A tool-builder and teacher, Elizabeth Talerman works with organizations to establish meaning, clarify purpose, streamline decision-making, and turn strategy into action. With a background in marketing, communications, and brand building, she uses evidence-based research methods to identify patterns that lead to the insights necessary for creating binding connections, accelerating growth, or catalyzing change. A recent recipient of a MacArthur grant for work on engaging new generations in efforts to reduce the threat posed by nuclear weapons, Elizabeth is also the leader of Nucleus Strategy, on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts’s graduate program in branding, a frequent lecturer at Barnard College, and on the boards of PopTech and Mohawk Fine Papers.

Emily Rothschild is an industrial designer and educator with a background in fine arts, art history, and curatorial studies. Prior to attending Graduate School at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), she worked for museums and art education organizations in New York City. Upon graduating with a MID from RISD in 2008, Emily started her own line of objects and jewelry and cofounded the design firm Hello, We Are ____. The firm works with teams of designers and makers on research-based design projects ranging from cookware to medical design. Their work has been featured in Time magazine, The New York Times, and the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum. Emily teaches graduate and undergrad studios in industrial design at RISD and Parsons School of Design.