Jessica Helfand

2 months ago | designobserver.com | L’Oreal Thompson Payton |Delaney Rebernik |Ellen McGirt |Jessica Helfand

When the author and advocate learned to live with — and do — less, she found so much more. Christine Platt never had any intention to start a minimalist movement, but when her first book, The Afrominimalist’s Guide to Living with Less, was published in 2021 — amid the global COVID-19 pandemic — that’s exactly what happened. “I tried to mimic mainstream minimalism, but it was boring. It was awful.

2 months ago | designobserver.com | Ellen McGirt |Delaney Rebernik |Jessica Helfand |Lee Moreau

Soft rains come in spite of us. For the past week or so, a phrase has been knocking around in my mind that I cannot shake, so I share it with you now: There will come soft rains. “There Will Come Soft Rains”is the name of a beautiful short story by the science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, which he published in 1950 in response to World War II.

Jan 21, 2025 | designobserver.com | Jessica Helfand |Ellen McGirt |Lee Moreau

It is early winter, 2014, and I have just lost my husband to a brief but brutal illness. Friends check in on me, offering support as they are able, but this is a bleak moment, and I’m embarking on what appears to be a pretty lonely trail. My phone rings, and it is Véronique Vienne, inviting me to Paris to teach for a semester. “Is there a job opening?” I ask. “Just come,” she replies. “We’ll invent one.” And invent one we did.

Sep 20, 2024 | designobserver.com | Aimee Allison |Delaney Rebernik |Ellen McGirt |Jessica Helfand

On this episode of She the People with Aimee Allison we’re running numbers and getting grounded with political science professors. You’ll hear: an update from Equity Observer reporter L’Oreal Thompson Payton and Northwestern’s Tabitha Bonilla, PhD, about new polling demographics and information, plus Aimee’s conversation withTexas Woman’s University’s Christina Bejarano, PhD, and The Ohio State University’s Wendy Smooth, PhD.

Sep 11, 2024 | designobserver.com | Ellen McGirt |Jessica Helfand |Sheena Medina |Aimee Allison

Ovetta Sampson is the Director of User Experience Machine Learning at Google. In December 2023, Business Insider named Ovetta to their AI 100, a list of the 100 most influential people working in artificial intelligence. Her inclusion on that list is a refreshing addition. Sampson approaches her work with generative AI and machine learning as an activist, with a commitment to humanity and ethics.