As Head of the HPI d-school, I have come full circle. My passion for human-centered innovation started when I was a student here shortly after the d-school had opened. Ever since, I have applied and teached Design Thinking in various roles: in service design projects and professional trainings in corporations; in creative confidence workshops with teachers and students in remote Himalayan villages; and as a coach for students and professionals at the d-school. After graduating from d-school, I co-founded Dark Horse, a creative consultancy in Berlin. With 30 co-founders, all of us d-school alumni, we were looking for a new way to organize our fledgling agency. We found it by radically implementing Design Thinking principles into our structures. In the process, we became new work pioneers. As Managing Director at Yunus Social Business, I worked with international teams in corporations to create and amplify social innovations. Now, back to the d-school, I can continue to combine creativity with structure and innovation with impact.
Monika Frech
(She / Her)