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Ellen McGirt

Ellen McGirt is an author, podcaster, speaker, community builder, and award-winning business journalist. She is the editor-in-chief of Design Observer, a media company that has maintained the same clear vision for more than two decades: to expand the definition of design in service of a better world. Ellen established the inclusive leadership beat at Fortune in 2016 with raceAhead, an award-winning newsletter on race, culture, and business. The Fortune, Time, Money, and Fast Company alumna has published over twenty magazine cover stories throughout her twenty-year career, exploring the people and ideas changing business for good. Ask her about fly fishing if you get the chance.

More from this author

Design of Business | Business of Design

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Candace Parker & Michael C. Bush on Purpose, Leadership and Meeting the Moment

Civic Life

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Compassionate Design, Career Advice and Leaving 18F with Designer Ethan Marcotte
Debbie Millman Design Matters Headshot

Design of Business | Business of Design

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Love Letter to a Garden and 20 years of Design Matters with Debbie Millman

Business

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Redesigning the Spice Trade: Talking Turmeric and Tariffs with Diaspora Co.’s Sana Javeri Kadri

Design of Business | Business of Design

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Making Space: Jon M. Chu on Designing Your Own Path

Business

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The New Era of Design Leadership with Tony Bynum

The Observatory

Ellen McGirt

Design is at a turning point

Business

Ellen McGirt|Audio

A Mastercard for Pigs? How Digital Infrastructure is Transforming Farming and Fighting Poverty

Civic Life

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DB|BD Season 12 Premiere: Designing for the Unknown – The Future of Cities is Climate Adaptive with Michael Eliason
In a mostly grayscale picture, a dark cloaked figure looms above a bright orange campfire.

The Observatory

Ellen McGirt|Books

Parable of the Redesigner

The Observatory

Ellen McGirt

Parable of the Redesigner

Equity Observer

Ellen McGirt|Essays

The Design Observer annual gift guide!