Robyn Kanner’s personal story is twisty and beautifully American. Largely self-taught, She fought hard to find her voice, and has battled bullies, addiction and self-doubt on her path to purpose. She, alongside Carahna Magwood, led a design team that effectively imbued the Biden Harris ticket with an uplifting, hopefulness that stressed reliability, inclusive values and unification. From the hot pink Biden & Lady Gaga promos, to unifying red-blue gradients. Robyn’s is a story of acceptance, healing, hard work, creativity and community - and feels as bright and hopeful as a victory gradient.

Airbnb Co-Founder & CEO, Brian Chesky, grew up playing hockey and asking Santa for poorly designed toys so he could redesign them. A self-described “peculiar” kid obsessed with art, no one pegged him as a future CEO. He studied industrial design at RISD where he also met his future business partner. After soaring global success, Airbnb, having suffered dramatic losses due to coronavirus, is getting back to its creative values and making meaningful contributions in the modern crisis of connection.

This special Clever Extra, recorded live at RISD as the keynote presentation of Design Week RI, four creative thought leaders come together for a discussion on the power of creativity. As a social value, creativity often gets dismissed as “making things pretty” rather than being understood as the fundamental impulse and effort behind every creation. Here, with Panelists Rosanne Somerson, Sara Ossana, Umberto Crenca and Sophie Chien, we are discussing creativity as a core component of personal empowerment.

The President of Rhode Island School of Design, furniture designer/maker Rosanne Somerson was considered a rabble rouser in her youth for attempting to take a woodshop class while being female. Undeterred, she found her way to a BA in Industrial Design from RISD and built her name as a leader in the studio furniture movement. Now the president of RISD, having also co-founded RISD’s Furniture Design department, is carving new ways forward for arts and design education and championing the power of boredom.