Charting a just digital future
It was the beginning of Covid and our relationship with technology was changing, drastically and quickly. The HBS Digital and Gender Initiatives set out to learn how tech can further divide or disadvantage people because of built-in biases. One thing about academic work… it can take a long time to make change in the world. You'll see one of our goals was to create action plans for tech workers to put the research to use.
Project role
Communications director, creative director
Responsibilities
Developed comms strategy and plan for project; created concept for “Slack chats,” social clips, and using a new tool to add community voices to the work; led email and social campaigns; guided creative for video interviews; spearheaded impact measuring: how we were shifting perspectives
Brief
The time was 2020. It was Covid. We had Zoom and a dream.
Process
We went from strategy to impact, navigating ambiguity and centering community every step of the way.
It started with a listening tour to surface topics our community cared about. We then sourced expert voices, launched a video interview series, and hosted gathering to share insights. From there, we formed civic leadership cohorts and built action plans together.
Branding
We co-built this project with the community, designing with and for those most impacted. To reflect that spirit, I chose a hand-sketched, explorative visual style—a deliberate contrast to Harvard’s reputation to project authority. Every design decision aimed to break down hierarchy and signal that we were on the journey together.
Storyboarding
The storyboards for the project trailer were detailed and ambitious. We created the vision in house and worked with an animator to bring it to life.
Experimenting with new tech
Just Digital Future was a two-way street of learning in every nature. To play this out, I found a newly released tool (VideoAsk) that allowed us to have async video/audio/ text conversations with our community. Here are our video podcast hosts recording questions for the community.
Our community responded
Responses were sent in from all over the world and we turned some of them (with permission of course) into the opening video of our summit event where we revealed findings.
Following the event, we launched community cohorts to turn insights into action — offering coaching, tools, and clear next steps to spark workplace change. Just Digital Future piloted a new research model grounded in co-creation and near-term impact. The project gained recognition across Harvard as a replicable approach: test, learn, scale — with the community at the center.
