Hi! 👋 I’m Catherine Woodiwiss. Thanks for visiting.
My work is about what it means for us to be robustly human, in a world increasingly made for algorithms.
Right now, I’m building the Social Healing Project, an R+D lab for products that support relational healing + meaningful connection, in partnership with scientists, designers, and artists around the world.
I’m a co-founder of Liminal Learning, an existential summer camp for young people ages 18-23, helping them to explore and develop lives of meaning + purpose.
I write This feels important*, a collection of essays + sketches investigating how we belong to each other. I’m contributing to a forthcoming book from Fetzer Institute about collective healing practices + the social technologies of the future.
Around town, I host experiences and events that provide engaging space for things we fail at celebrating well (or talking about in public)! Recent events in Austin include: a collective birthday party at SXSW for people with overlooked January birthdays; a Valentine’s Day storytelling night for ex-love stories and ones that got away; poetry & fiction read-aloud gatherings on dark winter nights; a live-action mystery party. Up next: A pop-up play, starring veteran + first-time actors in an experimental venue.
My work is currently funded by the Templeton Foundation and GEMH (Games for Emotional & Mental Health) Lab.
By day, I geek out on systems maps and lead design research into partner experience & retail supply chain at H-E-B.
I’m opening up my calendar to curiosity conversations on Friday afternoons — reserve a time here!
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So what’s your background?
I’m glad you asked! I’m a journalist-turned-designer, with formal training in anthropology and serious reps in the worlds of international development, religion, public policy, service design, and social entrepreneurship.
Journalism is my first love and, for a time, was my dream career. (Peep some of my favorite stories here.)
Now my dream career is deep story + emergent praxis.
I like weaving together disparate communities and rituals. I enjoy keeping an imprudent number of conceptual balls in the air. Mostly, I like to work with minds across these fields, together, please!
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Got it. Help me locate you in industry ecosystem(s) … who have you worked with/for?
Here are a few of my colleagues, clients, and collaborators:
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 · Johns Hopkins University · Life Itself · Perspectiva · Solutions Journalism Network · South by Southwest (SXSW) · Templeton Foundation · USAID · Yoxi
The Atlantic · Books & Culture · The New York Times · Sojourners · Texas Monthly · ThinkProgress · The Washington Post
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What about your intellectual/spiritual ecosystems?
Great question. Start with Wendell Berry, Rebecca Solnit, and Terrence Malick, and let’s have a curiosity convo for more. Because if you’re asking that question, I want to chat!
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You mentioned hosting & mentoring?
Yes! Helping people experience meaning, intimacy, challenge, and growth — through gathering together — is one of my deepest gifts and greatest loves.
I lead strategy sessions; design activations; facilitate workshops; teach curricula; and host conversational salons, in Austin and around the world. Please reach out if you think you would value working with me on your upcoming gathering(s)!
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Anything else?
I’m a performer across mediums: music, acting, speaking. Ask me about my first-ever public speaking gig. It involves SXSW, a project demo, and two sets of missing teeth…
But I’m a “jam circle” performer at heart. “Yes-anding” with others was my hope on my first day of public school and it’s still my hope now. One of the projects I’m proudest of is Homestage DC, a DIT (do-it-together) musical network in Washington D.C., where we matched talented musicians with aspiring concert hosts & home venues for intimate, personal shows — all word-of-mouth, all $$ to the musicians, and all from the community, ground-up.
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If you’ve made it this far, I’d love to hear from you!
For now, I’ll leave you with this random link of delight (and my favorite ode to niche obsession producing something remarkable + hilarious … )
To great work + great fun,
Catherine
catherine.h.woodiwiss@gmail.com
Credit for this website formatting concept to May-Li Khoe, my colleague at the interaction design association (IxDA) ‘21 awards and one of my favorite designers. If you don’t yet know her excellent work, get to know it at the link!