Dr. Alexis Hope loves to design experiences that help people find joy, self-compassion, and connection with others. She was recently awarded a 2023 United States Artists Fellowship for the category of Architecture & Design. Along with Nodira Khoussainova and Justin Trobec, she is a co-founder of focused space (www.focused.space), a technology company that helps people reach their personal, professional, and creative goals in community with others. She is also the Creative Director of TEN FWD — a design consultancy that helps clients build playful, experimental objects and social experiences. Previously, Alexis spent a decade at MIT, where she was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and received her PhD at the MIT Media Lab in 2021. While there, she worked across a variety of design domains — ranging from cameras for deep-sea exploration, creative learning software for children, artistic tools for zero-gravity environments in orbit, "hackathons" to improve breast pumps, low-cost ultrasound machines for providing prenatal care in areas with limited resources, and more. Alexis runs a project called “Trash Club,” a community event that invites people to come together to prototype playful objects using recycled materials. This builds on her work as the co-founder and Design Director for the “Make the Breast Pump Not Suck" Hackathon, which brought together hundreds of parents, caregivers, and their children to re-design technologies for breastfeeding and postpartum health. As a musician, she sings and writes songs for two bands: Calico Beach Party (www.calicobeachparty.com), and Double Bitch (www.doublebitch.com).