Technically Speaking with Harrison Wheeler

In this first-ever Technically Speaking live stream from the SF Design Week, Harrison Wheeler talks on stage with Alyssa Hart and Mercy Bell, the creators of T4ke Care, a unique virtual wellness event and platform. Join in and listen to Mercy and Alyssa’s journey creating this beautiful multi-sensory project built on heartwarming human stories. 

Jump straight into:

(01:36) - Who are Mercy Bell and Alyssa Hart? The journey that led them into the wellness world and creating T4ke Care.

(07:02) - What makes this wellness event unique? The audio and multi-sensory experience of T4ke Care.

(11:37) -  The everyday storytellers of the true self-care journey and how Alyssa and Mercy captured these stories. 

(17:15) - Lessons learned and the project’s future: The beauty of vulnerability and collaboration.

(22:12) - Breaking down the story: The meta-tags to curate the experience and some of Alyssa’s and Mercy’s favorite stories. 

(30:37) - From the corporate space to wellness: How to find and maintain balance.

(36:06) - How can you be a part of the T4ke Care housewarming?

(38;13) - Q&A time: The future of T4ke Care, how to contribute to the project, and Mercy's karaoke moment. 

Episode Resources:

Connect with Mercy through LinkedIn

Connect with Alyssa through LinkedIn

Brandon Anthony 

Weird Little Lines

Automattic

Season 3 of the Technically Speaking podcast is dropping soon recorded live during this years, San Francisco Design Week. Harrison Wheeler has discussions with a host of guests including Maurice Cherry, Mercy Bell and Alyssa Hart, Mathew Barnes, Julia Fernandez, Mathew Barnes, Aladrian Goods, Anj Cheng, Nannearl Brown, Anna Kuforiji, and Priyanka Mohan.

Harrison Wheeler reflects on the first year of the Technically Speaking podcast; from software, hardware, post production, guest selection and whats next.

Todays guest is Principle Designer and Executive Director of the Inneract Project that is now 16 years running strong Maurice Woods.

We discuss the origins of the Inneract project and its mission to empower underrepresented youth through design education and opportunities to explore design in career and life.

During the show we reflect on how his professional basketball career played Brought on the duality of existing in different spaces and how the mentorship of the prolific Seattle based music and design pioneer Tony Gable kept him on the right track.

"You learn a lot when you're around a lot of different people from different perspectives and see the world differently when you have, you know, existed in all these various different spaces in places."

Lily Konings and I have a wide ranging conversation about the importance of empowerment.

Back in December Lily played a major role as the founder of the Lift Her Wealth conference which touch on financial literacy across personal finance, retirement, investing and more. It all started out of a viral tweet that resulted in 15 speakers, and more than 4,300 sign ups. We'll dive into some her learnings throughout the process and what's next.  

Later in the show, we talk about the importance of advocating for yourself when it comes to career growth, her concept of an ideal product organization and some of the struggles that she had with burnout back in 2020.

Todays conversation is around connection. Around 60% or so of Americans were reporting, feeling lonely on a regular basis. What do we do when we don’t have the physical connection in a socially distanced world. In this episode my guest is Kat Vellos, creative, facilitator, and author of the book, We Should Get Together.

We dive into her journey from designer to entrepreneur, the importance facilitation and the four seeds of connection so you want to stay tuned in.

• We Should Get Together 
• Kat Vellos on Twitter
• Kat Vellos on Instagram
• Personal Website
• Bay Area Black Designers

You thought I was only dropping one After Hours segment on you. No, I've got to, you know, in this one, it's one of my favorite guests on the show. It's Theresa slate. She's a design lead at Northern Trust in Chicago.

So this segment is an extension of episode 12, around Enterprising Innovation. And in that discussion, we sent her around building out of legacy systems, enterprise experiences, and the challenges associated with that.  

Our discussion naturally touches on three areas.  The first being around design ethics and what that means, especially in 2021. What does accountability look like? And finally, Theresa reframes the phrase, "getting a seat at the table" to "blowing up the table". So you don't want to miss what she means by that.  

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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/gettechnical/support

We are back for our third installment of After Hours. If you all aren't familiar with the concept of after hours, it is essentially an extension of episodes that we've recorded throughout our past seasons. In this case is a continuation of my conversation with Farai Madzima on the Craft of Management. 

We reflect a bit on my journey into design and management. And the importance of paving the way for underrepresented groups into careers of design. As always, If anything comes to mind, you have any thoughts, questions, or comments. Feel free to hit me up on Twitter @hmwheele or the Technically Speaking @gettechnicalpod. Enjoy!   

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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/gettechnical/support

Black designers make up 3% of the entire industry.That was the report that came out of the 2019 AIGA design census report. 

That includes graphic designers, illustrators, web designers, UX designers, a wide sweeping set of roles. This number is also the foundational problem addressed by an initiative turn movement called where are the black designers? It was co-founded by my guests in this episode, Mitzi Okou. We walked through exciting developments in her career and the origins behind the, Where Are The Black Designers movement and what's in the organization's future.

• https://www.mitziokou.com/


• http://www.wherearetheblackdesigners.com

What does the path of getting into UX design look like? Julia and Vicky share their experience moving into the design industry around and their motivation to start their group, Students of UXD to help empower the next generation of aspiring designers.

They'll share tips on where to start and how you can get involved in the group.

Students of UXD

• Website - http://www.studentsofuxd.com 


• Instagram - http://www.instagram.com/studentsofuxd


• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/students-of-uxd/

Vicky Vo

• Website - https://vickyvo.me/


• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/uyenvickyvo/

Julia Fernandez

• Website - https://juliafernandez.design/


• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adesignwoman/


• YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC62zckgvlesIXR_SGnxFM6w