the site—spending time with the crew and learning new skills. It feels good to be outside, moving, and working with my hands. Right now, I’m really into Baltic plywood and grid patterns—you’ll see a lot of both in this house I’m working on, which we will be listing in the next couple of months.

My favorite part so far has been spending time with the building crew. Home remodeling is a constant problem-solving exercise, and I’m in awe of how creative and innovative everyone on the team is. Honestly, this summer has been a trip in the best possible way—from building models with some of the most brilliant minds in architecture at Harvard’s GSD to coming back to Seattle and realizing that builders are the ultimate model makers. It’s been an amazing shift from the 9-to-5 (really more like 8-to-8) tech job I had for the last 12 years, and I’m grateful every single day that I made the change.

The theme of this newsletter is career pivots, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on moving between companies and roles, as you’ve held roles at some of the most recognizable brands out there. What advice would you give younger Comm Lead alumni about how to approach a career change and what you’ve learned over the years on how to see pivots as opportunities, not liabilities?

Stay curious about your field, but most importantly, about yourself. Learn to recognize when a chapter of life is dragging and you need to wrap up. Don’t worry too much about making a radical shift, everything you’ve learned in your career is additive. You would be surprised how much of my experience building tech products I can translate into Architecture and Design. You don’t lose what you’ve experienced, you will just see it with different fresh eyes.

Now let’s chat about your latest career pivot, which might be your biggest yet: opening up your own company and now studying at Harvard. What inspired this shift and what have you learned this far? Anything surprising?

Del Rio Living, my company, was originally started by my wife Natalia, who is a realtor. Since a lot of her work happens on the weekends I often tagged along. That’s when I saw the opportunity to help people build value in the most important asset: their homes. Now, Natalia and I work as a team, partnering to get homes ready before hitting the market as well as building value in our own property investments. Our goal is to approach homes as an experience, from the moment you wake up to the moment you wake up again. Your home is your most used product!  

What’s one of the best pieces of career advice you have received?

Life is short, but it is also long. This was not career advice but something a quantum physicist (long story!) told me during the pandemic. It has been my motto since then. Life is long, there is more than ONE thing you can do and you can be. In fact, it is too long to do the same thing  your whole life. Think about how many lives you want to live in one life. 

Finally, what’s a favorite piece of content—anything goes!—you’ve been hooked on lately you think Comm Lead alumni might enjoy? 

Music – The “Debi Tirar Mas Fotos” album by Bad Bunny.

Podcast – The Handsome Podcast

Youtube – “Never Too Small” & “Life on Film”