My name is Melissa and independent from any job title I call myself a social impact creator. Which sounds a bit bold but it basically tries to say, that I am very passionate about creating a better tomorrow within my work, because there are so many things we could do better in this world. For example working on wellbeing, working together with nature in a biomimicry way instead of against it, using technology ethically and mindful or creating communities and jobs with the fundamental base of empowerment, wellbeing and belonging in mind. Fighting against all rage in the world or need for even more wealth.

Why I am driven to do this...

There is no simple answer to it. It was a journey.
My design and impact journey is driven by the curiosity of how to do good in the world with my profession as a designer. The journey started with a course in behaviour change for a better climate back in 2018  during my bachelor which kicked of  my lifestyle as a vegan and helped my body to get rid of an inflammation in my knee to finally be able to run again. For me this was a mental breakthrough.
‍
I grew personally and professionally as my beliefs shifted from the fascination for industrial design and experimentation with materials (C2C) towards integrating methods that encourage problem-solving and looking into the future of products, services and systems.
‍
During my Bachelor's in Product Design and work experiences, I designed for sustainable production in collaboration with manufacturers & users, designed exhibitions/learning experiences and co-creation workshops to enhance bio-economy participation. However, in this complex world, it doesn't seem easy to make a positive impact based on behaviour and the different parties in the ecosystem with their own beliefs.

Curious about how we can create sustainable transformation and pursue social innovation, I started my Master' at TU Delft. I learned how to integrate users, stakeholders and make the necessary steps towards the imagined future vision. Here I learned the methods and tools for problem-solving in multidisciplinary teams and how to discover what people want with experimentation like Problem / Solution Fit. Facilitating creativity and reflective processes became my most significant energy factor. At TU Delft I got lucky to find two partners in crime to create and finally integrated a mental health start up for students within the TU Delft. Big shout out to Neva and Vic. From there I took a job as experiment designer to practise social innovation, grasp business models, facilitate more and get in contact with even more interesting sectors, that want to make social and sustainable impact. What I realise is that every new sector, product or service is a beautiful learning curve, as every product service and people using or developing it are different. But what stays are the techniques to find out about the way we can make it work on a technically, organisationally and humans centred way.

Let's be creative, test and experiment together

I believe the best solutions come from testing, being creative, and experimenting together. Testing reveals what truly works, creativity opens new possibilities, and collaboration brings diverse perspectives that make ideas stronger. By mapping journeys, visualising opportunities, and building quick prototypes, we help everyone imagine not only the present but also future experiences — and see the problems and opportunities within their sector. This shared process creates solutions that people genuinely want and will use.
‍
‍