Workshop Facilitation + Teaching

Facilitation

One of the most impactful experiences for a team is to roll up their sleeves together and uncover their challenges and opportunities. It's my job as a facilitator to create a safe and inspiring space for a team to work together. As workshops often come at a critical time in an organization’s life, these engagements are often where big ideas are born, critical decisions made, and diverse relationships formed. Therefore, I approach workshop design with a spirit of co-creation. 

I’m a passionate student of facilitation techniques and curriculum design. My background is in community development, so I take an assets-based perspective in consulting. This commitment to building capacity of a team helps promote sustainable change beyond the workshop setting.

As a trained improvisor, I create an environment where people can unleash their creative and collaborative energy to build together. With over eight years of theater training, I can incorporate storytelling lessons from radio (WNUR) and creative principle from long-form improv comedy (One Group Mind, iO, Titanic Players).

I’ve worked with students of all ages on design challenges within their community–embedding design thinking skills with hands-on making. I’ve helped executives, boards, and educators have crucial and creative conversations alike. I find working across ages and backgrounds energizing. The goals are always the same: empowerment, ownership, shared meaning– and a heavy dose of laughter.

See a list of facilitation and teaching experiences here.

Teaching

Growing up in a family of educators and musicians, teaching has always been a part of my life. At the secondary level, I’ve worked with thoughtful teams to design leadership camp curricula, service learning projects, and college writing workshops.

At the university level, I’ve been invited to guest lecture in classes on education, design, and social sector strategy at Northwestern, School of Visual Arts, University of Chicago, Columbia University, NYU, Boston University, Notre Dame, and Cal Poly. I’ve volunteered with the Design for America college program sitting in on critiques and roundtables for their Summer Studios–and am consistently energized by students' inquiry, passion, and fresh perspective.

Courses Taught:

• ”Entrepreneurial Design,” The School of Visual Arts, IxD Graduate Program (2021-present)

• “Community Design Practica,” Copenhagen Institute for Interaction Design (2022)

• “Life-Centered Research Methods,” Copenhagen Institute for Interaction Design (2021)

• “Redesigning Everyday Organizations,” Northwestern University, (2015 - Co-taught, 2017-present - Guest Mentor)