Introducing: Made In the Future
Over the years I’ve conducted a multitude of experiments that would show my commitment to driving the change I wanted to see in the design industry. As a Black woman and one of a few visible Black American design leaders in this industry, I was aware of the inherent undulation of progress and regression that can characterize a career for a POC, with getting started often being the most difficult phase. I wanted to do my part to contribute to a different narrative for those along different points in their career path.

I began with office hours using my time to support and coach promising underrepresented designers. Some of my early office hour participants have gone on to work at companies like Slack, Google, Twitter and others. It was through this investment I became aware that there were a group of talented folks in “the gap.” That if we could scale office hours we could accelerate more underrepresented designers in helping them to achieve major career milestones (i.e getting hired, promotion).

The gap is where opportunity meets readiness. These are ambitious people who can make demonstrable strides forward with a measured level of access, information and coaching.

This experience has been years in the making and is a natural evolution of the 100s of office hours that I’ve done over the past 5 years. The structure of the program is inspired by my time at Florida A&M University’s School of Business and Industry. In connecting to emerging design talent, it became clear the opportunity to move beyond just mentorship but cultivating a community and professional development experience that scaled my vision beyond a phone call. I am excited to see what more we learn along the way.

About the Experience:

Often, underrepresented designers find themselves distributed and isolated within the industry without close connections to relatable peers, and under mentored and sponsored by senior leadership. This impacts their professional opportunities, industry connections and ability to gain the skills necessary to navigate an upward career trajectory.

Made in the Future (MITF) is a 3-day design career-building summit fostering community and connection amongst preeminent design leaders and emerging underrepresented design talent via a series of curriculum-based immersive events and experiences.

50 fellows will be selected to receive a foundational professional development curriculum inclusive of the tools and insights to equip them along their career progression.

Following their summit experience they will be paired with a mentor who will support their goals and augment their talent.

This isn’t something that we’re only passionate about. Our friends in the design industry have stepped up to support talent in the gaps around their professional endeavors.

Folks like Katie Dill (Lyft), Halli (UENO), Kat Vellos , Mike Davidson (Invison), Jeff Mahacek (Nerd Wallet), Isha Kasliwal (Twitch), Laci Jordan (SLL Studios), Michael Bierut (Pentagram) and many others are some of the mentors Fellows will have access to.

Our Design Org partners — Facebook, Webflow, Netflix were early to answer our call to action to engage our vision for the future. As well as founding community partners and friends.

Who Am I:

My name is Kristy Tillman. I bring over 15+ years of experience in design working across industries.

With a mixture of experience like Head of Global Experience Design, Head of Communication Design, Design Director - I’ve been able to become acquainted with what it takes to be equipped for a myriad of design challenges and development as a designer. I’ve also led MICA students through the Flexible Design Studio workshop with a module on social impact design. I am a proud HBCU Alum ( FamU — Florida A&M University) and I studied design at Kansas City Art Institute.

I’ve been in design leadership, responsible for creating design teams from scratch and transitioning talent from entry level to design leadership. I am an Advisor for the Designer Fund and sit on the board of the Design Advisory Council for the University of Texas at Austin.

I’m a designer, investor and cultivator of a different kind of tomorrow one that harnesses the exponential addition of talent in the gaps. As you can imagine I’ve learned a lot along the way around growing my own talent and those around me in the realm of design.

What’s Next?

Over the next couple of weeks we’ll be hosting events and sessions with our partners and mentors to give a deeper dive. We’ll be opening up our applications later this month.

We couldn’t have done this ourselves. This experience also highlights the commitment of design leaders and corporate partners invested in doing their part to support burgeoning talent— you can see some of them here. We welcome more to join along this journey of cultivating the talent and impact of those in the gaps.
['Made In The Future Community']
['Diversity In Tech', 'Diversity And Inclusion', 'Design', 'Design Industry']