Core Team

Sabrina Dorsainvil

^{director of design strategy and creative practice | she/they}_{“Sabrina has been part of the Boston art and design scene for some time. She is plugged into all the cool things happening and is known in all corners of the city. From her work as a civic designer in local government, non-profits, and the public art scene in Boston and beyond. Sabrina brings all this goodness to her work at Agncy–blending her art-making and illustration practices with her drive to use design strategy to make real change possible for communities. Her good humor and sense of play and fun are integral to how she approaches life and her work. She’s quick to remind us to take time to care for ourselves when we forget.

Sabrina holds a BFA in Industrial Design from Massachusetts College of Art and Design and a MS in Design and Urban Ecologies from Parsons School of Design.”

— Candace}

Zach Narva

^{designer and facilitator | he/him}

_{“Zach is a human-centered designer focused on collaborative research, participatory design and storytelling. He uses these methods to build innovative learning environments, sustainable operations and equity-centered strategies for resilient systemic change. Recently, Zach created a participatory experience for parents to challenge bias and change behavior, enabling more resilient relationships with their trans and gender non-conforming kids—in the inviting and judgment-free setting of summer camp!

Zach has an MFA in Human-Centered Design from the School of Visual Arts and a BA in Graphic Design from American University. When he steps away from work, you might find Zach meditating over a stovetop with a hearty meal underway.”

— Joey}

^{Angela Chan
^{designer and strategist | she/they}}
_{“Angela may just be our secret weapon for justice! They’re an engineer, designer, researcher, problem-solver, systems thinker, teacher and facilitator with a fabulous and clever sense of humor. They believe that this collection of skills are ideal for coalition-building, cooperative decision-making and interrogating and dismantling capitalist and white supremist system structures to achieve justice for the communities we work with. Angela approaches our work by diving head and shoulders into understanding our clients’ spoken and unspoken concerns and needs to best be able to design solutions that meet and surpass their expectations. If you want to know anything about housing cooperatives, ask them about their master’s thesis, Human Factors Approach to Operating a Small Cooperative House in a College Town.”

— Candace}

Radhika Dhanak

^{designer and researcher | she/her}
_{“Radhika’s overlapping interests have naturally led her into design. Her background spans neuroscience, philosophy, visual art and design. She's always been deeply interested in how people work and why they do the things they do.

Radhika brings a unique perspective to her work and is grounded in a meticulous and critical approach to research. Radhika's dedication to community engagement and inclusive leadership is evident in her initiatives with various organizations. At the heart of Radhika's practice is the belief in the transformative power of interdisciplinary collaboration to foster a more equitable and compassionate world.

She has a BA in Neuroscience and Philosophy from Boston University and a masters degree in Transdisciplinary Design from Parsons the New School. In her free time, you can find her reading or stretching her artistic muscles with various mediums”

— Sabrina}

Augusta Meill

^{executive director | she/her}

_{“Underneath layers of earth toned-clothing and a gentle smile, Augusta is a powerful sharp designer and strategist. She is a natural storyteller that can communicate beauty in the mundane, find patterns in the chaos, and lead the direction towards progress. As an avid reader, she loves words and people’s stories— she’s absolutely down to be nerdy about the thing you’re nerdy about too.

After a long history in the corporate design and innovation world, she founded Agncy Design to apply and adapt human-centered design practices to the social sector. She sometimes teaches at MassArt.”

— Savanna}

Candace Brooks

^{director of research strategy and learning practice | she/her}

_{“It’s one thing to listen to someone tell their story, and it’s another to care deeply about really understanding it. Candace is an expert at weaving portraits of people’s lives into larger tapestries and finding patterns that emerge.

With BAs in psychology (BU) and industrial design (MassArt) and an MDes (IIT), Candace transitioned her experience in traditional design consultancies and internal groups to the global education nonprofit Education Development Center.

A skilled collaborator, a wonderful mentor, and a lover of peanut m&ms, Candace also teaches industrial design at MassArt and is a member of the Marsh Chapel Choir at BU.”

— Lou}

Ava Nordling

_{^{designer | she/her}

Ava brings into every relationship deep care and consideration for our connections with our body and our environments. Born in California and blooming in Boston, Ava has for years been working to create thoughtful, inclusive, and creative civic opportunities for youth in Boston Public Schools.

She is a dot-connector and brings experience in human-centered design practices, including user research, UX/UI design, prototyping and testing, together with an embodied practice that seeks to embrace individuals’ humanity.

Ava graduated from Northeastern with a BFA in Experience Design. When you see her be sure to ask about the leaf of the day, the power of sharing kudos, zines, or how to move with intentional slowness.

— Sabrina}

Dan Marie Grieco

_{^{designer and researcher | any/all}

“Dan is a designer and educator who is great at developing frameworks to make information accessible and usable and supporting young people through creative processes.

A short list of why we love working with Dan: they can jump into data and diligently make sense of it
they has easy energy that resists freak outs
they’re the kind of person that mothers tell their children to be like (true)
they uses design to make complex ideas simple without losing the nuance

Dan is a double MassArt graduate: a BA in Communications Design and an MA in Arts Education.”
— Augusta}

Charlie Hubbard

_{^{life science partnerships | he/him}

“Charlie began his career as a Special Education teacher and has undergraduate and graduate degrees in education from Boston College. Prior to joining Agncy, Charlie was with the Boston Public Schools’ Office of Opportunity Gaps in their Excellence for All (EFA) Program. The EFA Program taught STEM enrichment in robotics, coding and 3D printing and led to Charlie’s interest in life sciences.

Charlie comes to us via our partnership with the Nubian Neighborhood Network (N3) through the Children's Health Equity Initiative grant from Boston Children's Hospital. Charlie’s focus is on supporting N3 in developing life science career pathways in the Nubian Square neighborhood and to increase awareness of life sciences workforce development opportunities.

— Augusta}

Evan Chan

_{^{designer and strategist | he/him}

“Evan's north star is to care for people. He started by mentoring college students through a Christian student organization in Los Angeles. After earning a master of design degree from the Institute of Design in Chicago, he shifted his attention to supporting community members and government employees in the nation's capital. What drives him is a deep curiosity about people's experiences, an interest in improving services, and a love for facilitating enjoyable and productive discussions.

Evan always has a provocation to spark conversation and different perspectives. With a question about a framework, a design theory book, or one of Boston’s hidden spots, Evan will have you looking at things a bit anew.

When not buried in his work, you'll find Evan teaching human-centered design through hands-on, experiential workshops with various professional communities.”}
_{— Augusta}

Nice to Meet You

We’re a Boston-based team with projects and partnerships around the country. We seek to have deep relationships across our city so that we can do the super localized, contextual work from a place of reciprocity and knowledge. History matters, connections matter, politics matter.