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About NDA

Built on the border. Run on AI. Accountable to people.

New Discovery Agency is an AI-first agency based in Ciudad Juárez, working across the Borderplex. Since 2013 we have moved from video production to immersive technology to AI systems. Today we work through two units: Growth and Innovation.

Growth Innovation Since 2013
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Our story

A history of adapting on purpose.

Jonalex Herrera started building websites for businesses in Ciudad Juárez. In 2013 he and Liz Pasillas founded New Discovery Media in Miami, a production house making branded content for brands and artists.

Miami pushed them into accelerators, 360° video and interactive storytelling. In 2018 they came back to Juárez, where industry and culture meet, and turned that experimentation into VR training for manufacturers, a VR documentary on migration and an augmented-reality map of the city's history.

Each time the market changed, we changed what we build. Today that means AI systems that help organizations get found, respond and grow, and programs that help their people use AI well. We run our own agency on those same systems.

Mission

We help organizations modernize how they attract, manage and scale opportunity, and how their people learn, by building AI-backed systems we run with human judgment.

AI does the heavy lifting. Our team stays accountable for every result.

Vision

A Borderplex where any business, school or institution, whatever its size, can operate with the same intelligent systems as the world's leading companies.

We started in Ciudad Juárez, and we build for the whole region.

How we operate

AI-first. Human-accountable.

Five commitments we hold ourselves to, in public.

  1. AI does the work. People sign off.

    We run our own planning, research, content and reporting on AI agents. A person on our team reviews anything that reaches a client or the public.

  2. We tell you when it's AI.

    Our AI chat says it is an AI from the first message. AI-generated images keep their provenance data. We follow the transparency rules of the EU AI Act (Art. 50) even where the law does not yet require it.

  3. Proof you can check.

    Every number we publish links to its source. Industry benchmarks are labeled as benchmarks, never as our results.

  4. Careful with your data.

    Sensitive information stays on infrastructure we control whenever possible; outside AI models only see what a task needs.

  5. Research first, systems over campaigns.

    Every engagement starts with market research, then gets built as a system that keeps learning, not a campaign that resets.

Two units

One agency, two ways in.

Growth

Systems that help organizations get found, respond, and win. Market intelligence, web development, SEO and GEO, paid acquisition, and content production. Also AI-ONE, our AI-backed revenue system that answers, qualifies, books, and follows up with every lead.

Recent work

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The founders

The people accountable for the work.

Jonalex Herrera speaking on stage at TEDx Ciudad Juárez
TEDx Ciudad Juárez

Jonalex Herrera

Co-founder · Systems, immersive & AI architecture

Born in Caracas and based in Juárez since 2002. Filmmaker (NMSU) turned technologist. He leads NDA's systems, immersive and AI architecture. TEDx Ciudad Juárez 2024: Identidad cultural de migrantes a través del arte y tecnología.

Watch the TEDx talk →
Liz Pasillas during her TEDx Ciudad Juárez talk
TEDx Ciudad Juárez

Liz Pasillas

Co-founder · Clients, commercial & AI fluency programs

From Ciudad Juárez. Producer and operator who leads client engagements, the commercial side, and AI fluency programs. TEDx Ciudad Juárez: Lo que sucede cuando empezamos a liderar desde lo que ya somos (published May 27, 2026).

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Timeline

How we got here.

Milestones from our history, from freelance web work to an AI-first agency. Where we have one, each milestone links to the story, case study or coverage behind it.

  1. Before 2013 Company

    Freelance web development in Juárez

    Jonalex Herrera builds websites for local organizations: the base layer of what becomes NDA.

  2. 2013 Company

    New Discovery Media founded in Miami

    Jonalex Herrera and Liz Pasillas found a branded-content production house in Miami, Florida.

  3. 2014 Growth

    Music productions for ViX

    Branded music content with David Bisbal, Paty Cantú and Juan Magán.

  4. 2016 Growth

    Walt Disney World production for ViX

    On-location branded production in Orlando.

  5. 2017Aug Company

    CREATE accelerator at Miami Dade College

    Jonalex Herrera and Liz Pasillas finish The Idea Center's CREATE accelerator at its Demo Day.

  6. 2017Sep Company

    VoyageMIA profiles the founders

    First long-form press profile of the Miami chapter.

  7. 2018Feb Company

    Startup Nation Conference in Miami

    Liz Pasillas speaks in the augmented and virtual reality session and pitches to more than 30 investors.

  8. 2018Oct Company

    WIN Lab Miami accelerator, Babson College

    Liz Pasillas is one of 18 founders in Babson College's five-month WIN Lab accelerator for women.

  9. 2018Nov Innovation

    Miami New Media Festival

    The founders' interactive work is shown in the festival's new media and VR section; The Promise also screens at an interactive media festival.

  10. 2018Dec Company

    Back to Ciudad Juárez

    The founders arrive on 18 December 2018 and re-anchor the company in Juárez, where industry and innovation meet, refocusing as an integrated agency.

  11. 2019 Company

    New Discovery Media opens in Mexico

    Operations formally start in Juárez: digital content, positioning and immersive solutions for local firms.

  12. 2020 Innovation

    Johnson & Johnson immersive center

    VR and AR training for J&J in Juárez: 14 simulations for Biosense Webster and a mixed-reality portfolio platform for Ethicon.

  13. 2020 Company

    Rebrand to New Discovery Agency

    The name catches up with the work: strategy, media, digital platforms and emerging technology under one agency.

  14. 2020Dec Company

    El Diario covers the Juárez pivot

    Regional press documents immersive onboarding for maquiladoras, virtual expos and Ruta Norte.

  15. 2021 Innovation

    Ruta Norte: a VR documentary on migration

    An immersive documentary that puts viewers face to face with migrant stories at the border, backed by BRP.

  16. 2021 Company

    Back in the room: Media, Tech and Film

    After a remote 2020 the team reunites in Juárez, organized at the time as three units: Media, Tech and Film.

  17. 2021Aug Company

    MexicoIndustry profiles Liz Pasillas

    Liz is featured as an innovator in Juárez industry.

  18. 2022Jul Innovation

    Juárez Aumentada wins EKÁ Naweame support

    The AR heritage project is one of 46 winners of Chihuahua's EKÁ Naweame culture call, with BRP as sponsor.

  19. 2022Nov Innovation

    Bosch Innovation Day

    Immersive systems demonstrated to an industrial audience.

  20. 2023Mar Innovation

    Querétaro Automotive Cluster and a new strategic plan

    Immersive training and inspection presented to automotive directors, while the team sets a continuous-improvement plan toward 2030.

  21. 2023Nov Innovation

    Juárez Aumentada tours community centers

    'Cultura Conectada' takes the AR archive to community centers. A permanent kiosk at La Rodadora followed.

  22. 2023Dec Growth

    Ten years, and a turn toward AI and automation

    NDA marks a decade and speaks at Inbound Growth MX on SEO, AI and automation: the seeds of today's Growth unit.

  23. 2024 Company

    Refocus as an AI-first agency

    NDA starts rebuilding its services, and its own operations, around AI and automation.

  24. 2024Jul Innovation

    Grand prize at The Bridge Accelerator

    Trainlight, NDA's no-code immersive training platform for manufacturing, wins the top prize and US$10,000 in seed capital.

  25. 2024Sep Company

    Jonalex Herrera at TEDx Ciudad Juárez

    A talk on migrant cultural identity through art and technology.

  26. 2025 Innovation

    AI Fluency Program: 175 learners

    Students and teachers at CECyTECH build working AI concepts for community challenges, with Frente Norte, FICOSEC and SIDE.

  27. 2025 Growth

    AI-ONE launches

    NDA's AI-backed revenue system: it answers, qualifies, books and follows up with every lead.

  28. 2026 Company

    Two units, one AI-first operating model

    NDA organizes into Growth and Innovation and runs its own planning, research, content and reporting on AI systems with human oversight. First AI forum for SMEs with CANACO Juárez.

  29. 2026May Company

    Liz Pasillas's TEDx Ciudad Juárez talk is published

    TEDx Talks publishes her talk on leading from who we already are.

Proof you can check

Numbers with a source.

Every figure links to where it comes from. Counts of published work update on every publish.

  • 13

    years since New Discovery Media was founded in Miami in 2013

    Source →

  • 175

    students and teachers in one AI fluency cohort

    Source →

  • 60

    heritage sites in augmented reality in Juárez Aumentada: 40 monuments and 20 historic centres

    Source →

  • 14

    VR and AR simulations explored in our early industrial work

    Source →

  • Grand prize

    The Bridge Accelerator 2024, won by Trainlight with US$10,000 in seed capital

    Source →

  • 2

    state awards (EKÁ Naweame), for Ruta Norte and Juárez Aumentada

    Source →

  • 2

    TEDx Ciudad Juárez talks by our founders

    Source →

  • 37

    published case studies

    Source →

  • 70

    published insights

    Source →

  • 47

    news and press entries

    Source →

Recent highlights

Recognition and public moments.

All news →
Next step

If the work resonates,
the next step is a conversation.

Tell us what you want to grow, or what your team needs to learn. A person from our team reads every request.

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