d.school fellow 2007-2008

Fractured lives come together at the d.school, a place that unifies skills and interests that many of us had to pursue separately before. How can you be passionate about infant care in rural Nepal and also committed to projects for fortune 500 companies? You can at the d.school.

The range of opportunity she has found in a single place has amazed Lia. Her craftiness, strategic mind, and build-to-think learning style come together in a place where she has coached senior executives in customer-focused innovation and worked with social entrepreneurs from around the world to tackle challenges in developing products that create social and economic value. Big, messy challenges interspersed with 6th-grade brainstorming sessions on how "not to get caught texting during class" and the occasional hour with a drill or paintbrush makes the d.school a natural home for Lia.

At the d.school Lia works with superstar d.thinking athletes to design collaborative workspace and immersive learning environments, develop transformative experiences for teaching teams and create curriculum for design thinking workshops. She has become a (design)process-junkie over the past year and is also motivated to share the spirit of the d.school to prospective fellows during the recruiting process for the upcoming year.

Before the d.school, Lia spent time in Product Development and Business Development/Strategy following degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Business (MBA). She has taken products from concept to commercialization and loves the exploratory nature of early-stage product definition as much as the hands-dirty nature of making it happen.

Ask Lia about her scooter, artwork by Nicolai Erngren, a business plan that made a 35-year venture capitalist blush, what it's like to find yourself alone in a Costa Rican rainforest on your birthday and a memorable 10.6 mile race in Big Sur.