I’m a business strategist with a focus on the intersection between design thinking and new ventures. Humans first. Always.
My Portfolio
My portfolio is dedicated to tech-driven, human-centered solutions to tricky problems. The following cases are collected from engagements at IDEO and IDEO.org as well as projects from Unum and during my graduate studies at Tufts University. Client names and deliverables have been withheld from IDEO projects to maintain privacy where appropriate.
DEVELOPING A NEW VENTURE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES OWNERS
Working with a legacy insurance provider, I led a 3-month venture design engagement to explore opportunities to develop new products for an adjacent market – small businesses with less than 150 employees. Adopting a design thinking approach, our team conducted deep user discovery, prototyped potential solutions and created a roadmap for next steps.
IMPACT
The company is continuing to explore aspects of the opportunity through its new ventures division.
Establishing a purpose-driven Hospital
As part of its Health & Wellness portfolio, IDEO partnered with a community hospital to reimagine the patient and employee experience over a 9-month engagement. The first phase of the project focused on building deep relationships with hospital clinicians and staff to help the senior leadership team articulate a mission, vision, and organizational purpose.
IMPACT
The hospital agreed on a new purpose statement. It is also launching a new set of employee values, which will help set the conditions for creative, human-centered behaviors to take root across the hospital.
Teaching design thinking to teachers
As part of its Education portfolio, IDEO partnered with the president of a small liberal arts college to guide the school on its quest to become a ‘design-led institution’ – beginning by training a cohort of 30 faculty and staff. In addition to designing and facilitating several weeklong workshops, IDEO designed five prototypes intended to change the collegiate experience for incoming and current students.
IMPACT
The liberal arts college is building a new, 7,850-square-foot Center for Design Thinking – scheduled to open in fall 2019. In the interim, design-thinking principles will be integrated into its undergraduate and graduate courses.
Launching a bio-responsive video game
As part of its Health & Wellness portfolio, IDEO embedded with a bio-responsive video game company to develop new products, a refreshed business model and new ways of working. The startup moved into IDEO’s studio and worked alongside designers to rethink game mechanics, the unboxing experience and revenue models – all while learning about how to think like a designer.
IMPACT
The video game company launched a new suite of games and personalized support resources for families, developed with input from players. Its product was mentioned in New York Magazine’s ‘The Best Board Games for the Holidays, According to Family Therapists’. The company raised an additional $2.4 million since its work with IDEO.
Extending benefits to gig economy workers
As part of its Financial Services portfolio, IDEO worked with a Fortune 500 insurance company to determine more about the freelancer lifestyle and define a target market for a new benefits portal. Our team tested service value propositions with gig economy workers across the United States.
IMPACT
After the project, several of the core clients spun out a new start-up called Catch – a benefits platform for freelancers. The product is set to launch in early 2019.
TEACHING DESIGNERS ABOUT FInancial wellness
In between client projects, I developed a short talk about personal finance and delivered it to designers at IDEO Cambridge. Titled “Back of the Envelope,” the discussion was intended to get colleagues talking about money – sharing best tips and tricks they’ve learned over the years.
IMPACT
The talk was a success, with several colleagues adjusting their financial goals and practices based on what they learned.
Redesigning a service for dairy farmers
IDEO.org worked with a Dutch clean energy company to rethink product marketing including channel and customer segmentation for its biogas-powered milk chiller. Working on the ground in Kenya, our team designed and facilitated several live prototype experiences to test product and business assumptions.
IMPACT
The company has conducted a pilot program with 14 farmers in Kenya and built a strong partnership with local dairy cooperatives. The company’s milk chiller won the 2018 ASME ISHOW award and was shortlisted for Nestlé’s 2018 Creating Shared Value Prize.
Developing a chatbot for produce farmers
IDEO.org provided a design lift to a Kenyan ag-tech startup including user experience considerations, brand refresh, and business model explorations.
IMPACT
Since IDEO worked with Farm.ink, the company acquired over 100,000 users – including around 30,000 monthly active users. A survey of 2,500 of these users indicated that 87% feel more confident as a farmer because of Farm.ink. A Farm.ink co-founder was invited to meet Prime Minister Theresa May as a delegate of the UK’s trade mission to South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.
Delivering A DESIGN THINKING BOOTCAMP FOR ENTREPRENEURS
IDEO.org designed and facilitated a design thinking workshop for young entrepreneurs from Africa and Asia. Goals of the bootcamp included discovering the fundamentals of human-centered design, connecting with fellow innovators and designing a first prototype to test after bootcamp.
IMPACT
Over 75 young entrepreneurs trained in the basic tenets of design thinking, including several who went on to build successful companies like Build Change, Food4education and WeFarm.
Building a curriculum for refugees
IDEO.org conducted design research in a Kenyan-based UNHCR refugee camp, using insights to develop a basic train-the-trainer curriculum for new refugee teachers.
IMPACT
The client continues to work in Kakuma, Kenya and is pioneering a new curriculum based on training, coaching and mobile mentoring for new refugee teachers – and to date has reached 10,000 new children in the camp.
Developing a design-thinking workshop
The Fletcher School developed and hosted a design thinking workshop for Tufts community members including student, faculty and external guests. As partnerships lead, I developed a speakers list which included innovators from Frog, Dalberg and Significance Labs.
IMPACT
Over 50 Tufts community members trained in the basic tenets of design thinking, including several who went on to careers at places like Dalberg, Frog and IDEO.
facilitating a negotiation and entrepreneurship training
During my summer abroad at The Fletcher School I designed and delivered a training on business negotiations for young African entrepreneurs at the iHub in Nairobi, Kenya. I received funding through two competitive scholarships: Blakeley Fellowship and Harvard Law School Negotiation Fellowship.
IMPACT
Over 150 iHub community members trained in Harvard University-endorsed negotiation skills.