MEET OUR Speakers
Lisa Woodley
Design leader, educator, advocate for ethical tech
she/her
25-MINUTE TALK
Finding your way back: Staying human when design stops making sense
Designers are tired. The layoffs, the chaos, the pressure to design faster with AI have left many of us wondering what the work even means anymore. This talk is about finding your way back to what matters and knowing when it’s time to move on.
Drawing on lessons from leadership, burnout, and recovery, Lisa will share how to reconnect to purpose when the job starts to hollow you out, and how to spot the signs that it’s no longer fixable.
We’ll talk about protecting your energy, rebuilding trust in the craft, and deciding when walking away is the most human thing you can do. Because staying in the fight only matters if the work is still worth fighting for.
MORE About thIS SPEAKER
Lisa Woodley is a design leader, educator, and advocate for ethical technology.
After two decades leading design in corporate environments, she now focuses on helping designers protect their craft and stay human in a system that often forgets what design is for.
Through her writing, teaching, and her series The Designer’s Resistance Toolkit, she gives designers practical tools for navigating moral gray zones and finding their way back to meaningful work.