OCTOPI – Transition Resource Circle: Visual narrative development for a book published by a group in Costa Rica on Post-Capitalist Philanthropy. Our work focused on establishing a visual language for the text that could act as a sense-maker of the complex topics presented. The visuals were created for use in the book, online, and in workshop material. My business partner Cara did the graphic design, and I worked with her on how to translate the text into visuals.
Establishing and presenting a scaling and organisational development strategy for the organisation. Working closely with the founder, and conducting research throughout the organisation in the form of interviews, surveys and desk-based research – I designed a path forward for the organisation that would allow them to pitch for funding, and have a roadmap with which to navigate their growth. This relied heavily on my skills in systems-understanding, theory of change, and analysis of the ways of working of the organisation in the past.
Compiling a report commissioned by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), on the implementation opportunity areas for Community Inclusion Currencies as a developmental aid tool. This work included research, analysis and highlighting of insights and themes for future funding areas from a series of expert opinions and desk-based research.
Continuous work on the strategy, communications and fund-seeking of the organisation.
Conducting research sprints for various innovation projects for Jack Frost, an effective problem-solving consultancy in South Africa. This work is rooted in a design thinking process that centres deep research, analysis and presentation of insights for the validation, iteration, and challenging of ideas presented by the consultancy.
Leading a team of thought instigators and prototype designers within a broader innovation sprint conducted by the client, for their client. Our instigators were brought in as alternative thinkers to prompt conversation and divergent innovation, and our designers worked closely with the teams to create prototypes of the proposed innovations for presentation on the final day. I led and supervised our team, taking from my experience in design thinking, project management, idea presentation and group innovation.
Roote Fellowship: Working on a personal research project around the establishment of an emergent knowledge commons that motivates collaboration and co-production of knowledge around child-birthing practices across the world. This project is motivated by a convergence of interests in the power of collective sense-making and knowledge production as a tool to highlight marginalised narratives, met with the lack of empowerment within the childbirth space for mothers.
OCTOPI – WWF & Wine.co.za: Creating a long-term campaign strategy for the WWF Conservation Champions program, presented by wine.co.za. This included establishing a core narrative framework from which content would be made, as well as working on the content creation (videos, social media graphics, etc) for the first phase.
dY/dX: small research tasks and involvement in ideation sessions for product and service designs.
2021
OCTOPI – Little Lions: Design thinking process facilitation & strategic consulting for Little Lions Child Coaching, in the research & development of a tech product that would allow for improved access for children in townships in South Africa to mental healthcare resources. This included research into existing policies, discussions around policy reform in the areas related to youth healthcare, and strategy around organisational development and scaling.
OCTOPI – Grassroots Economics: Improving the communications strategy of Grassroots Economics, a non-profit foundation empowering people through Community Inclusion Currencies & blockchain technology in Kenya. We conducted extensive research, stakeholder and ecosystem mapping and analysis to understand their intricate workings, impact and intention, in order to provide tailored strategies for their communications to donors and investors. I also assisted in providing support on the ecosystem framework structure, and the terminology used in both communications and agreements between users. We then worked to provide visual storytelling content in the form of an infographic to communicate their work to donors.
dY/dX – SUSU Healthcare: Research consultant, primarily responsible for the desk-based research and market analysis of mobile money technology and offerings across the African continent, in order to develop a viable idea for a product offering that provided accessible healthcare through mobile money. My responsibilities included research into regulatory frameworks, potential stakeholder analysis, alternative market offerings, analysis of the research findings and presentation insights. I further assisted in facilitation of the ideation sessions with the client. My research helped guide the team toward the creation and implementation of an accessible maternal healthcare service, which I am very proud of!
dY/dX – RE:Solve: Providing learning design & facilitation of design thinking & business/organisational development educational content used in the City of Cape Town & Craft Design Institute’s social innovation incubator.
OCTOPI – Kandoo: Brought onboard by Paul Steenkamp in 2020, I acted as a researcher and design sprint team lead tackling the problem of how one might validate & verify character strengths as a challenger to conventional CVs. In 2021 I put together a team of 3 thought partners to participate in a design sprint with Paul and his team, to move the project through ideation and iteration, and into prototyping.
OCTOPI – Standard Bank Jazz Festival and National Arts Festival: Project manager, production manager & creative director of the video production for the jazz festival and parts of the arts festival. Managing production and post-production teams across 4 cities during June/July, for the release of 30 performance videos, marketing material and workshops online. I’ve worked for the jazz festival since 2015 in a variety of roles, from venue management and logistics, to video production once COVID hit.
ATT Agency – ASICS AW21 Running: Head of production for 3 advertising campaigns for ASICS Digital (Boston) that were shot in Cape Town in March/April 2021. Alongside being the production manager, I also assisted with project management during that time. The production ran across 7 days in 8 locations, with a crew of 60-80 people on set per day.
2020 & prior
Co-authored a piece with Alanna Markle that was published in the Next Generation Foresight Practitioners’ Futures Manifesto, speaking to our imaginings of a 2050, post-COVID future.
Producer/director of the short film Khayelitsha, that has won awards in Italy & Prague, and came 6th out of 2000 entries in the Nespresso Talent Competition
Producer of TIDAL documentary, an internationally acclaimed, award-winning documentary
Producer/Project Manager for Array Media (on projects for ASICS Tokyo & ASICS Europe – working with Novak Djokovic and Patrick Mouratoglou)