ITS ALL ABOUT CREATIVE CONFIDENCE!
'Rotis gonna rotate, tomatoes gonna tomate, and potatoes gonna potate, YOU DO YOU!'- Priyanka Chopra Jonas
Life is a game of snakes and ladders! I genuinely believe that you will miss to be mesmerised by life, and all its the twisted alleys and hidden gems, if you choose to stick to strictly prescribed routines of what you can or cannot do! I strongly believe that I live my full potential through constant experimentation and dipping my toes in known and unknown areas. I hope the previous section inspired you to live yours!
MY PROJECTS
I seldom like containing myself in a box of 1 (literally-you'd know if you saw me buy doughnuts at a food market!). This is why I chose to name my website 1Flavour *at a time*!
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Amongst the many things that impacted me while using various design tools to build creative confidence in these cohorts, my unequivocal treasure has been the ability to bring play to work, to laugh at myself and embrace the complexity of integrative thinking and peer learning.
The following section is a glimpse into my journey of facilitation, design thinking, writing, speaking and event management.
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GUEST SPEAKER, INTERSECTIONAL CREATIVITY AND CONFIDENCE
I discussed my personal journey across the course of her degree(s) and what sparked my interest in creativity as a tool for reframing problems and envisioning what might be. I shared my thoughts on the role of gratitude and affirmations as creative concepts, both of which are central to a children's book I am currently writing on creative confidence and what value these might hold in students' growth and development as creatives and soon to be graduates. For suggestions on how to increase your creative confidence, check out this toolkit carefully curated just for you!
LEAD FACILITATOR, EUTOPIA INCLUSION CONFERENCE
I led a team of 4 Innovation Fellows at University to facilitate a 3 hour workshop for students on 'Inclusion in Higher Education' using concepts such as the Wheel of Power, concepts of intersectional identity and belonging, and design thinking tools and processes.
The free inter-generational workshop aimed at children from Year 5 and 6 entailed them building amusement park rides using Lego Blocks and look at ways to understand what centrifugal force means and how it applies to the building of this ride, along with taking into account considerations of space, seats, safety, stability in the carousel. These Young Engineers worked with parents and peers to design and build theme park rides to add to Coventry the City of Culture.
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At the end of the workshop, kids took home a certificate of completion along with some Lego bricks and Lego mini figure crayons as mementos of a job well done!
The Warwick Sustainability Challenge was renewed for a version 2.0 (whoop whoop🥳), this time being used by the Warwick Estates with a focus on waste on campus. This time, I kicked off with a group check-in exercise to help participants embrace any discomfort as they grow their creative confidence outside the boxes they have rigidly been confined in. I introduced Design Thinking using Kunal Dewalwar's story of the famous Galawati Kebabs, followed by other tools such as Empathy Mapping, How-Might-We, and the Crazy-8's among others, and how to apply these to address the University's water problem
SPEAKER, THE NATIONAL MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE COLLEGE
I spoke to students at the College about my degree and my dissertation on the power of Disruptive Donuts in Engineering, touching upon the wide range of inter-disciplinary STEM careers. My favorite part was showing them the inner workings of my mind, as an engineers who doesn't fit the traditional stereotypes (isn't white or male and comes from a social sciences/arts and humanities background). I reflected on how I used my experience in arts and languages (as a polyglot) coupled with my fascination with children's TV, games and historical fiction, in the context of engineering. I also talked to them about themes of equity and inclusion using the 'Flower of Power' based off Sylvia Duckworth's 'Wheel of Privilege' and also ran an interactive ideation activity called the 'crazy-8's' to get them thinking about how they can make engineering more inclusive.
I facilitated a group of 50 students as part of the EUTOPIA Innovation Conference 2022 to use design thinking to Mainstream Innovation in Universities and become Sustainable Change Makers in their Universities. I used tools from the 'Design for Belonging' website, as well as created a few with my own spin to it such as the Flower of Power (to understand factors driving participation Innovation in Sustainability in Universities) and Empathy Maps where students imagined what tools and strategies they'd use to engage their favourite characters in innovation in university (if they were real!). The aim of the exercise was to build new interdisciplinary ways to engage people who might conventionally not be interested in participating in sustainable innovation. For instance, some students considered Mr.Bean and his love for movies, and how research can be disseminated in a video or documentary format to make it more accessible for certain groups of people. By doing this, we don't lose out on golden insights of those with meaningful voices (which includes us all as we are all affected by the 'un'-sustainable innovation!)
As Design Facilitator during the Warwick Sustainability Challenge, I created a wellbeing check-in meditation to ease in participants. Following this, I facilitated teams to use design thinking tools such as mind mapping, story telling, double diamond and user journeys to frame, reframe and finally curate solutions to sustainable public transport in Coventry. Outputs and winning entries can be found here
DESIGN FACILITATOR, WARWICK VLE
I facilitated a cohort of 6 students from different years and departments whom I guided to uncover how Moodle and the virtual learning environment (VLE) at Warwick could be improved to improve aesthetic and visual appeal in addition to its functionality, usability and most of all emotionality (how it made students feel- calm, at ease, overwhelmed, or anxious). The cohort then tried to dig deeper into the reasons behind challenges faced, for instance, by empathising with academic staff, VLE content creators and technical support staff, so as to better understand what solutions can look like and what we need to get there.
Snakes and Ladders is a podcast on the Salsa Dance that is navigating the 3Ps, namely people (mental health and wellbeing), places (design) and planet (sustainability) : at times we come forward, climbing ladders and reaching new heights, at other times we go backward after being bit by failure (a snake). More recently, I have ventured into the Authentic Voices Project, capturing student voices on how to decolonize, queer and diversify curriculum at Warwick.
DESIGN CO-FACILITATOR, WARWICK MBS
In this 7-hours workshop designed for the staff of MBA staff at Warwick's Business School and the Shard, I helped Ed Watson, the lead facilitator, guide teams use practical and playful design thinking tools such as the User Journey, Stakeholder Mapping, How Might We statements, and the Rose-Thorn-Bud Feedback, to improve the way teams organise themselves and share workloads to create opportunities. At the end of this workshop, teams came up with solutions to implement for more enhanced collaboration and co-ordination within and across teams.
SUSTAINABILITY WORKSHOP FACILITATOR
As part of the Slice of Science event, I brought to life science and sustainability through interactive workshops and an inspiring presentation for families with young children – an intergenerational learning approach and to excite them with little tidbits on how to become more sustainable. The event included tabletop science demonstrations to enjoy: top trumps, up-cycling plant pots, designing your own sustainability superhero, sustainability donut engineering, and a sustainability pledge tree, with prizes given away for the best superheroes and donuts!
SPEAKER, RAW
I spoke to the Head of Speech and Entertainment at RAW about my experiences with mental-health and wellbeing since I first joined Warwick in 2018. I touched upon topics of guilt and shame when asking for help, first scares when being vulnerable friends, family and strangers, how University support services can be transformed to better serve students' needs, and the change in conversations on mental-health amongst students in general and within friendship groups since 2018.
As a young change-maker, I was invited to speak on how ‘Designing for a Wellbeing Economy’ can help empower young people to act against Climate Change. The talk was followed by an interactive Q and A round where I answered questions posed by young people and engaged with their ideas on a wellbeing economy
I have been involved in creating meaningful opportunities for amplifying youth voices on the kind of world they wish to thrive in. I have connected and collaborated with young people from different parts of the world (we have hubs in Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia), to better understand the unique barriers they face in actualising their ideas (fundraising, lack of access to mentorship opportunities, etc.) and help bridge these gaps to help foster solutions to local economic, environmental and/or social problems. I do this by facilitating community calls to bridge knowledge gaps (on topics like growing food locally and the circular economy). Some of the speakers we have called in the past have been Wendy Ellyatt, Leader of the Flourish Project, Rob Shorter and the Communities and Arts Lead at DEAL (Doughnut Economics Action Lab), Diana Finch from Bristol Pay and Dr. Bo Kelestyn from the University of Warwick. I am currently creating a fundraising proposal to introduce fair compensations for team members. If you wish to know more about WEAll Youth, don't forget to check out our North Star (vision strategy), our latest partnership with WWF, EU, and of course our socials!
As Design Thinking Coach during the Warwick Employability Challenge held on MS Teams, I oversaw small teams of diverse members from different academic departments and professions, including both students and staff, many of whom had no prior training in design thinking, to co-create solutions to employability at Warwick. I trained participants to use design thinking tools and methodologies in a digital space (from storytelling, to the crazy-8s, mind-mapping and the 30 circles challenge among others, etc.) to co-create solutions to employability at Warwick. I nudged participants to draw on the diversity of their experiences and viewpoints, share stories, explore what ‘employability’ meant to them.
The co-creation workshop enhanced critical engagement through shared learning by strengthening collaboration between staff and students. Furthermore, it increased the visibility of ‘employability’ and the importance of student voices in these conversations.
Lastly, I offered my reflections on the way teams interacted and engaged to reveal hidden patterns. I will be presenting some of the key takeaways from the workshop at the Employability Symposium (April, 2022).
As a fresher, I remember struggling with what economics meant to me, asking myself and others around me how it can help me contribute to the world in a way that was needed and was fulfilling to me. As I became more self-aware, I learned to listen to my inner voice. Like a plant that had outgrown its pot, my turbocharged inner voice was asking me to PLAY BIG! The glass ceiling of this greenhouse, I once made home, had been shattered: Since then, I have been a strong advocate of reforming education so that it is engaging and perfectly tailored to students’ needs.
I founded the Rethinking Economics Society in first year, where, as events officer, I invited external speakers from different schools of economics. The event which garnered a participation of over 50 (students and staff) challenged traditional narratives built in the curriculum at University and guided students on how to engage with complex issues in the economy from a pluralist lens, in a manner that best serves the needs and challenges of our current times. While engaging with diverse members of team, staff and students made me inter-culturally sensitive, being the only woman in the executive team (then) made me more assertive in presenting my ideas and opinions, even when they were not in agreement with the status quo.
BRAND AMBASSADOR, PROTECT YOUR MOM, UAE
As Brand Ambassador of PYM, a non-profit organisation that aims to create awareness on Breast Cancer, I have planned and organized a fun filled event of various segments such as dance, singing and poetry, all of which revolved around the theme of increasing awareness of breast cancer. The participants were students who came from different age groups, schools, and were of different abilities.
BRAND AMBASSADOR, GREEN GLOBE, UAE
Back home in Dubai, I spearheaded a ‘Plastic over Paper’ Campaign in my neighbourhood, as Brand Ambassador of Green Globe, when I identified the increasing usage of plastic bags in local supermarkets, despite the introduction of a tax. I spread word of the event on social media and conducted a best out of waste workshop to teach children in the neighbourhood how to make attractive bags from newspapers and gift paper. The campaign attracted 30 student participants, who were from different schools and of different ages (between 5-13 years). They not only made their own creative paper bags but nudged several staff and customers, especially families with children to bring their own skilfully crafted paper bags while shopping.
YOUTH MEMBER, INCREDIBLE EDIBLE
I was chosen to represent Incredible Edible at a workshop on Community Inclusion, organised by the New Economy Programme in UK. Additionally, I was briefly involved in planning Leamington Spa’s response to the climate emergency
ART WORKSHOP FACILITATOR
In the summer of 2019, I took the initiative to teach 9 of the students of the Rashid Paediatric Center, a center for young people with special learning needs in Dubai, how to make pop-up cards at a Diwali (Indian festival) party hosted by one of the children of the centre. I brought the required material, and demonstrated to the children each of the steps to follow. At the end of the activity, the children successfully produced their own pop-up cards. They enjoyed the experience, and also seemed confident of making similar cards on their own, for different occasions in the future.
More importantly, it was an opportunity for me to interact and engage with peers from another school. I could not think of a better way to celebrate the festival of lights than to interact with so many young people with different abilities from different backgrounds, beliefs and faiths.