Experience Designer, Author of You Need a Manifesto, and Institutional Glue.

Hoarder of craft supplies and a serial explorer of new skills. Most recent acquisitions include a killer pie crust, silver casting with lost wax molds, and a somewhat promising beginner's tennis game.

Charlotte Burgess Auburn is a designer, artist, educator, and author of You Need a Manifesto. With a background in production for fine arts and theater and experience at the MIT Media Laboratory, she has been the Director of Community at the Stanford d.school since 2005, where she also teaches classes on the role of self-awareness in creativity and design. Born in Rome, Italy to American and Dutch parents who are both teachers, Charlotte was raised in Massachusetts in a fully academic environment. She has a bachelor’s degree in Studio Art from Oberlin College, and a Master’s Degree in Art History from Tufts University. She has made a long career of being the designer, stage manager, and producer in rooms full of lead actors and directors, always cultivating the skill of translating intentions into action. You’ll mostly find her where the rubber meets the road.