The Design Of Business | The Business of Design

Design Observer
The Design Of Business | The Business of Design

Interviews with fascinating people from a range of industries—from music and retail to journalism and technology—who are exploring their creative practices, inventing new ways of working, and helping shape a more inclusive world.In the 11th season of DB|BD,  co-hosts Jessica Helfand and Ellen McGirt are observing equity by highlighting the “redesigners” — people who are addressing urgent problems by challenging big assumptions about how the world can and should work — and who it should work for.

  1. S11E10: Activism in AI with Google’s Ovetta Sampson

    SEP 11

    S11E10: Activism in AI with Google’s Ovetta Sampson

    Ovetta Sampson is the Director of User Experience Machine Learning at Google. In December 2023, Business Insider named Ovetta to their AI 100, a list of the 100 most influential people working in artificial intelligence. Her inclusion on that list is a refreshing addition. Ovetta approaches her work with generative AI and machine learning as an activist, with a commitment to humanity and ethics. In the final interview episode of the 11th season of DB|BD, Jessica Helfand and Ellen McGirt ...

    38 min
  2. S11E9: What’s Love Got to Do With Business with Jorge Fontanez

    AUG 28

    S11E9: What’s Love Got to Do With Business with Jorge Fontanez

    Jorge Fontanez is the CEO of B Lab, a non-profit network that believes business can be a force for good. B Lab is best known for certifying B Corps, companies that meet high standards of social and environmental performance and accountability. To become a B Corp, companies need to be transparently addressing things like DEI, their own climate footprint and labor conditions. There are currently just over 9,000 B Corps in 102 countries across 162 industries, including well known brands like Pat...

    51 min
  3. S11E8: Poetry is Anti Capitalist with Tracy K. Smith

    AUG 7

    S11E8: Poetry is Anti Capitalist with Tracy K. Smith

    Tracy K. Smith is a Pulitzer prize winning poet, professor and librettist who served as the U.S. Poet Laureate from 2017-2019. She’s published five poetry collections, two librettos and one memoir-manifesto. She is also a Professor of English and African and African American Studies at Harvard. Her most recent Libretto for the opera The Righteous is currently running at the Santa Fe Opera house through August 13th.Pulsing through Tracy’s long list of accomplishments is her belief that languag...

    57 min
  4. S11E7: Using Design to Show the World Your Truth with Dionna Dorsey and Production Designer Olivia Peebles

    JUL 24

    S11E7: Using Design to Show the World Your Truth with Dionna Dorsey and Production Designer Olivia Peebles

    In this episode of DB|BD Ellen McGirt and Jessica Helfand talk with two extraordinary women from two seemingly different corners of the design world: Dionna Dorsey and Olivia Peebles. We say “seemingly” because, while they occupy different design disciplines, they approach their work in similar ways. They are both multidisciplinary designers with the hearts and souls of artists whose visuals bring to life what they and their collaborators know to be true about the world.First up, we hear from...

    59 min
  5. S11E6: Why an Inclusive Global Economy is a Redesign Project with Mastercard’s Shamina Singh

    JUN 26

    S11E6: Why an Inclusive Global Economy is a Redesign Project with Mastercard’s Shamina Singh

    Twenty years ago, Shamina Singh took what might seem like an unlikely leap from a decade-long career as a labor and political organizer into an executive position at one of the world’s biggest financial institutions. To Singh, this leap was a logical next step in her fight for equity and inclusion. She is now the co-founder and president of Mastercard’s Center for Inclusive Growth. The Center, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this spring, is the credit card giant’s social impact hub that...

    57 min
  6. S11E5: WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert on Talent, Activism, and the Business of Basketball

    JUN 12

    S11E5: WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert on Talent, Activism, and the Business of Basketball

    The WNBA is both the moment and a movement. Approximately 400,000 fans attended WNBA games during the first month of the 2024 season, the highest first month attendance in 26 years. An average of 1.32 million viewers are tuning into each game. A historic rookie class that includes Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark are bringing new eyeballs to a game that has some of the most dedicated fan bases in professional sports. The league also saw a 200% increase in revenue in 2023 from the year prio...

    59 min
  7. S11E4: Richard Buery and Robin Hood Are Building a Coalition to Tackle Poverty in NYC

    MAY 29

    S11E4: Richard Buery and Robin Hood Are Building a Coalition to Tackle Poverty in NYC

    Richard Buery is the CEO of Robin Hood, New York City’s largest poverty fighting organization. It supports high-impact community organizations and partners with state and local governments to elevate New Yorkers out of poverty. In 2023 alone, Robin Hood invested $129 million in 200 carefully selected poverty fighting organizations. And New Yorkers need this support more than ever before. Robin Hood’s 2024 Poverty Tracker, released in February, found that nearly 500,000 more New Yorkers lived ...

    57 min
  8. S11E3: The Healthy Materials Lab is Making Housing Healthier for Everyone

    MAY 15

    S11E3: The Healthy Materials Lab is Making Housing Healthier for Everyone

    In 2015, interior designer Jonsara Ruth and architect Alison Mears received a grant to study the use of building materials in affordable housing. This grant led to the creation of the Healthy Materials Lab, a design-led research lab based out of the Parsons School of Design that raises awareness about toxins in building materials and draws attention to healthier alternatives. Almost a decade later, they’re still asking big and necessary questions: What if we could make building material...

    58 min
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Interviews with fascinating people from a range of industries—from music and retail to journalism and technology—who are exploring their creative practices, inventing new ways of working, and helping shape a more inclusive world.In the 11th season of DB|BD,  co-hosts Jessica Helfand and Ellen McGirt are observing equity by highlighting the “redesigners” — people who are addressing urgent problems by challenging big assumptions about how the world can and should work — and who it should work for.

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