McKenna is an interdisciplinary designer and data-savvy strategist with over ten years of professional experience currently serving as a Foster America Fellow for the Santa Clara County Office of Education, focused on design and data projects in the service of foster youth in the county.
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Design + Data Strategist
Foster America Fellow, Santa Clara County Office of Education
2021 -
I'm currently serving as a Fellow through the organization Foster America as a Design and Data Strategist for the Foster and Homeless Youth Education Team at the Santa Clara Office of Education. Over the 18 month fellowship I am aligning the work of SCCOE's programming for foster youth with the Research and Evaluation, Data Governance, and Equity Teams. I am focused on developing the agency's internal data systems to support the organization's commitment to evidence-based decision making. Balancing the data needs against the legal and resource limitations, promoting the ethical use of data, and guarding against designing data systems that reinforce inequity are key pillars of my current work.
Visual Experience Director
Local Projects
2017 - 2021
Local Projects is an experiential design agency located in New York. I worked at a director level in the Visual Experience Design team, leading interdisciplinary teams and projects through concept design to implementation.
Notable Projects: Greenwood Rising, National Museum of Australia, Hyde Park Barracks Museum, Legacy Museum, Faith and Liberty Discovery Center, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, ABB Customer Experience Centers
Lead Researcher
SITU Studio
2013 - 2017
SITU Research is the research branch of interdisciplinary design studio, SITU Studio, based in Brooklyn, NY. I led grant-funded projects for a variety of human rights organizations, advocacy groups, and legal teams.
Notable Collaborators: Amnesty International, The Nation, International Criminal Court, United Nations, Museum of Modern Art