Speaking
Beyond Rachel’s consulting practice, she’s had the honor of speaking at a number of conferences, events, and schools. She actively contributes to the design discourse by also judging competitions and portfolio reviews, moderating insightful panels, and facilitating personalized workshops.
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Speaking
Whether you’re looking for someone to speak on stage in front of a large audience or inspire a small in-house team, Rachel is comfortable doing both. She has been involved with 75+ engagements and can flex across in-person and virtual experiences.
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Judging
Whether your school is conducting portfolio reviews or your organization is seeking partners to judge submitted work, Rachel loves making time to give back to the design community in this way. She is also committed to making competitions more ethical.
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Moderating
Whether moderating intimate salons or large conference panels, Rachel thrives on guiding engaging discussions between innovative thinkers. Her ability to actively listen and elicit insights helps her bridge perspectives, foster connections, and spur imagination.
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Facilitating
Whether your company is seeking external expertise or is providing internal resources to collaborate with, Rachel can develop transformative programs for both groups and individuals. She designs gatherings to unlock human connection.
Most Requested Topics
🔥
Sharing learnings and inspiration from her career in media, publishing, and tech
💃🏽
Navigating between in-house and agency life — and the overarching experience
💪🏼
Starting her independent consultancy and the ability to ‘design’ her own time
🎱
Creating conditions to unleash team potential with a focus on culture
🛠️
Helping new or struggling design people managers lead distributed workforces
🎨
Reminding design teams about the
art of critique and live, synchronous feedback
🌈
Redefining what a successful career looks like and feeling empowered to (re)design it
🔮
Identifying the needs of early-stage design teams and shaping their next evolutions
Past Engagements
2024
AIGA SF x WILD Voices | San Francisco, CA
Birmingham Design Festival | Birmingham, UK
CCA (DYC Panel) | San Francisco, CA
CCA (DYC Workshop #2) | San Francisco, CA
CCA (DYC Workshop #1) | San Francisco, CA
Design Better AMA | Virtual
HOW Design Live | Denver, CO
Smashing Magazine Meets | Virtual
SPD Student Competition (Judge) | Virtual
2023
AIGA SF x WILD Voices | Virtual
Adobe Creative Retreat | San Francisco, CA
Bloomberg Creativity Series | New York, NY
BringYourOwnBold (BYOB) | Virtual
CCA (Bio Writing) | San Francisco, CA
CCA (Design As Activism) | San Francisco, CA
CCA (Design Strategy) | San Francisco, CA
CCA (DYC Panel) | San Francisco, CA
CCA (DYC #2) | San Francisco, CA
CCA (DYC #1) | San Francisco, CA
CCA (Portfolio Workshop 3) | San Francisco, CA
CCA (Portfolio Workshop 2) | San Francisco, CA
CCA (Portfolio Workshop 1) | San Francisco, CA
Dropbox Design Craft Summit | Austin, TX
Dropbox Design Org (x6 Workshops) | Virtual
HOW Design Live | Nashville, TN
NBC Peacock Team Offsite | New York, NY
School of Visual Arts MFA Fall Series | Virtual
UX Copenhagen | Denmark, Copenhagen
University of Southern California | Virtual
2022
CCA | San Francisco, CA
Diem | Virtual
RGD Creative Directions | Virtual
Twitter 0→1 Creative Team | Virtual
UPenn x Lubalin Center | New York, NY
2021
CCA | San Francisco, CA
Institute of Possibility | Virtual
Microsoft Design Week | Virtual
WP Creative Group Team | Virtual
2020
CCA | San Francisco, CA
Core77 Student Showcase | Virtual
Designit Team | Virtual
Dropbox Design Org | Virtual
LE BOOK Mid West | Virtual
Portland State University | Virtual
School of Visual Arts | New York, NY
2019
CCA | San Francisco, CA
Creative Mornings FieldTrips | San Francisco, CA
General Assembly | San Francisco, CA
The 3% Movement | San Francisco, CA
University of San Francisco | San Francisco, CA
2018
CAMP Festival & Interview | Calgary, Canada
CAMP Summit Round Table | Calgary, Canada
Cove Women | San Francisco, CA
2017
Academy of Art University | San Francisco, CA
2016
ClickZ Live & Interview | New York, NY
Contently: PixelTalks | New York, NY
Digiday Careers | New York, NY
General Assembly | New York, NY
Ogilvy Women | New York, NY
OWNIT Summit | Georgetown, DC
Pratt Institute | Brooklyn, NY
School of Visual Arts | New York, NY
Society of Publication Designers | New York, NY
2015
Creative Mornings FieldTrips | New York, NY
Damsels in Design | New York, NY
Forrester’s Forum | New York, NY
Percolate: Research or Bust | New York, NY
Social Media Week | New York, NY
2014
REACH Conference | Princeton, NJ
University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, PA
2013
Aurasma Webinar | Virtual
Folio Webinar | Virtual
MPA Swipe 2.0 Conference | New York, NY
Pratt Institute | Brooklyn, NY
SUNY Farmingdale | Farmingdale, NY
University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, PA
2012
Folio Magazine Webinar | Virtual
School of Visual Arts | New York, NY
University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, PA
2011
University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, PA
A few recent highlights…
Adobe Creative Summit Panel Moderator
From Passion to Profession: Freelancing
“Great panel. Great people. Great company.”
— Kristine Arth, Founder & Creative Director at Lobster Phone
UX Copenhagen Keynote Speaker
Dear Boss, You Need Help.
“I was talking to two Danish design leaders after your talk, and they both said ‘I want to be like Rachel!’ So proud to know you — and so proud to have had you on stage! Come back any time.”
— Helle Martens, Conference Organizer
Dropbox Design Craft Summit Keynote Speaker
The Art of Critique
“Over 75% of our survey respondents rated your session as ‘highly impactful’ as it relates to Craft. Nice work!”
— Joanna Vargas, Former DPM Dropbox & Summit Host
California College of the Arts Workshop Facilitator
Designing Your Career
“Thank you again for the Designing Your Career workshop today! Your presentation was inspiring and invaluable. Looking forward to Part 2 of the series.”
— Erica Ales, DMBA Student & Workshop Participant (Class of 2023)