Nicole B

5th Year Industrial Design Major, Studio Lead for Design for America (DFA): DFA is a national network of students of all majors that use design innovation for social good.  Each semester, we break into teams and find challenges in the community we are passionate about and use the human-centered design process to understand, develop empathy and ideate solutions.

• Why I joined the organization + What I do: I admittedly joined Design for America (DFA) as a first year because it has the word “design” in it. However, upon joining the organization and participating, I have learned so much more than design. DFA has allowed me to discover my passion in design research, thinking and strategy – applying design to build empathy and help others. At DFA I am a studio lead – I run the UC chapter of our national organization. I focus on mostly on operational logistics for the organization as a whole – recruiting, planning events, and helping guide team leads as they lead projects. I could not do anything without the support of the DFA team – and I’m so grateful to work with such brilliant, dedicated, and passionate leaders.

• How the UHP Leadership Roundtable helped + what I learned: The UHP Student Leadership Roundtable opened my eyes to the experiences of leaders across campus. As a studio lead at DFA, I thought that I was alone in facing challenges, but working with others has taught me that I am not. So many other talented student leaders also are facing challenges when it comes to recruitment and member retainment due to co-op. This round table gave me a lot of hope and tools to work through some of our struggles. For instance, hearing about how other student orgs build new leaders by establishing mentor programs and shadowing roles was enlightening. As was learning about different fundraising techniques and ways to make members feel engaged and included. I am grateful that I have been able to participate in this group, learn so much from my peers and feel excited about the future of student organizations across campus.