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Julia Fiorello
Design Strategist & Principal of Happy Strategy
Julia Fiorello is a design strategist and the principal of Happy Strategy, a design-led consulting studio in Philadelphia. With over 20 years of experience, she specializes in applying co-design mindsets and methods to help purpose-driven organizations enhance creativity, learning, and innovation. Julia believes in fostering connections and maintaining an open mindset to improve care and collaboration in the workplace. She holds a Master of Science in Strategic Design and Management from Parsons School of Design and a Bachelor of Science in Graphic Design from Drexel University. Julia has held various roles in organizations such as Happy Strategy, Julia Fiorello – Design & Strategy, Thomas Jefferson University, National Constitution Center, Social Impact Studios, Metcalfe Architecture & Design, and Penn Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Health System. Outside of work, she enjoys cooking, snacking on fennel and fresh figs, hiking, and appreciating old school funk music while embracing vibrant colors even on dull days.
Highlights
If your intentions for the new year include fostering community and connection, this article's for you: https://lnkd.in/gKW_jx9b
Over 6 years ago, Ashley A. and I created and facilitated a mentorship community for Parsons' Strategy Design and Management Program. Maybe some of you reading this were part of it! As our lives took shape in different ways, Ash needed to step away to focus on being a new mom, and I needed a new partner in crime.
Then I met Vasuta Kalra – an incredibly thoughtful, brilliant, strategic thinker who turned into an incredible friend. With her energy and insight, we completely redesigned how the community was structured to make it more inclusive and incorporate member feedback in meaningful ways. It wasn't easy, but we learned a lot.
In retrospect, we realized there were four principles at the heart of our philosophy to community building:
- Start with a shared purpose
- Reduce friction to participate
- Design for multiple levels of engagement
- Learn, evolve, repeat!
Most of all, it was about embracing openness, and a 'gardening mindset' to nurture our community — appreciating the never-ending process of watching something bloom and take shape in unexpected ways. We co-wrote this article to share our learnings with the world, in the hope that it would help more meaningful communities thrive. And for those community builders out there, we'd love to know – what are your currently experimenting with???
Many thanks to Erin Peace, David McInnes, Olga K., and Katie Donnelly for their feedback and support in helping bring this to life.
#communitybuilding #community #connectingtogether #design #mentorship #intentionaldesign #communityengagement
