Elizabeth Redmond: 2015 Commencement Address
On Saturday, May 2, the 2015 commencement address was delivered by Elizabeth Redmond (BFA 2006), founder and CEO of coWorkr.
Elizabeth Redmond
Elizabeth Redmond is a self proclaimed design-trepreneur. Since graduating from the Stamps School in 2006, she has paved her own roads as a designer, entrepreneur and company Founder and CEO. Her work has been published in the New York Times, Forbes Magazine, Fast Company and others and she has appeared on national TV on the Discovery, Science and Sundance Channels. This work has taken her around the globe and back a few times and she attributes much of this to a burning desire to constantly push herself to uncomfortable summits, and more importantly, to make an impact on the world that will outlive her.
Throughout her BFA, she was inspired both by responsible design and combining technologies to create novel, yet needed products. As she set out on her 4th year IP work, she was struck with an idea: What if we could capture energy exerted by people to generate the electricity we use every day? Inspired, Elizabeth designed a flooring system that converted energy from footsteps into usable power. In 2007 she formed POWERleap Inc and soon inked contracts with Nike, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, InterfaceFLOR, Gillette, Haworth Furniture Company, and others. In 8 years her company has evolved and pivoted to their current product, coWorkr: a sensor-based design tool which helps companies optimize their workplace for a rapidly changing, mobile workforce, which is distributed in 48 countries. Stepping out of her usual tech space, Elizabeth recently furthered her entrepreneurialism by launching a new apparel business with her sister called “hide & cheek” — a body-hugging basics line using fabrics that nourish, protect and heal the skin.