This document summarizes a Women in Innovation event featuring Melanie Kahl discussing embracing a multifaceted career. The event focused on strategies for articulating one's diverse skills and perspectives, uncovering insights from the intersections of those perspectives, and capturing wisdom from nonlinear career paths. Attendees shared perspectives and career twists in breakout sessions, discussing how embracing complexity can empower innovative leadership. The goal is to feel more aligned and empowered in navigating unique career paths by celebrating one's full self and story.

1. WOMEN IN INNOVATION Mind Salon
Embracing your
Multifaceted Career
–
with Melanie Kahl

2. Read the summary:
bit.ly/WINsalon-multifacetedcareer
“When you’re in alignment,
it feels magical.
And when you’re out of
alignment, it feels muddled”

3. WOMEN IN INNOVATION
OUR MISSION & VISION
WIN: Women in Innovation is an
international nonprofit
organization headquartered in New
York City built to close the
GENDER GAP in innovation.
WIN envisions a world where WOMEN in
innovation are equitably represented in
positions of AUTHORITY and INFLUENCE
where they can define and design a
better FUTURE FOR US ALL.
Replace with WIN
image in color
WIN x FJORD, 2017

4. WOMEN IN INNOVATION
The gender gap in innovation is a microcosm of the
persistent and pervasive gender gap in leadership.
Women make up less than 10% of the innovation labor
pool. Hispanic and African American individuals make
up 2% and less than 1% respectively.
Which means that the people building, designing, and
architecting our future are not reflective or inclusive of
the communities they serve.
We’re working to change that.

5. WOMEN IN INNOVATION
WHAT WE DO
We address the root causes of the gender gap in innovation through:
01. ACTION-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING
02. IMPACT-DRIVEN COMMUNITY
03. AMPLIFYING DIVERSE VOICES
04. INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS
www.womenininnovation.co

6. Melanie Kahl
INTRODUCING MELANIE

7. 01 💬 Hellos
02 Story & Overview
03 💬 Insights at your intersections
04 Gather & Share
05 💬 A twist in your trail
04 Closing
OUR TIME
BREAKOUT
BREAKOUT
BREAKOUT

8. HELLO!
Some formal roles I play...
Community-driven
innovation leader
Facilitator &
Experience designer
Organizational &
partnership alchemist
Dalberg Design • Facebook Perkins+Will • & Clients like Rockefeller, IDEO.org, Gates, USAID, UNHCR

9. HELLO!
Let’s get personal...
Urban explorer Gathering geek Semi-pro roadtripper

11. Practical
Hone your
point-of-view to
position and pitch
yourself professionally.
Personal
Feel more whole and
grounded in your story so
you can step into your
unique creative power.
Goal: Add or refine one new ingredient in your creative career narrative.
OUR GOALS

12. Choice
Share as much as you feel comfortable at your own pace.
Courage, Curiosity, & Care
Encourage and support your conversation partners.
Confidence
Support safety by keeping the privacy of others.
OUR NORMS

13. 💭Reflect - 2 minutes
How comfortable do you feel
sharing your story? Your
expertise? Why?
What is your intention for
this session?
01 - PERSONAL REFLECTION
BREAKOUT
BREAKOUT

14. 💬Hellos - 5 minutes
Share your name, intention, and one prompt below:
What is an interest
or hobby you had
growing up? How
does that shape
what you do today?
What is a community
or culture you are a
part of? How does
that influence your
perspective?
What’s an informal
role you play in your
studio or social
setting? What title
would you bestow
upon yourself?
01 - BREAKOUT

16. Breakthroughs
have often been
lead by the
dabblers & deeply
intersectional.
Darwin, Kepler, Michelangelo.
–
Where the ladies at?!

17. Design has prized
the t-shaped
person.
–

18. And new platforms
for work have
created new
opportunities for
multi-hyphenate
careers.
–

19. … but being intersectional,
multi-hyphenate, and t-shaped doesn’t
always feel good.
When you’re in alignment, it feels magical.
When you’re out of alignment, it feels muddled.
–

21. People

26. Fitting into a box has always
felt uncomfortable. I always
felt “too much” or “not
enough.” You might too.
But it’s at those
intersections where our
magic lies.

27. Strategy #1
Embrace &
articulate your
multi-hyphenate
self.
REFLECT
Strategy #2
Uncover insights
at your
intersections.
BREAKOUT
on perspectives
Strategy #3
Capture the
wisdom in your
winding road.
BREAKOUT
on paths
WIN SALON | Embracing your Multifaceted Career

28. Strategy #1
Embrace &
articulate your
multi-hyphenate
self.
Fitting into one box can
be stifling. There's power
in the multiplicity of your
skills and perspectives.
How might you celebrate,
rather than stifle, your
inner diversity?

31. Chosen Given
Professional discipline,
passions/hobbies,
interests, communities
Gender, Ethnicity,
Birthplace, Physical
qualities, Certain family
roles & religions

32. Examples
Professional or academic: Engineer • Social Worker • Teacher •
Scientist • etc
Interests: Dancer • Marathoner • Yoga instructor • Military •
Doula • etc
Given identity: First generation immigrant • Queer • Foster child,
Neurodiverse • Middle child • etc

33. MULTI-HYPHENATE
EXPERTISE
OR ROLE
YOUR
PERSPECTIVE
IT’S
VALUE
How does this shape your thinking? Why is it valuable?
YOGA
INSTRUCTOR
The importance of the mind-body experience,
physical discipline, spiritual practice
It’s helped me guide other human better.
Meetings & workshops feel more centered.
HEARING
LOSS
Adaptive and resourceful, Know what it is like to
not be heard or not hear
Made me a better listener. Has heightened
empathy and awareness in design research

34. 💭Reflect - 4 minutes
What perspectives most shape your
practice as an innovation practitioner?
List them. What does each give you?
If you had to pick your primary
perspectives, what would they be?
BREAKOUT
BREAKOUT
02 - PERSONAL REFLECTION

38. Anthropologist +
Learning design +
Yoga teacher
Observing cultures that
learn & move together
WORKPLACE AT NIKE
Management consulting +
Hospital strategy +
Violinist/Chamber Music
Community leadership
for public health systems
PUBLIC HEALTH DIRECTOR
Business design +
First generation +
Fantasy enthusiast
Re-imagining business that
build value for everyone
IDEO SYSTEMS DESIGNER
A few examples...

39. Distinct perspectives can
uniquely equip you as a
practitioner. How might
you articulate & position
your unique
perspectives?
Strategy #2
Uncover
insights at your
intersections.

40. Let’s do some creative math.
ingredient
one
ingredient
two
Your unique
perspective
ingredient
three
Identify an intersection
that gives you a unique
lens or skill set. Where
your hybridity is a
superpower. Where
1+1=3 or 1+1+1=5

41. 💬Look for insights at your intersections - 10
minutes
03 - BREAKOUT
In your trios, share 2-3
of your lenses and the
magic that occurs where
they meet.
Take 30 seconds to reflect
back to the sharer what
you appreciate about their
unique perspective and
why it is powerful.

42. 03 - BREAKOUT
Share back
What are some of the
unique perspectives in
the room?

43. We toggle between blazing
trails and craving paths,
feeling our career is a
tangle. We’re making our
own way.

44. “Wisdom often
wanders.”
ROBERT MOOR, “ON TRAILS”
on the paths of St. Augustine, Siddhartha,
Li Po, Thomas Merton, Maya Angelou
The truth is...

45. “To deftly navigate this world,
we will need to understand
how we make trails, and how
trails make us.”
ROBERT MOOR, “ON TRAILS”
We aren’t following set paths...

46. Embrace the complexity
of your path. How might
you reveal your inner
compass by sharing forks
in your path? What leaps,
gaps, and turns can you
illuminate?
Strategy #3
Capture the
wisdom in your
winding road.

47. 🛠 TOOL
Wisdom in your winding road
Leaps
Risks you took to
try or build
something new
There are some common patterns in wayfinding:
Forks
Decisions that
animated your
desires or values
Pauses
Gaps or sabbaticals
for recovery or
creativity
Detours
Side hustles,
adventures, or
significant hobbies

48. I took a leap…
...and turned down
business school to design
my own year of learning
and shift my design
career.
Two of mine...

49. I pushed pause…
...and took a sabbatical
after Facebook to work
on the campaign, take a
coaching course, and do
ceramics.
Two of mine...

50. 💬Share your waymaker wisdom - 10 minutes
03 - BREAKOUT
Share a twist in your
career path that you
may not usually disclose
(a decision, risk, pause, or
side hustle). What wisdom
did you gain from it?
Take 30 seconds to
encourage the sharer. What
do you notice or appreciate
about their twists and
turns?

51. Strategy #1 - Multiplicity
Embrace & articulate your
multi-hyphenate self
Strategy #2 - Intersections
Uncover insights at your
intersections
Strategy #3 - Winding
Capture the wisdom in
your winding road
Let’s
recap.

52. “And so we return, once again, to the essential
question: How do we select a path through life?
Which turns should we take? To what end? To be
able to answer these questions, deftly and with
foresight, is what we mean when we say someone is
wise. Wisdom — not intelligence, not cleverness,
not even moral goodness, but wisdom—is what
guides us through the unknown.”
ROBERT MOOR, “ON TRAILS”
How might we be wise leaders
carving new trails? What brave blazes
might we leave for others to follow?

53. WOMEN IN INNOVATION
NEXT STEPS
Try it out.
Pick one intersection or fork in your
road to share next time you’re asked.
Consider: What might it mean to work
at this intersection in the future?

54. Share what’s next
on your horizon.
_
💬 @melaniekahl
📸 @melanie_kahl
💌 melanie.kahl@gmail.com
FACILITATION • TRANSITION DESIGN •
EXPERIENCE DESIGN • COMMUNITY-DRIVEN
CHANGE AND EMERGENT STRATEGY