Human-centered design and systems thinking for social impact and community engagement.

Meena is a social innovation consultant and design strategist tackling complex social challenges through human-centered design and community engagement dedicated to tackling complex social challenges through human-centered design and community engagement. With a background in social anthropology and design, she has worked across diverse settings, from urban slums to corporate boardrooms. Previously, Meena spent eight years at IDEO, where she led community engagement for OpenIDEO and advised IDEO U’s initiatives. Her expertise lies in fostering collaboration, equity, and innovation to drive meaningful change. Born in Aotearoa New Zealand with Indian ancestry, she brings a global perspective to her work in social impact.Meena was the Spring Social Innovator in Residence with the ERA Chair in Social Innovation and the DESIS Lab at NOVA SBE.Follow Meena on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meanestindian/?originalSubdomain=nzand on Subtack: https://randomspecific.substack.com/Credits:Host: Anne-Laure FayardPost-production: Claudio SilvaMusic & Art Work: Guilhem TamisierRecorded at the Fidelidade Creative Studio, Nova SBE

Adriana Valdez Young is a design researcher with more than 15 years of leading design research that focuses on centering the experiences of historically excluded and underrepresented people for startups, government, non-profits, and corporate clients. . She advises inclusive research at SOUR, a global design studio with the mission to address social and urban problems, servers as associate chair of the MFA of Interaction design at the School of Visual Arts, and writes about inclusive design for UX Magazine. Prior to that she led research and strategy at Stae, a platform for cities to manage civic data and new mobilities. She was the head of consumer research at littleBits, a STEAM platform for kids and educators to invent their own technology. And most recently, shecrafted community experiences at 3X3 and shaped communications, business development, and the urban design practice at Openbox. Adriana holds a BA in History from Brown University and an MSc in City Design and Social Science fromthe London School of Economics.In this episode, Adriana reflects on her journey as "an accidental designer" - breaking and entering design. She talks about how her early passion for understanding context, her curiosity and her un-satisfaction with the status quo led her to design for social change. She reflects on co-creation and inclusive design, reminding us that all design should be inclusive.To learn more about Adriana's work, follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valdezyoung/and check her website:  https://www.welikeresearch.com/You can also read her reflections on Medium: https://adrianavyoung.medium.com/Credits:Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure FayardSound design & Post-production: Claudio SilvaMusic & Art Work: Guilhem Tamisier

Tales of the Field is a podcast series which gives voice to social activists and social innovators who work in and with their communities to create social impact and sustainable change. They share with us their work in the field - where they  tackle complex social issues and aim to create sustainable change and social impact. At its core, their work is human-centered, systemic and always informed by a deep understanding of the context and people’s lives. In this episode, we talked with Carlos Mendes Gonçalves, the founder and CEO of Case Mendes Gonçalves, a family business in Portugal. Casa Mendes Gonçalves’ commitment to sustainability inspires the company’s effort to transform the food system and create a model for a new way to work and live together within our communities and nature. Carlos tells us about Vila Feliz Cidade, a regenerative agriculture project that aims to integrate the economic dimension with social and environmental responsibility.  To read more about sustainability at Casa MG and about Vila Feliz Cidade: https://www.casamg.pt/en/sustainability/ Co-conception and Voice: Melchior Tamisier-Fayard Co-conception: Anne-Laure Fayard Interview in Portuguese by Rita Nascimento Quotes in English read by Claudio Silva Sound design, Music and Post-production: Guilhem Tamisier Artwork: Jyoti Tamisier-Fayard

Robert Fabricant is Co-Founder of Dalberg Design, where he brings human-centered design and systems thinking to clients looking for creative approaches to breakthrough innovation and expanded collaborations in social impact and community engagement. He leads an extremely diverse team with studios in Dakar, Mexico City, Mumbai, Nairobi and New York, leveraging Dalberg’s global footprint and capabilities. Much of his portfolio is focused on public health, serving as the lead design partner to USAID’s Global Health Bureau. A born and raised New Yorker, Robert began his career at a local criminal justice non-profit focused on New York State court reform where he worked at both a grassroots and policy level to drive positive change in the lives of New Yorkers.In this episode, Robert reflects on his journey from his work in criminal justice advocacy to becoming a systems designer  with a focus on public health systems and social innovation. He talks about the importance of collaboration and taking a long-term horizon to make positive social change. As he critically reflects on his practice, he stresses the importance of thinking about power dynamics when doing design work with under-resourced communities in the USA and in the Global South.To learn more about Robert's work, follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertfabricant/and check his website:  https://www.fabricant.design/To learn more about Dalberg Design: https://www.dalbergdesign.com/Credits:Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure FayardSound design & Post-production: Claudio SilvaMusic & Art Work: Guilhem Tamisier

Engin Ayaz, a transdisciplinary designer and strategist with a background in architecture, systems thinking, and interaction design. He is the co-founder of ATÖLYE, a design and innovation consultancy, which amplifies the impact of purpose-driven leaders by transforming people, places and experiences through the power of communities. Engin received a dual degree in Architectural Design and Engineering from Stanford University, and a master's degree in Interactive Design and Media Arts from Tisch School of Arts, ITP of New York University. His work has been exhibited worldwide and received awards from Core77, Architizer, Arkitera, World Architecture Community, and Good Magazine, among others. Engin was the Fall 2024 Social Innovator in Residence with the ERA Chair in Social Innovation and the DESIS Lab at NOVA SBE. Follow Engin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/enginayaz/ Learn more about Atölye: https://atolye.io/

Victor Udoewa is Service Design Lead  for the CDC (centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Prior to this role, Victor was Chief Technology Officer, Chief experience Officer and Service Design Lead at NASA. Prior to NASA, Victor served as the Director of Strategy at 18F, a civic consultancy for the federal government inside the federal government. Previously, as a Global Education Instructional Designer and Training Development Specialist at Google, he designed learning experiences and learning software for people in low-to-middle-income countries around the world. In this episode, Victor shared with us his "non-linear" journey to being a service designer: from being a teacher to working with USAID and then Google and NASA while being a health crisis and trauma counsellor. He shares the different definitions of service design and contrasts them with his perspective and practice in the public sector. He then explains why he talks about radical participatory design (rather than participatory design) and introduces us to relational design and pluriversal design. To learn more about Victor's work, follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/udoewa/ You can also read some of his academic papers: Introduction to Radical Participatory Design: Decolonizing Participatory Design Processes  Radical Participatory Design: The Awareness of Participation Relational Design  Credits: Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design & Post-production: Claudio Silva Music & Art Work: Guilhem Tamisier

Rachael Dietkus is a social worker-designer. Her practice, research, and writing at the intersections of social work values, trauma-responsive principles, and care-focused design research methods. Rachael is the founder of Social Workers Who Design and an active member of the Design Justice Network and the Social Work Futures Lab. Since September 2022, she has served as a Digital Services Expert in Design and Social Work and a Trauma-Informed Practice Subject Matter Expert with the United States Digital Service, a design and tech unit under the White House.  In this episode, Rachael reflects on the different civic and public interest roles she has had over the last twenty years to explore how social work and design are intrinsically connected in her practice. She explains how she encountered trauma-informed design and more recently trauma-responsive design. She stresses the importance of language, of care, of intentionality and relationality. To learn more about Rachael's work, follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachaeldietkuslcsw/ and check the Social Workers Who Design website: ⁠https://www.socialworkerswho.design⁠ To learn more about the topics we discussed: 'Trauma-Informed Care: A Sociocultural Perspective' / ⁠⁠https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207195/⁠⁠ Social Work Futures Lab / ⁠⁠https://www.socialworkfutureslab.org⁠⁠ Racism Untaught / ⁠https://racismuntaught.com⁠ Some of the references Rachael's made in the podcast: Desmond Patton's / 'Applying Reflexivity to Artificial Intelligence for Researching Marginalized Communities and Real-World Problems' / ⁠https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/items/7607e8e6-db3b-45c6-87c5-516e8e67ba08/full⁠ Resmaa Menakem / ⁠https://resmaa.com⁠ + ⁠https://onbeing.org/programs/resmaa-menakem-notice-the-rage-notice-the-silence⁠ Karen Treisman's 'Trauma River' / ⁠https://media.churchillfellowship.org/documents/Treisman_K_Report_2018_Final.pdf⁠ AJ Singh's 'Justice Sensitivity is the Cure, Not the Sickness' / ⁠https://ajs4dlg.substack.com/p/justice-sensitivity-is-the-cure-not⁠ Credits: Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design & Post-production: Claudio Silva Music & Art Work: Guilhem Tamisier

João Brites is an entrepreneur, breakdancer, and agroforester who has lived in Portugal, Mexico, United States, Brazil and Spain (his current home). Currently, João is Director of Growth & Innovation at HowGood, a SaaS platform that helps companies measure, improve, and communicate their social and environmental impact. Prior to HowGood, João worked as Global Director of Sustainable Development at AB InBev and co-founded initiatives like Movimento Transformers, the Amazon Summer School, and Carbono Biodiverso. João is the recipient of Nova’s Impactful Alumni Award, the Do Something Ambassador Award, and was at age 19 one of the world’s youngest participants at the WEF in Davos through the Global Changemakers Program. João holds a M.S. in Economics and a CEMS Masters in International Management from Nova SBE João was the Spring 2024 Social Innovator in Residence with the ERA Chair in Social Innovation and the DESIS Lab at NOVA SBE. Follow João on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jrbrites/ Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design & Post-production: Claudio Silva Music: Guilhem Tamisier Art work: Guilhem Tamisier The Podcast was recorded and produced in the Fidelidade Creative Studio @ Nova SBE

Tales of the Field is a podcast series which gives voice to social activists and social innovators who work in and with their communities to create social impact and sustainable change. They share with us their work in the field - where they  tackle complex social issues and aim to create sustainable change and social impact. At its core, their work is human-centered, systemic and always informed by a deep understanding of the context and people’s lives. In this episode, we talked with Gilbert Nkpeniyeng, who after working as a program officer with Amplio Network, is currently doing his MPhil in Development Studies at Cambridge University (UK). Gilbert passionately believes that access to knowledge can change people's lives. He shares his personal experience with the Amplio Talking Book, an audio device designed for users with low literacy, he encountered while in primary school. He also tells about a project he implemented with women producing shea butter in Northern Ghana highlighting how all community members were involved. To read more about Amplio Network: https://www.amplio.org/ Follow Gilbert Nkpeniyeng: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gilbert-nkpeniyeng-1648a017a/ Co-conception and Voice: Melchior Tamisier-Fayard Co-conception: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design, Music and Post-production: Guilhem Tamisier Artwork: Jyoti Tamisier-Fayard Recording done at Fidelidade Creative Studio at Nova SBE Thanks to Amplio Network Ghana team for sharing some of the audio sources used for the sound design of this episode.

Tales of the Field is a podcast series which gives voice to social activists and social innovators who work in and with their communities to create social impact and sustainable change. They share with us their work in the field - where they  tackle complex social issues and aim to create sustainable change and social impact. At its core, their work is human-centered, systemic and always informed by a deep understanding of the context and people’s lives. In this episode, we talked with Leslie Davol, co-founder and executive director of Street Lab, a nonprofit that creates and shares programs for public space across New York City, and with Hannah Berkin-Harper, Street Lab's design lead. We talked about the pop-ups they create to improve the urban environment, connect New Yorkers and create communities. They highlighted the value of developing quick and nimble ways to provide resources to residents and develop a street-level environment that can evolve while also testing ideas for longer term changes. To read more about Street Lab: https://www.streetlab.org/ Co-conception and Voice: Melchior Tamisier-Fayard Co-conception: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design, Music and Post-production: Guilhem Tamisier Artwork: Jyoti Tamisier-Fayard