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. Rachel acted as advisor for 2024’s HOW Design program too.

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 80+ engagements and can flex across in-person and virtual experiences.
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.
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.
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.

Schedule a Call

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

2023

2022

2021

CCA | San Francisco, CA
Institute of Possibility | Virtual
Microsoft Design Week | Virtual
WP Creative Group Team | Virtual

2020

2019

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

2015

2014

REACH Conference | Princeton, NJ
University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, PA

2013

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…

HOW Design Live Speaker
Designing Your Career

“Rachel’s insightful, empathetic talk on Designing Your Career was the perfect balance of the practical and philosophical.”
— Max Ottignon, Co-Founder of Ragged Edge

LinkedIn Design Week Speaker
Futureproofing Brand with Visual Design

“Great feedback from the team! Folks were even talking about it at happy hour. They wished we had more time with you and thought that you had great insights.”
— Sarah Mangerich, Sr. Design Program Manager, Employee Events & Communications at LinkedIn

Birmingham Design Festival Speaker
Futureproofing Brands

“Your talk was one of the first to sell out at the festival this year. Congrats!”
— Poppy Thaxter, Staff Writer for The Brand Identity

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, Former DMBA Student & Workshop Participant (Class of 2023)

Get in Touch

Email / Instagram / Threads / X
LinkedIn / Read.cv

Photography provided by conference organizers.

Speaking

Speaking

Judging

Moderating

Facilitating

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

A few recent highlights…

Get in Touch

Email / Instagram﻿ / Threads / XLinkedIn / Read.cv

🔥
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

Email / Instagram / Threads / X
LinkedIn / Read.cv