PAST WORK + PROJECTS
Within our blended crew of toy inventors and play experts, I’m a Program Lead and Organizational Designer supporting all things “peopley” design: gatherings, learning and development, structures, and culture.
During the 2020 Election Cycle, I was the Director of Digital Strategy at HeadCount where I mobilized young voters through amazing digital campaigns with artists, brands, and community partners across the country like Spotify, Ariana Grande, and Samuel L. Jackson (who taught voters to swear in 15 different languages). We couldn’t be together in person, but I feel proud that we co-created digital experiences that inspired millions to take action.
I led Brand & Community Experience at the MAH, a museum in Santa Cruz that went from flailing to thriving over six years thanks to fire festivals, exhibitions with art from grandpas and 9-year-olds, and completely scrappy, DIY creative parties. It was as fun as it sounds. I helped build pathways for the thousands of members, volunteers, co-creators, and supporters who made the MAH their home.
I co-taught an extremely amateur dance class for adults called Power Prance. I cannot emphasize this enough: I have no experience or training. I affectionately referred to Power Prance as “an exorcism for your inner goof” which it totally was. One time my co-teacher and I even danced in front of 400 people at a public recital. It was awesome and humiliating and awesome.
I founded the Power Hour of Fun in 2014 for my birthday party. I had just moved to Santa Cruz and had made lots of casual acquaintances, but not a ton of close friends. And I wanted to celebrate my existence with everyone together in a way that was also fun. Enter the Power Hour of Fun, an hour of sixty different minute-long group experiences that get strangers doing things they never would have originally done together. Think: one minute of high fives, one minute of speed meditating, one minute of slow motion saloon brawling. It is fun. It is chaotic. Couples and new best friends have met this way. I have had the wild privilege of doing it for parties, conferences, and events across the country and would like to do it with you someday.
I was a Core Organizer of the Radical Adventure Riders New Haven Chapter, where we designed bikecamping trips, skillbuilding experiences, and dance parties to empower more folks in cycling and enjoying the outdoors.
The truth is I peaked in 2011 when I produced 3-4 events per week for the SUNY Purchase College community. This included sweaty concerts, proms where everyone dressed like a zombie, and secret shows where I led 400 people into a gymnasium to see Dan Deacon. Every night felt like the movie PCU or the end of Empire Records. It taught me at an early age that most things are possible and people might even want to do them if you ask.