Hi! 👋 I’m Catherine Woodiwiss. Thanks for visiting.
I’m a journalist-turned designer. Describing what I “do” these days is a tad challenging — my work is always in response to my environment, and right now, seismic disruptions are stretching and smushing our environments like silly putty. Climate disasters, AI, & the long tail of COVID are all acting as apocalypses for humanity in this moment: apocalypse meaning "lifting the veil." What do I think is being revealed? First, that our institutions (all of them, pick your flavor*) are not equipped to deliver meaning and character-formation in this moment. We no longer understand how to belong to each other on a structural level. Second, and what scares me more: I think we are very close to wide-scale forgetting that we do belong to each other ... and losing any appetite to.
On the other hand, every day I'm meeting individuals and groups who see this moment as an opportunity to name and claim what we most value, and are finding new ways to model collective life worth living. And that gives me very real excitement & hope*.
So what I'm up to at the moment is:
Sending out a bat signal for people who care deeply about developing what it means to be fully, robustly, lovingly, complexly, collectively alive. Collaboratively building & articulating new mental models and processes for doing life together — wisely, generously, hilariously, and courageously. And offering encouragement and support to others to join this great social project, in each of your unique and powerful ways.
Active Projects
🕯️ Hosting intimate events in Austin to remind us what nourishing, rich, fun social connection feels like. Recent examples: salons, dinner parties, seasonal rituals, existential field games, storytelling nights, pop-up theater, music jams.
🏛️ Building collective interventions into some of life’s most vulnerable moments, with teams in Canada, the US, and Europe. Live projects: For young people launching into adulthood: Liminal Learning. For people healing from major loss: The Social Healing Project. For people reimagining the future of capital, generosity, and relational wealth: Coralus.
REACH OUT FOR A “CURIOSITY CONVO” TO CHAT ABOUT THESE
What I’d Love From You!
🗣️ Facilitating groups from "here" to "there" is one of my favorite gifts. I'm equally comfortable in a boardroom and a backyard. Book me for a vision-setting & strategy session, project & culture-setting kickoff, reflective retro, gnarly conversation, or interdisciplinary design jam if you'd like an empathetic, agile, strategic, dynamic, and stress-free facilitator for your group gathering.
✍️ I write a Substack about society & belonging. Sign up to read it if you’re curious about hope-spotting in the apocalypse. I love writing & reporting for other publications. Assign me a story if you'd like a former editor, creative & expansive thinker, and deadline-/fact-checking-friendly writer on cultural trends, virtue questions, or design principles to write for yours (and peep my bylines below).
💌 My dance card for thoughtful, multidisciplinary, improvisational yes-and collaborators is always open. If that’s you, Say hi! I'd love to chat & see if we can play well together.
Past Work
For those of you who are interested in working with me and appreciate credentials, here's who I've written for, facilitated for, or built with:
📰 The Atlantic · The New York Times · Texas Monthly · The Washington Post · Sojourners · ThinkProgress · Books & Culture
🌐 American Association for the Advancement of Science · Austin Center for Design · Baylor University Science of Virtues Lab · Bloomberg Philanthropies · Center for American Progress · Colby College · College of William & Mary · Deloitte · European Commission on Culture & Creativity · Fetzer Institute · Games for Emotional & Mental Health · Guild of Future Architects · H-E-B · Interaction Design Association (IXDA) · Interintellect · iPortunus · Johns Hopkins University · Life Itself (Bergerac Hub) · Perspectiva · Solutions Journalism Network · South by Southwest (SXSW) · Templeton Foundation · USAID · Yoxi
To great work + great fun,
Catherine
catherine.h.woodiwiss@gmail.com