I want to design objects, environments, experiences, and systems to create a more connected future - a future where people are actively engaged and feel a sense of belonging to community, and everyone has a deep relationship with nature. In time with many wicked problems, understanding these vital connections between people, community, and the environment is essential to informing effective decision-making, enacting positive action, and enhancing people and communities’ health and well-being (1).

I am a graduate of the Master of Design program at IIT’s Institute of Design in Chicago and the Design and Environmental Program at Cornell University. Through these programs I grew my design research skills and design thinking mindset, mastering structured methods for observation, reframing, ideation, prototyping and implementing concepts. This has allowed me to approach ambiguous and complex business and social reform innovation challenges.

At the Design Laboratory at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (D-Lab) I applied these skills to work on the Designing Life After Covid-19 project, an initiative that explored ways in which design can help individuals and organizations be better prepared for future epidemics. Through prototyping new methodologies that identified population level patterns from personal experiences, I was able to develop a design concept that used food-related hobbies to activate communities and increase social connectivity among urban residents.

My desire to bring in the natural world as a part of our community stems from my many years of experience with design and research in the floriculture and horticulture sector at Bayport Flower Houses, a fourth-generation garden center and florist. I was able to see the impact that a connection with nature through gardening, plant care and floral design had on people’s well-being, especially during times of uncertainty like the pandemic.