Helping people find their best selves.
Throughout my career I've witnessed the transformative nature of making a difference and how it lifts all of us to a higher place. My mission is to help create more opportunities for people to experience meaning, mastery and community. Through writing and public speaking, I'm excited to bring my message to a larger audience.
I founded my first nonprofit when I was 23 and have been building successful organizations ever since. My second nonprofit, Playworks will reach over 1.25 million children and 2500 schools this year, with 580 staff and 23 offices across the country. In addition to being named an Ashoka Fellow and Aspen Pahara Fellow, I was honored to be named one of the 30 leading social entrepreneurs in the world by Forbes Magazine.
More recently my work has led me to spend time at Stanford's d.school, leading to the launch of Substantial, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting schools and districts in redesigning the substitute teaching experience so that it works better for everyone. And more recently I have been working with Dr. Susie Wise to launch a new for-profit subsidiary of Playworks, called Workswell, that is bringing play + design + storytelling to corporations in the service of Organizational Experience Design (we call it OX design).
In all of my work, I am inspired by the basic human impulse to make a difference. And I'm convinced that change is possible and that each of us has the capacity to make it happen.
I founded my first nonprofit when I was 23 and have been building successful organizations ever since. My second nonprofit, Playworks will reach over 1.25 million children and 2500 schools this year, with 580 staff and 23 offices across the country. In addition to being named an Ashoka Fellow and Aspen Pahara Fellow, I was honored to be named one of the 30 leading social entrepreneurs in the world by Forbes Magazine.
More recently my work has led me to spend time at Stanford's d.school, leading to the launch of Substantial, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting schools and districts in redesigning the substitute teaching experience so that it works better for everyone. And more recently I have been working with Dr. Susie Wise to launch a new for-profit subsidiary of Playworks, called Workswell, that is bringing play + design + storytelling to corporations in the service of Organizational Experience Design (we call it OX design).
In all of my work, I am inspired by the basic human impulse to make a difference. And I'm convinced that change is possible and that each of us has the capacity to make it happen.
Now available for pre-order!
My co-author, Amanda vonMoos and I have learned a lot about substitute teaching and human-centered design in the past few years, and we poured all of that learning into our new book! We can’t wait for you to read it. (Note: As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, so if you order the book through this link on our website you’ll be supporting Substantial!)
“The Substantial story is exactly the kind we hope for when we select d.school fellows. By effectively applying design thinking to the broad-spectrum educational challenges that surround substitute teaching, Substantial is opening new pathways to collaboration, innovation, and truly significant change.”
- David Kelley, Founder, IDEO and Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (the d.school)
“After a career of leading work to develop and support teachers, Substantial is the first book I’ve seen that takes an optimistic and practical look at how substitute teaching can be a positive, and integral, part of teaching our next generation. I can imagine that a lot of people will initially hesitate before cracking a book on subbing, but I can assure you - if you’re looking for encouragement - and answers! - Substantial is the place to start.”
-Ellen Moir, Founder, New Teacher Center
“Substantial is an engaging and inspiring look at an aspect of the educational system - substitute teaching - that has gone unexamined for too long. What if...? How might we...? These simple questions become decisive turning points in a book sparked by inspiration, fueled by empathy, and fortified by years of on-the-ground (in-the-schools) research. Amanda and Jill have not only done the work to prove you can jump in and turn small hacks into surprising, systemic change - they’ll radically alter how you see substitute teaching.”
-Arne Duncan, former US Secretary of Education
“The Substantial story is exactly the kind we hope for when we select d.school fellows. By effectively applying design thinking to the broad-spectrum educational challenges that surround substitute teaching, Substantial is opening new pathways to collaboration, innovation, and truly significant change.”
- David Kelley, Founder, IDEO and Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (the d.school)
“After a career of leading work to develop and support teachers, Substantial is the first book I’ve seen that takes an optimistic and practical look at how substitute teaching can be a positive, and integral, part of teaching our next generation. I can imagine that a lot of people will initially hesitate before cracking a book on subbing, but I can assure you - if you’re looking for encouragement - and answers! - Substantial is the place to start.”
-Ellen Moir, Founder, New Teacher Center
“Substantial is an engaging and inspiring look at an aspect of the educational system - substitute teaching - that has gone unexamined for too long. What if...? How might we...? These simple questions become decisive turning points in a book sparked by inspiration, fueled by empathy, and fortified by years of on-the-ground (in-the-schools) research. Amanda and Jill have not only done the work to prove you can jump in and turn small hacks into surprising, systemic change - they’ll radically alter how you see substitute teaching.”
-Arne Duncan, former US Secretary of Education
Also check out the Playworks School Re-Opening Workbook!
As schools begin re-opening again, check out the FREE Playworks School Re-Opening Workbook!
The Playworks School Reopening Workbook is a free resource and workbook aiming to bring a bit of ease to this transition. This book offers guidance around how infusing play and playfulness into the process can help, and gives you practical tools to try it on.
The Playworks School Reopening Workbook is a free resource and workbook aiming to bring a bit of ease to this transition. This book offers guidance around how infusing play and playfulness into the process can help, and gives you practical tools to try it on.
The workbook is divided into five sections. In each of the first four sections we offer ideas, suggestions, and concrete activities to help you frame the approach your school takes to incorporating the guidance that is being offered by the CDC and your local health authorities.
Based upon the stories that we hear about things educators actually try, both successfully and not, along with the lessons learned from the real experiences of re-opening (and then possibly re-closing and re-re-opening), we will compile a more comprehensive response to the moment to be published by Jossey-Bass in the Summer of 2021.
If you are open to being a part of this effort we would be extremely grateful. You can download the Workbook here !
The workbook is divided into five sections. In each of the first four sections we offer ideas, suggestions, and concrete activities to help you frame the approach your school takes to incorporating the guidance that is being offered by the CDC and your local health authorities.
Based upon the stories that we hear about things educators actually try, both successfully and not, along with the lessons learned from the real experiences of re-opening (and then possibly re-closing and re-re-opening), we will compile a more comprehensive response to the moment to be published by Jossey-Bass in the Summer of 2021.
If you are open to being a part of this effort we would be extremely grateful. You can download the Workbook here !