Designing New Futures: In Conversation With Denise Shanté Brown

In this conversation with Amirio Freeman, holistic design strategist Denise Shanté Brown asks: "How can we design flows, spaces, time together, in a way that involves us leaning into our whole selves to show up? Making space for black womxn to show up fully? And that includes the rage, the fear, the anxiety, our sense of imagination and possibility [...] and all of that without the burden of needing to wonder how comfortable or uncomfortable someone in that space is..." From reflecting on liberation to exploring wellbeing, Denise offers us a beautiful blueprint for seeding new futures in this powerful podcast episode.

Guest:
As a queer disabled entrepreneur, holistic design strategist, writer and creative healer, Denise brings forth abundant possibilities for wellbeing through collaborative creativity and community-led practices. She’s the Founding Director of Black Womxn Flourish, a design for wellbeing collective that’s shaping the future of Black womxn’s health and healing to redefine what it means to be well and conjure creative spaces where Black womxn can bring more just, pleasurable and flourishing futures into existence. In 2019, Denise was invited to be a panelist at Harvard’s Black in Design conference, “Black Futurism: Creating a More Equitable Future” to share her work on creating spaces for wellness and joy. This year, she began co-organizing on the Design Justice Network steering committee where they use design to imagine and build the worlds we need to live in and are committed to rethinking design processes so that they center people who are too often marginalized by design and systems of power. With roots in the Shenandoah Valley, Denise currently lives and works in Baltimore where she continues to be guided by her life’s work mantra, “design can facilitate healing, healing is a creative process, and creativity blooms new futures.”

Recommended Resources:

Meet Black Womxn Flourish, Shades Collective Artist Highlight

on self-recovery, bell hooks

If We Want Design to be a Tool for Liberation, We’ll Need More Than Good Intentions, Design Justice Network

Design Justice: Community-Led Practice to Build the Worlds We Need, Sasha Constanza-Chock

Designing Futures with Care: Finding Our Way to Different Worlds Together, Tara Campbell + Ariana Luutterman

To Work and to Love, dorothee solle

Poetry is Not a Luxury, audre lorde

Vibe Watch & Life Is a Flow of Love (spotify playlists by Denise)

Tibetan Singing Bowl Sound Meditation by Nicole Windle