Team

Using a combination of Futures Thinking, Equity-centered/Liberatory Design, innovation practices and ethnographic field research, Fiona designs and leads visioning and strategic planning projects for mission-focused organizations and their communities, helping them to think about the future, identify the future they want, and make plans to get there. Fiona has led and co-led strategic foresight projects for schools, school districts, and colleges, as well as for the San Diego County Office of Education, and the Florida Department of Education. She has a background in philosophy, artificial intelligence, anthropology, and psychology. Her interests are focused on the capabilities for catalyzing sustained collective change, and she works to unlock the capacities for creative problem solving in organizations, groups, and individuals. Fiona uses experiential design, narrative, and a variety of art forms to inspire communities to dream about the future they want, and to develop a sense of collective agency by making plans and taking action to get there.

Fiona has a BA in Philosophy from University College London, an MS in Artificial Intelligence from Kingston University, UK, an MA in Counseling Psychology from JFK University, California, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Brunel University, UK.

Fiona specializes in strategic foresight, equity-centered/liberatory design, innovation culture, leadership development, facilitation and cultural change processes.

Over the past 30 years, Sonya has sharpened her experience in the broader education, youth development and government sector, coaching leaders to develop social justice-oriented outcomes and strategies, providing leadership for human-centered execution of strategies, advising executive leaders in change management practices to support transitions, and building talented teams to sustain improvement over time. At Prospect Studio, she has led numerous long-term visioning and strategic planning initiatives with school districts, county offices of education and government entities to develop future-focused, equity-centered innovative visions and strategic plans with their communities. Prior to joining Prospect Studio, Sonya was an Innovation Strategist at Collective Invention, where she also supported education and philanthropic organizations to develop and implement an innovation practice. At Partners in School Innovation, Sonya was the San Francisco Bay Area Regional Director supporting public schools and districts to improve teaching and learning so that every student, regardless of background, thrives. Prior to this role, Sonya served as the Director, District Alliance Program, at the Stupski Foundation. During her eight-year tenure at the Foundation, she led strategic planning processes, English Learner Task Forces, and executive leadership coaching on implementation of key strategic initiatives for school districts around the country. Prior to her work with public education, Sonya was a Special Agent and engineer in the United States Air Force. She culminated a ten-year career involving investigative, engineering, and organizational development roles as Director of Criminal and Counterintelligence Investigative Operations.

Sonya earned her BS in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from Santa Clara University.

Sonya specializes in strategic planning, strategic foresight, leadership development, data driven decision making, equity-centered design, facilitation, organizational development and change management.

Over the past 20 years, Tiara has coached leaders in both education and the government and social sectors to develop a continuous learning mindset while using data to improve their practice, build strong teams, and advance equity for the communities they serve. She started her career in education as an elementary school teacher in the Alum Rock Union School District in San Jose, CA. Since 2021, she has worked with Prospect Studio, where she has led deep community engagement efforts, future-focused learning experiences, and change management strategy with our partners.  She has also supported school district partners with developing their instructional vision and strategy.  Prior to joining Prospect Studio, Tiara was the Associate Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment at Aspire Public Schools, Bay Area. As a district leader, Tiara designed and facilitated teacher and leader professional learning, engaged in visioning and multi-year strategic planning, and led a collaborative design process to reimagine the teacher evaluation system. From 2010-2015, Tiara was a School Improvement Partner and the Talent Development Director at Partners In School Innovation, where she worked shoulder-to-shoulder with teachers, coaches, principals and district leaders to use data, build shared leadership, and drive change that led to significant academic growth for students and positive shifts in school culture. 

Tiara earned her BA in Peace and Conflict Studies from UC Berkeley.

Tiara specializes in leadership development, strategic planning, team building, leading professional learning, instructional planning and project management.

Over the past 20+ years, Carrie has worked with students, teachers, and school leaders as a teacher, professor, and school transformation coach, to shift both mindset and practice to create systemic change so that classrooms and schools become more culturally responsive and socially transformative spaces. As a school transformation coach, she worked in partnership with principals, teachers, and district leaders in Title I schools, to facilitate systemic change. Through results-oriented cycles of inquiry with a central focus on racial equity and school transformation, she supported schools to implement culturally responsive, research-based practices to provide meaningful, engaging, affirming, grade-level instruction. She has also led instructional leadership teams in visioning and strategic planning to create more equitable school environments as well as creating structures that work to amplify the voices of marginalized families in schools.

She earned both her Masters degree in language, literacy and culture and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research focused on how rigid policy contexts influenced teachers’ abilities to implement culturally responsive pedagogy. 

Carrie specializes in culturally responsive teaching & learning, facilitation, data driven decision making, culture change w/in organizations, team building, and leadership development 

As Design Consultant at Prospect Studio, Myrna Newcomb creates visually compelling reports and publications for clients. Throughout her 20+ years of experience, she has developed a thoughtful approach to design, balancing the need to communicate with a desire for design aesthetic.

Myrna has also worked with Gap Inc., the Anchorage Museum’s Discovery Center, Menlo College, Stanford Live, Trips for Kids and Equator Coffees.

Myrna has a BFA in Graphic Design from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco.

Julian Wong Nelson is a writer, researcher and educator. Their research interests are focused upon art as a site of resistance and communication for marginalized communities. They work with Prospect Studio on a variety of projects to support research and community engagement work.

They have a BA from UC Santa Cruz and an MA from the San Francisco Art Institute.