Creative & Technology Advisory

The brief

WaterRising Institute is a small Detroit-based non-profit working on the global gender gap in water and the talent crisis facing the water industry. They convene difficult conversations across the UN, multilateral lenders, public utilities, and private-sector water companies. Their primary asset is convening power, not headcount. To use it well, they needed a digital and creative posture that could keep up with the rooms they were walking into. That's where I came in.

What I do

Senior creative and technology advisor from 2022 through early 2026. The role spans:

• Brand and storytelling. Helping the org sharpen how it explains itself to funders, partners, and the press, so the institutional weight of UN-adjacent convening lands on first contact.
• Event and digital production. Directing and producing the hybrid events the WaterRising name shows up at: UN Water Week, WEFTEC, Stockholm International Water Institute's World Water Week, and others. On-site streaming, show-call, post-production, and the editorial choices that decide what becomes the public record of each gathering.
• Technology decisions. Recommending tools and platforms a small staff can actually run, designing systems that fit a non-profit budget, and standing in for technical leadership when an in-house version isn't there yet. Same orientation as my work for the Ohio Crisis Response Team: get a small org's digital posture current without overwhelming the people running it.

Sample work under this engagement

• WaterWoman Project Launch Event: Stockholm Water Week 2022 kick-off dinner at Fotografiska for 300 industry guests
• Youth & Gender Hub at the 2023 UN Water Conference: full-day digital streaming and event production at the German Consulate in NYC
• Project Explainer Video: short-form narrative anchor for pitch decks and conference openers
• Print Design, Layout & Production: EPA-funded research report for The Water Tower in partnership with WaterRising Institute

How the engagement works

The role isn't a single contract or a fixed deliverable list. It was an ongoing relationship: I was pulled in when a moment matters (a launch, a UN-week deployment, a research-report drop) and was available between those for the brand, technology, and digital-tooling decisions that compound over time. The cadence fits the org. Small non-profits don't need a full-time creative director; they need someone they trust who shows up at scale when the calendar demands it.