The Public Good

Kanna is a design researcher and strategist whose passion and interests lie at the intersection of urban development and service design. At PPL, Kanna has worked on projects related to transportation planning and collaboration, accessibility compliance, and public benefits access.

Prior to joining PPL, Kanna worked in the public and nonprofit sectors in New York City focusing on urban sustainability and community planning. She also facilitated design teams at Design for America, where she used design thinking and interdisciplinary approaches to tackle challenges that ranged from immigration rights to water pollution. Kanna is a graduate from Barnard College with a B.A. in Urban Studies and Architecture.

John has recently relocated from Ireland where he was an Experience Designer at the Dublin-based UX consultancy Frontend.com; at which he helped define clients’ business strategies, products and services through design.

A co-founder of Ireland’s largest design community, DublinUX, John has spoken extensively on the topic of user experience across Europe and is a former lecturer of Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Limerick. He has been recognized as a Design for Europe featured designer for his earlier work with the United Nations’ migration body, IOM. His projects have been widely acclaimed and have earned numerous International design awards.

John holds a BA in Business Studies, a Certificate in Service Design and is currently pursuing a Masters in Strategic Design and Management at Parsons School of Design here in New York City.

Erika Lindsey is a designer and user researcher with a background in advocacy, urban planning and social change initiatives. In her work, she contributes to the project management, design, user research, analysis, and storytelling for human-centered design research projects. Prior to PPL, Erika worked as a Senior Policy Advisor for the New York City Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency (ORR), was a Land Use Planner for the Manhattan Borough President’s Office, taught ArcGIS to nonprofit leaders, and conducted spatial analyses for an environmental justice organization in New Delhi, India. Erika is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles with a B.A. in Sociology. She received her Master in City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania School of Design.

Shanti believes in our collective power to build better lives through government. As deputy director of the Public Policy Lab, Shanti partners with public agencies– and the communities they serve– to transform service systems to be more equitable and effective. Shanti’s prior innovation research and strategy consulting has spanned the public, social, and private sectors. Outside the PPL, Shanti has worked on the ground-level of tech startups and has produced large-scale creative events.

Shanti serves with the Alumni Association Executive Committee for Choate Rosemary Hall, the Brooklyn Public Library Eagles Leadership Committee, and the Young Professionals Advisory Board for the National Alliance on Mental Illness of NYC. She holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin—Madison and the IIT Institute of Design.

Chelsea Mauldin is a social scientist and designer with a focus on public-sector innovation. She directs the Public Policy Lab, a New York City-based nonprofit organization that designs better public services for low-income and at-risk Americans.

Prior to co-founding the Public Policy Lab, Chelsea led a community-development organization, oversaw government partnerships at a public-space advocacy nonprofit, and consulted to municipal and federal agencies. She is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and the London School of Economics.

Allegra Oxborough is a filmmaker and the founder of AERO Creative, a video storytelling company specializing in User and Consumer Insights. Combining expertise in strategy and qualitative research with documentary production, AERO has partnered with clients including McCann, Target, The North Face, Facebook, and Google. In her personal work, Allegra explores vulnerability in human relationships, developing narrative films rooted in a documentary process. Her recent short Distance was praised for its “intoxicating ability to capture private conversations with dead-on accuracy,” and her observational film Clyde in Mulberry was featured at the annual global ethnography conference, EPIC. As a Public Policy Lab Fellow, Allegra is pleased to employ video storytelling to elicit deep, empathetic understanding of disadvantaged communities. She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and African American studies from the University of Puget Sound.

Natalia Radywyl is a social scientist and design professional with expertise in ethnography, design research, service design, experience design, environment design, and facilitation. Her clients have ranged from Fortune 500 and government, to NGOs and the community sector with projects including wellbeing and health, social innovation, urban resilience, open access technology and knowledge, and immigration and refugee experience.

Natalia became a PPL fellow in 2013, serving on a project for high-need students.

Meera is a research intern and writer, with a passion for social change. At PPL, she focuses on projects aimed at alleviating urban disparities in health care and education. Meera is a senior at Yale University, where she is majoring in Ethics, Politics, and Economics. She serves as the editor-in-chief of Yale’s Human Rights Journal and an associate editor for The New Journal. Meera is also involved with the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

Petey is a hands-on, brains-in designer who creates identities, publications, content, and communication systems that help us better relate to ourselves, others, technology, and the built environment.

His interest in design is preceded by an interest in people. Pulling inspiration and subject matters from the social sciences, his focus is on how people move about the world—as individuals and collectively—within their communities and in public spaces. At its core, design is a vehicle to communicate a message: a method to synthesize the complex or conceptual into something digestible. He’s driven to use thoughtful design to invite clarity and improve the relationship between knowledge and access.

With a BA in Neuroscience and minor in Communication Design from the University of Southern California, he’s worked with cultural marketing agencies, bio-tech start-ups, branding firms, and pro-bono projects in the inclusivity and accessibility space.

Prior to PPL, Natalie led the design practice at cultural creative marketing agencies Imprint Projects and Sub Rosa, creating original content, environments, and graphic matter for brands like Levi’s, Sonos, Herman Miller, Nike, Pantone, Uniqlo, Target and TED. She is also a co-founder of IntraCollaborative, a design collective focused on employing visual and strategic design as an agent of change in the social sector. She holds degrees in visual communication from Pratt Institute and the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Natalie first worked with PPL as a fellow in 2016, serving on a project about veteran mental health.

Stephanie Yim is a product designer passionate about designing experiences that challenge our beliefs and expectations, especially for social good. Stephanie is the co-founder and director of design of Good Call, NYC’s first centralized free 24/7 arrest support hotline. She has experience designing in fintech, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Along with Good Call, she volunteers with criminal justice, LGBTQ, and women’s rights organizations.

Stephanie is a proud native of Queens, NY. She has a B.S. in Human Computer Interaction and Decision Science from Carnegie Mellon University.

Kristi Brown served as a PPL fellow on our Veteran Mental Health project. 

Camilla is a UK government civil servant with expertise in design, policy making and impact investing. She has spent her whole career in roles that bring new resources and points of view to policy and service development – working at organizations including the UK Cabinet Office, Design Council and European Commission. She has taught and applied design extensively with civil servant teams and her work in impact investing includes setting up a $400m fund for the UK social sector. Camilla has been a fellow of the Public Policy Lab since 2015 and has worked with the team on criminal justice and education projects. She has first class degrees from University of Bristol and London School of Economics and is currently completing a PhD in design. 

Dom Crockett served as a PPL fellow on our Veteran Mental Health project.

Sophia is a writer, a graphic designer, a radio DJ, and a print-maker whose passion lies at the intersection of storytelling and social design. Before joining the Public Policy Lab, her work focused primarily on issues of racial justice, immigration, affordable housing, gender, and sexuality. Sophia holds a degree from Brown University and has worked on design teams at Design for America, Human Rights Watch, and IDEO.org.

Kristina Drury served as a PPL fellow on our Affordable Housing project. 

Amanda Finuccio is a visual designer and researcher with a passion for creative practice and social justice. She spends her time advocating for the creation and preservation of communities, exploring methods of collaboration, and working on her listening skills. Before joining Public Policy Lab, she worked as the Communications Designer for The Department of Small Business Services’ Neighborhood Development Division and as the In-house Graphic Designer for O, Miami Poetry Festival. She holds degrees from the School of Visual Arts Design for Social Innovation and North Carolina State’s College of Design.

David Frisco is a designer and educator, with a professional studio practice and appointment in both the Graduate and Undergraduate Communications Design departments at Pratt Institute. He holds an MFA in Graphic Design Studies from Yale University School of Art and a BFA in Graphic Design from University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Art and Design.

Judy is a design researcher and strategist with expertise in healthcare, affordable housing, and urban development. She is passionate about designing public services and policies that are effective and empowering for users.

Judy most recently led pioneering service design projects to improve patient/ staff experiences and care models at NYC Health + Hospitals, the largest city healthcare system in U.S. She has also managed research and strategy consulting projects with the World Bank and various government agencies around the world on issues of housing policy.

Judy holds a degree in Sociology and Global Health/ Health Policy from Harvard University, and has completed several graduate-level courses in housing development and finance.

Kacia is a former design lead at PPL. As a visual designer with a commitment to human-centered methods, Kacia spends her time advocating for simple, clear, and effective design. She is passionate about creating meaningful connections between people and has a real knack for research, because she can’t seem to stop asking questions (and truly cares about the answers).

Kacia is a graduate of The George Washington University. Her journey into social design began when she participated in the School of Visual Arts’ “Impact! Design for Social Change” summer residency.

Jennifer Rose is an honorary PPL fellow, having served as the PPL’s design director for our Affordable Housing, School Choice, and High-Need Student Services projects.

Chelsea Mauldin is a social scientist and designer with a focus on public-sector innovation. She directs the Public Policy Lab, a New York City-based nonprofit organization that designs better public services for low-income and at-risk Americans.

Prior to co-founding the Public Policy Lab, Chelsea led a community-development organization, oversaw government partnerships at a public-space advocacy nonprofit, and consulted to municipal and federal agencies. She is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and the London School of Economics.

Miya brings her skills in interaction design, human-centered research, storytelling, and behavior design to create experiences that improve outcomes and empower patients. Prior to founding Diagram, Miya served as Director of Experience Design at Johnson & Johnson’s Global Strategic Design Office where she created innovative solutions for patients managing chronic conditions. She has received patients and awards for device designs and interfaces for people living with diabetes. She is the pioneer recipient of a Design Matters Fellowship with the UNICEF Innovation team. Miya was recently appointed as Chair to MFA Design for Social Innovation at the School of Visual Arts.  She is also the co-host of the podcast, Yah, No, focused on the intersection of design, business, and healthcare.

Miya earned an MFA from Art Center College of Design, Media Design Program and a BA in Printmaking and Art History, UC Santa Cruz. She has received 2 patents and awards for her blood glucose meter UI designs.

Bryan is a co-founder of Dash Marshall, where he leads the studio’s Civic Futures practice, working with clients such as Google, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Knight Foundation. Prior to Dash Marshall, Bryan was a founding member of Helsinki Design Lab, working under the auspices of the Finnish Parliament to improve public institutions through design. Bryan holds a Master of Architecture I degree from Harvard Graduate School of Design and a BFA in Interior Architecture from Rhode Island School of Design.

As co-founder and managing principal of Two Twelve Associates, David’s dedication to delivering thoughtful, user-centered design established the firm’s reputation as the first advocate of “public information design,” the planning and presentation of complex information to diverse audiences. David’s leadership on projects for the Chicago Park District, the Partnership for Downtown Baltimore, the City of Charlotte, and Sound Transit in Washington State are just a few examples of his commitment to making the public his most important client.

David began his career with the Ontario Ministry of National Resources, in his native Canada. He studied architecture at Cornell University, attended the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and received an MFA in graphic design from Yale University. He is a past president and board member of the Society for Environmental Graphic Design, and recently completed his term on the AIGA national board. He is author of The Wayfinding Handbook: Information Design for Public Places, published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2009.

Deborah has dedicated her career to the development of pragmatic, design-oriented approaches to municipal issues. In 2019, she was named executive director of the Van Alen Institute, a 125-year-old not-for-profit that uses design to catalyze positive change in cities. She previously was executive director of the New York Restoration Project, a nonprofit dedicated to reclaiming and restoring New York City  open space, and the Design Trust for Public Space, where she brought her expertise in urban systems to bear on an acclaimed series of public/private partnerships between New York City agencies, community organizations, and private-sector urban designers. She received a Masters in Landscape Architecture from the Harvard University Design School and also holds a J.D. from New York University School of Law.

A leader in the human-centered design community for 15+ years, John has co-chaired and curated two international conferences—EPIC 2012, the premier international conference on ethnography in business and design, and Interaction 17, The Interaction Design Association’s annual global conference. John has taught graduate-level design research and methodology courses at Parsons and NYU, and lectured at Institute of Design, SCAD, and Pratt. As of April 2018, the design firm he co-founded, Moment, became part of Verizon. John now holds the role of Head of Service Design, where he works to create seamless customer experiences across channels and touchpoints for the one in three Americans who use Verizon’s services.