Inspired by multidisciplinary thinkers and visionaries, she sees possibilities and connections where most do not.

I am a serial entrepreneur, thinker and maker. I have founded multiple social innovations (and supported many social innovators), and can be found as readily working a database, developing mood boards, or wielding a circular saw. I think with my body and in pictures, I make ideas visual and I move things around physically to understand them better. I have been a cook, baker, builder, producer, manager, designer, strategist and researcher. I once worked in a custom boat building factory, the only woman on a factory floor with over 70 Australian men. I have a soft spot for dogs, farmers, spicy food, co-creating with youth, and the poetry of David Whyte. I think about things as diverse as play, design as a practice, change and agency, neurodiversity, the magic of dirt, waste management, and complexity. I am an experienced field researcher with a love of listening and being with people.

I have earned a Master of Urban and Regional Planning in International Sustainable Development from the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, and a Bachelor of Science in Art from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. I started my undergraduate studies at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. I am trained in participatory facilitation and group process for social change, and have a permaculture design certificate in regenerative agriculture.

Inspiration: Nature, food, youth, language, beauty and bold thinking are places I find connection and energy. I am challenged in good ways by thinkers that call forth the designer’s superpowers of problem exploration and flexible, future-oriented approaches. New dialogue around atypical and visual ways of thinking and working help me challenge my assumptions and create new perspectives.

Refreshed by: the joy of a dog crashing through the woods, my daughter’s easy laughter, gorgeous language in poems and stories, and meandering conversations with friends.

You can rely on Katrina to: produce stunning work, think big, see 5 steps beyond where most sight ends, and be more accurate with directions than a GPS nearly anywhere in the world.