experience designer • consultant • speaker • applying the psychology of well-being
The Strengths Celebration was a two-day event for employees of the Santa Monica – Malibu Unified School District office in May 2022. The participatory program focused on the science of well-being and the concept of character strengths, trait-like positive qualities that reflect our values.
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Other People Movement (OPM) is a company that applies principles from positive psychology to address loneliness. OPM convenes small, diverse groups of strangers to connect deeply with one another in facilitated online gatherings called Circles. OPM also offers Collectives, which are months-long group memberships of the same people who regularly meet in Circles. These structured sources of connection provide tools for people to see and hear one another as their whole selves.
As an experience design consultant in 2020, I contributed improvements to the membership experience which led to the next Collective being the very first to make a full-year membership commitment.
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From 2014 to 2017, I was the assistant coordinator and classroom manager at the University of Pennsylvania’s Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program. Penn’s MAPP degree was the first of its kind in the world. I was fortunate to work with instructors and guest lecturers who are the leaders in the field (including Martin Seligman, Angela Duckworth, James Pawelski, and many more), as well as dozens of brilliant, passionate students and alumni who are leaders in their own right.
What I originally understood as “simply” an administrative role (though a fulfilling one), I have come to recognize as the foundation of my journey as an experience designer for well-being.
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I was contracted as a game user researcher with the indie studio That’s Not A Game. I led research and playtesting for Wild Honesty, a small-group multiplayer game that sparks deep conversations between friends.
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Sydney Rubin 