About Patricia
Polymath. Ontological Designer. Protopian Futurist.
There's a moment when a group stops performing coordination and starts actually moving together. I design for that threshold.
If you've ever been part of something that suddenly clicked — capacity unlocking that you knew was there but couldn't reach — that's the territory I work in. It's called organizational emergence: the living process by which groups develop coordination, structure, and collective capacity.
For 18 years, I've led teams at pioneering thresholds — scaling a digital financial newsroom during the 2008 crisis, advising banks and Fortune 500s through early digital transformation, designing national programs reaching hundreds of thousands, leading design for the world's largest blockchain encyclopedia, directing design for an early metaverse platform, guiding first-of-kind digital transitions for MAPS, Burning Man, and Esalen, co-creating self-organizing coalitions reaching 15M people, designing an Indigenous nature regeneration network stewarding 140k acres, and shaping participation for Canada's largest civil disobedience movement.
The pattern is consistent: I get enrolled when groups face territory they've never navigated before. I build teams and shape systems of participation that let them move.
People describe me as a multiplier — someone who amplifies the capacity of others. I'm a polymath; emergence doesn't resolve within a single domain. My work weaves together spaces, stories, and systems. The environments we gather in, the narratives we hold, the structures we coordinate through — these shape each other. This is ontological design: designing the conditions that design us.
Our compounding crises led me to co-found OpenCivics — a philosophy, practice, and network for open civic innovation. We're building peer-to-peer coordination infrastructure for navigating emergence at civilizational scale: participatory governance, mutual stewardship, regenerative collective action from the ground up. We've distributed more than $350k USD to 47 projects through participatory funding. This is what I'm most devoted to — where everything I've learned meets what this moment requires.
My home, Imaginal House, on Salt Spring Island in the Salish Sea, is a community hub and sanctuary for practitioners designing regenerative futures. I also lead the arts collective Luminary Society, and tend a knowledge garden as the Kosmic Gardener.
Career Highlights
Recently
Wild Exploration
Early Career
Collaborators & Partners
ANZ Bank · AP News · ATYP · Bankwest · BioFi Project · BlockOne · Burning Man Project · Buckminster Fuller Institute · Center for Humane Technology · ChangeLabs · China Mobile · Clever · Commonwealth Bank · Concep · Consciousness Hacking · Crane Industry Association · Design Science Studio · Elanora Country Club · Esalen Institute · Everipedia · EY · FCB · Football Federation Australia · Gitcoin · Google · habRitual · Indigenous Commons · Johnson & Johnson · Kwaxala · Lionsgate · MAPS · Minter Ellison · Mondelēz International · MS Research Australia · NAB · Netflix · Optus · Pegasus Pictures · Pumpables · Rackett · Regenerate Cascadia · Rhizome Springs · Seven Seven Six · Shimano · Singtel Optus · Speakers Institute · Telos · Topia · Vision 2030 · Vogue · Westpac
Current Roles
OpenCivics
Co-Founder · Steward
A community of practice and solidarity network for open civic innovation.
2022 – Present
Localism Fund
Steward
Supporting community-led initiatives rooted in place-based resilience and local self-governance.
2025 – Present
Network Nations Alliance
Steward
A coalition advancing networked sovereignty and decentralized governance across communities.
2025 – Present
Future Historic
Founder · Director
A strategic consulting practice bridging design, culture, and systems to move organizations through uncharted territory.
2020 – Present
Luminary Society
Experience Director
A series of social experiences exploring the fusion of sacred and satirical participatory play.
2020 – Present
Imaginal House
Founder · Steward
A community hub and sanctuary on Salt Spring Island for practitioners designing regenerative futures.
2025 – Present
Kosmic Gardener
Curator
A living knowledge garden tending ideas at the intersection of systems, culture, and emergence.
2011 – Present
Domains of Focus
Explore garden →& Sustainable Development
& Self-Governance
& Web3 Technologies
& Complexity Science
& Rights of Nature
& Cultural Emergence
& Meta Narratives
& Ontological Design
My Vision
A future where thriving communities, resilient systems, and planetary well-being emerge naturally from cultures of participation, shared stewardship, and regenerative self-governance.
Humanity stands at the threshold of a radical reconfiguration — a time when exponential change and existential reckoning converge. Beneath every collapse lies a deeper wound — a forgetting of our belonging to the living systems that sustain us.
To move beyond collapse, we turn toward the principles life itself teaches: regeneration, reciprocity, emergence. Not as abstractions — as design conditions. This is not a moment for incremental reform. It calls for a renaissance of imagination, a renewal of participation, and a deep remembering of our interbeing with all life.
By evolving how we imagine, organize, and relate, I believe we can ignite a cultural shift — one that restores meaning, reveals new possibilities, and builds systems rooted in care.
Career Details
Organizations & Roles
- 2009 - Current | Strategic Consulting Practice
Currently under the name "Future Historic" - 2022 – Current | OpenCivics | Co-Founder & Steward
A civic innovation network empowering civic innovators, organizers, and patrons to collaboratively reimagine governance, community-building, and civic life. - 2022 - Current | Design Science Studio | Advisor
A global learning community inspired by the work of Buckminster Fuller, dedicated to life-affirming systems change. - 2023 - 2024 | Burning Man | Governance & Engagement Advisor
- 2023 - 2024 | Kwaxala | Organizational Designer
A cultural and ecological initiative rooted in Indigenous wisdom and regenerative stewardship. - 2022 | Habritual | Design Strategist
Led collaborative think tank design processes informing the masterplan of a 430-acre regenerative eco-village project. - 2020 - 2021 | Liminalia | Founder & Creative Director
A digital-first experience design studio born in response to the pandemic-era need for transformative online connection. - 2021 | Topia | Experience Design Director
A pioneering social metaverse platform fostering participatory, collaborative digital environments. - 2018 - 2019 | BlockCollab | Founder & Facilitator
A year-long think tank exploring decentralized collaboration systems. - 2018 - 2020 | Decrypted | Partner + Design Director
A design and strategy studio specializing in the blockchain space. - 2018 | Blockchain Babes | Co-Founder & Movement Multiplier
A global blockchain community created for women by women. - 2018 - 2019 | Chestnut | Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer
Smart account technology designed to improve blockchain security and usability. - 2017 - 2018 | SteemSmarter | Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer
Analytics and reporting tool for the Steem blockchain. - 2015 | Reidefine Media | Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer
Entertainment-driven eCommerce and eLearning for the Asia-Pacific market. - 2012 | Karrikins Group | Shared Creative Services Manager
A global behavior change consultancy focused on leadership alignment and organizational transformation. - 2011 - 2012 | Funke Labs | Creative Director
A creative agency specializing in brand strategy and digital experiences. - 2010 - 2011 | Concep | Creative Manager - Design & Interactive
Global B2B relationship marketing technology company. - 2008 | Brookeshire Media | Digital Producer
Financial news network during the global financial crisis. - 2008 | Drive Strategic | Junior Creative Director
Boutique digital agency based in Toronto. - 2004 | Quirk Solutions | Founder & Production Director
First registered entrepreneurial venture, producing local music events and film screenings.
Skills
People
- Leadership Development & Coaching
- Stakeholder Engagement & Relationship Building
- Capacity Building & Talent Development
- Workshop Design & Facilitation
- Culture Building & Community Engagement
- Conflict Mediation & Resolution
Creative
- Product Design & Innovation
- Brand Strategy & Identity Development
- UX/UI Design & Gamification
- Immersive Experience & Transmedia Design
- Content Creation & Campaign Development
- Art Direction & Creative Strategy
Operations
- Vision & Values Definition
- Organizational Design & Modeling
- Strategic Planning & Execution
- Project & Program Management
- Change & Transformation Management
- Scaling & Growth Strategy
Technology
- Digital Strategy & Transformation
- Systems Architecture & Integration
- Data Analytics & Visualization
- Content & Knowledge Management Systems
- Web & Interface Design
- Media & Video Production
Awards
- 2020 | Muse Design Awards
Silver Winner – Website / Art & Design (for "Bicycle Night – A Virtual Bicycle Day Experience") - 2018 | EOS Global Hackathon
2nd Place + Best UX / Chestnut – Smart accounts for automation and security
Speaking
- 2020 | Consciousness Hacking — Future of Immersive
- 2020 | Quarantime — Commander in Us: Quaranteams
- 2019 | Burning Man — Reinventing the web that wasn't
- 2018 | Hubud — Brand-driven Innovation
- 2017 | Punspace — Do polymaths own the future?
- 2016 | Pecha Kucha — Do polymaths own the future?
- 2012 | Pilab Forum — Finding an audience in the digital age
Education
- 2009 | OCAD University — Design
- 2007 | Ryerson University — Journalism
My Values
The values that guide my being
Curiosity
Staying open to what I don't yet understand
Presence
Honoring what's here, not just what's next
Reverence
Remembering my web of relations
The values that guide my doing
Coherence
Aligning intention, action, and design
Plurality
Welcoming many truths without losing clarity
Wholeness
Designing for integrity, not efficiency
Gifts & Growth Areas
People describe me as having relational intelligence and a gift for synthesizing complexity into coherent, actionable systems. I make mistakes often and seek to learn and attune.
Activator
I bring energy and momentum that helps things get moving.
I can move too quickly, mistaking motion for progress and skipping over necessary depth.
Strategist
I clarify options and help others act decisively in uncertain situations.
I can default to decision-making too fast — narrowing choices before others feel heard.
Futurist
I inspire next steps and help imagine what's possible beyond the current stuckness.
I can get so focused on what's next that I lose patience for the present moment or pace.
Relational Intelligence
I create spaces of deep trust and meaningful connection across difference.
I can overextend emotionally — taking too much responsibility for harmony.
Synthesizing Complexity
I distill insight from complexity and make systems legible and actionable.
I can overwhelm others with frameworks, or over-architect things before people are ready.
Kind Words from Collaborators
"Patricia is an exemplary creative professional accelerating regenerative futures. She brings integrity, inspiration and impeccable delivery to all she creates on the blooming edge with the intellectual capacity of 10 people. Everything I have witnessed and collaborated with her on flourishes!"
Founder & CEO @ HabRitual, Director @ Design Science Studio, Co-Founder @ la tierra
"Patricia is the caretaker of a very unique kind of intelligence. Her breadth of curiosity is outstripped only by her capacity to move mountains, and light up whole communities when she is inspired by a project. Getting to collaborate with her on across the many disciplines we have, has been a true joy over these last 5 years."
Interdisciplinary Artist
"I am beyond grateful for Patricia's leadership, vision, and partnership. I can't imagine an individual who I would be more willing to bind my life to in a dharmic marriage than Patricia as a woman of integrity, courage, and purpose. I feel humbled to have found a peer and co-creator who shares these values at the deepest depths of her being."
Co-Founder & Network Steward at OpenCivics
"Drawing from a wide-ranging array of talents and interests, Tricia has a gift for bridging diverse worlds and bringing bold ideas to life with beauty, clarity and purpose. Along the way, she naturally amplifies the genius of those around her. It's this rare fusion of imagination, strategy, execution, and relational leadership that makes her one of the most capable and inspiring people I've ever met."
Systems Change Enthusiast. Holistic Executive Coach. Process Facilitator.
"Whatever project, platform, or organization Patricia decides to pour her energy into—that effort should feel honored. Because with her on board, you're not just getting strategy or execution. You're getting insight, alignment, and momentum that amplifies everyone around her. She's a multiplier. A synthesizer. A bridge-builder between disciplines, generations, and domains."
Creative Technologist, Community Catalyst, BC + AI Ecosystem, Futureproof Creatives
"A caring creator of worlds & experiences, and a marvellous host for holding spaces, Patricia is one of the few who truly gets the challenges we're facing, and yet, in her beautiful unflinching way, meets them with love, gets the people together to find a pathway and guides folks along on that path. A gem of a human who walks the walk."
Global Head of Impact @ AIME Mentoring
"Patricia is the embodiment of you might call a Polymath of the Renaissance, but from the 22nd century. A solarpunk creative genius as capable to imagine brilliant scenarios as much as to execute them with surgical precision. She came from the future to show us the world that is possible and lead the way on how to get there. Pure awe."
Founder @ la tierra / Studio Imagineer @ Design Science Studio
"Patricia is indomitable — brilliant, insightful, creative, and unbelievably effective. She is one of the greatest minds I've ever had the pleasure of working with."
Associate Director, Organizational Evolution @ Burning Man Project
"With high energy, sharp wit, and deep commitment to community Patricia brought both structure and soul to an ambitious creative endeavor. Beyond her strong contributions to the work itself, she also curated team outings and facilitated thought-provoking gatherings that enriched our collaboration and added depth to the entire creative process."
Partner, Space Architect, Futurist, Industrial Designer @ Nonfiction Design
"Patricia is a driven badass of a human. Her attention to detail and wide range of professional expertise made our collaborative experiences both enjoyable and full of learning."
DoinGud Co-Founder, Creative Business Strategy, & Curator @ DoinGud NFT Ecosystem
"Patricia is someone who is brilliant in her ideas, clear and strategic in her leadership, and precise and impactful in her output."
Director Of Operations, Trauma Research Foundation
"Trish helps distill ideas into paths of action like nobody else - she's the first person I go to for product, brand, and next steps clarity."
Founder of Refereum, Topia, Crossroads
"Patricia offers a rare blend of creativity/vision along with the ability to execute in a strategic/analytical manner. She's a team player who brings the best out of those around her. She's curious and energetic. Patricia lives one step in the future, she makes things happen, and you'd be lucky to work with her."
Blockchain/Bitcoin Consultant
"Patricia inspires people to produce their best. Her genuine guidance makes you understand why a problem has arisen and ends up producing a solution that you feel you have solved yourself. She is a compassionate, creative individual, and a person that I uphold with great esteem."
Fashion & Interior Designer
"Patricia has a very analytical mind, combined with an unusual ability, passion and grit to turn her analysis into action. In contrast to many visionaries she is also a wonderful leader of people. Patricia is extremely creative, courageous, and passionate, and will be an asset to any org interested in quality thinking, execution, and change!"
ChangeLabs General Manager
"Patricia is one of the most energetic, enthusiastic and understanding people I have ever worked with. Her attention to detail, knowledge and the dedication with which she approached her job made mine and everyone else's job that much easier."
Business Development Manager at Brookshire Media
"Patricia established us on the market as a professional band in less than six months. She has been an ongoing outlet of support, increasing the success of our business and allowing us to play on the fringe while remaining accessible."
Musician, Rackett
"Speakers Institute is the premiere speaking training organisation in the southern hemisphere. Patricia and her team created our entire brand and launched us into the marketplace. This experience played an important part in shaping who we are and why we have become a success."
Founder, Speakers Institute / 2014
"Patricia asked the hard questions that helped guide my business strategy. She was very patient when it came to digging down to the core values and identifying what the brand is all about."
Business Consultant / 2018
"Working with Patricia has been life-saving for a solo entrepreneur like myself. She understands exactly what to do to help and guide you. I have continued to collab with Patricia throughout my startup process and have loved it. She's the best!"
The Vibe Project
"From her mentorship at Startup Weekend in Bali on our winning project Design My Day to her social media posts, I see her as a thought leader I look up to."
Founder + Technologist, Design my Day (2019)
"Patricia is one of the most energetic and motivated individuals I've ever met. She is the type of person who believes anything can be done no matter the challenges to be overcome."
Managing Director, Funke Labs
"Patricia is an exceptional individual, who possesses a unique ability to absorb knowledge quickly and execute it flawlessly."
Restaurateur
"Patricia is one of the most passionate, innovative and dynamic people I have ever worked with. She has outstanding knowledge of creative technologies and strategies, digital processes and solutions as well as information technology systems and continuous improvement methods."
Change Manager & Business Improvement Specialist at ChangeLabs
"Patricia is an undiluted power pack of creative awesome. She demonstrated immense commitment and leadership in taking on board a vague, blue-skies brief that seemed barely achievable, and turning it into a reality. Patricia is a wonderful colleague, team mate or leader."
Educational Games Producer
"Patricia is a pragmatic, impactful leader, and a joy to spend time with, both on and off the job. I can't imagine a project that wouldn't benefit from her interpersonal skills, deep technical experience, and adaptability."
Digital Product Designer and Front End Developer
My Life Story
I believe our story is a lens; a constellation of meaning through which we see and seek to be seen.
I was born into the blur of suburbia, at the edge of industrial decay and digital emergence. From the start, I sensed I wouldn't fit into a single role or follow a linear path. There's a Maltese tradition (Il-Quċċija) where a child's future is symbolized by the object they choose on their first birthday. I chose a machine gun and rosary beads. Even then, I was reaching toward something both rebellious and reverent.
By sixteen, life had already demanded I grow up fast. Loss shaped me. So did curiosity. I became a teenage activist and journalist, learning to move between stories and systems, behind and in front of the camera. In the years that followed, I carved my own path — through media, design, and technology — searching not just for success, but for meaning.
Eventually, the inner dissonance became too loud to ignore. I had spent a decade building things — brands, platforms, careers — but without a compass rooted in care, they began to feel hollow. So I walked away.
For seven years, I wandered the world as a digital nomad. I learned from elders and edge-dwellers, mystics and metaverse architects. I healed, studied, and listened. I learned that regeneration isn't just ecological — it's ontological. It's how we design ourselves, each other, and our shared worlds.
When I returned to the Pacific Northwest, I was no longer chasing titles or trends. I was in service — to something older, wilder, more whole. I found language for what had been guiding me all along: planetary regeneration, cosmolocal collaboration, civic imagination, and the sacred architecture of participation.
Today, I tend to experiments at the intersection of governance, culture, and care. But more than anything, I'm learning how to live in right relationship — with land, with time, with others, and with myself.
"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."
Past Selves & Meaningful Moments
If you're building something that matters and could use a thinking partner, I'd love to hear from you.
Let's Connect