From the Arctic to AI… Curiosity, Design, and Impact

She’s a designer, strategist, creative and collaborative force who helps people and organizations navigate change with clarity, compassion, and a surprising amount of ease.

Her work spans Growth Partnering, Collective Advantage, and executive-level Design Leadership, guiding individuals and teams through transformation, innovation, and human-centered strategy. What lights her up most is seeing people reconnect with their own sense of purpose and possibility.

Shel thrives in complexity and ambiguity, bringing calm, resourcefulness, and deep presence to every engagement. She’s led major change efforts inside global organizations, mentored hundreds of creatives, and built initiatives that have touched millions of lives.

Poetry, meditation, AI-generated art, and early mornings keep her out of trouble. She frequently digs through the archives of history, physics, wisdom and spiritual traditions, and arctic exploration.

Some things she’s learned along the way: Receive to give. Belonging is the foundation of collaboration. Meaning is something we create. Never lose your sense of wonder, gratitude, or humor.

Shel also serves on the Advisory Board of the Design Management Institute (dmi.org) and is a known public speaker, taking the stage at SXSW three times, Next Gen CX/Innovate CX, IXDA, JPL/NASA and multiple talks and workshops with DMI Global Leadership and New Voices conferences.

She splits her time between Detroit and Tampa with her partner and three cats.

SYNC FREQUENCIES WITH SHEL (15 MIN, ZERO PRESSURE, FREE)

Coming Up 2025

May 21, 2:00PM, DMI New Voices Conference, Arlignton VA (register by May 14 / $350 for non members and $250 for DMI members)

60 minute interactive breakout session exploring the transition to the New Age. How do we move from not quite here to the not quite unknown there? Check out this light intro presentation.

There will also be a small number of free horizon sessions (guidance/coaching) on how to navigate your “In-between” space, which could be career pivot, recent grad, empty nester or any situation where your identity was hijacked and what was once familiar no longer exists. Sign-ups at the event,

April 30, 12:30-1:00PM Eastern Time, DMI Webinar on Leading in the New Age. (Free)

The New Age calls for new ways to collaborate and guide. Join Shel Kimen, Principal/Owner, Collective Advantage, to learn how she guides groups and individuals into the present and growing age of uncertainty. We’ll look briefly at a proprietary model for cross-functional collaboration and talk about the transitions from what we have been, to what we will be. Hint: Joy reverberates.

Writing & AI Images

Shel loves Substack and has a home for words about transitions and transformation, the in-between, AI and our relationship with it, the divine feminine, and anything else that helps people cope with this unprecedented era of change at all corners. REMARKABLENEWREALITIES.SUBSTACK.COM