designer, cultural anthropologist and participatory action researcher based in PDX

“Accepting that the chaos is normal and natural will help us claim our creative potential in it. Accepting the chaos allows us to stop demanding impossible things from each other (such as clear prophetic answers on how everything in the future is going to work) and shift into inviting each other into co-creation of futures that work for us.”

adrienne maree brown, Holding Change


I specialize in qualitative research, storytelling, and cultural alignment. I seek opportunities to work with organizations and projects aiming to generate joy, healing, and connection, reduce harm, and make a positive, lasting impact through their products, services, experiences, policies, or stories.

Intro

I am committed to decolonizing design and research, centering the most vulnerable populations first: houseless neighbors, students, QTBIPOC community, elders, justice-impacted communities, immigrants and refugees, disabled communities, and our planet.

Work

My positionality influences my work. I am a queer, bisexual, genderqueer, white, currently able-bodied, thin, 7th-generation American southerner, and a 15-year Portlander. I grew up working class and have had the privilege of attending grad school, working a middle-class job, and living in stable housing.

Free Palestine, Free Congo, Free Sudan, Free Haiti.

About

Offerings

  • I specialize in collaborative research and storytelling with communities through long-form ethnographic interviews, participatory design and future vision sessions. Using deep listening, trauma-informed, and justice-centered frameworks, I curate diverse insights and varied perspectives into compelling narratives for organizations seeking to reshape their connections and offerings with community.

    My approach exposes unequal power dynamics, explores regenerative practices, and centers relationship-building and connection. I believe in the power of deep listening and storytelling to envision more just and vibrant futures, and I practice research that unlocks the ability to connect with one another, recognizing the transformative potential of design, imagination, and action in every project.

  • I use creative facilitation to help individuals, teams, and organizations achieve their dreams and visions in greater alignment with themselves and each other. Leveraging my expertise in experience design and innovation, this facilitation integrates immersive experiences, creative strategy, and visual road-mapping. Services include human-centered assessment, facilitated workshops, relationship-building activities, ongoing support, and customized action plans. This offering enhances collaboration, improves communication, fosters innovation, builds stronger collective relationships, and ensures aligned goals, ultimately unlocking the full visionary potential of creatives, teams and organizations.

Audre Lorde, in Uses of the Erotic, 1978.

“The need for sharing deep feelings is a human need… It can give us the energy to pursue genuine change within our world.”