The Matcha Initiative
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I’m a brand strategist, user research specialist, and cultural thinker with a background in humanities and business management. With 24 years of experience, my journey spans advertising, human insights, and cultural foresight. In the last 15 years, I have been in leadership roles blending deep research skills with commercial strategy. I’ve partnered with brands like Unilever, P&G, and Ford to shape products and stories grounded in human needs and cultural change.
As of today, I run Common Oddities, my own consultancy. We study evolving cultural and macro factors, and their impact on changing human needs so as to support and guide innovation, design, and communication. More recently, I’ve been applying my skills to future-fit, planet-conscious strategies in particular — utilising tools like regenerative design, circular economy thinking, and doughnut economics to help teams build more sustainable, purpose-led approaches.
I also teach at SUTD as an adjunct professor, where I explore how cultural strategy and speculative futures can help designers think more deeply and creatively about what’s possible. Be it running user or design research, shaping a brand’s direction, or sparking new ideas rooted in culture and systems thinking, I love helping people see new possibilities.
I am happy to help users in:
Always happy to exchange ideas, share tools, or just chat about what’s emerging!
I’ve always been drawn to the big, messy questions about where we’re headed — and how culture, business, and design need to evolve to meet the planet’s needs. Additionally, working on futures thinking over the years has really shown me how important it is to challenge how we grow, consume, and create value.
Right now, as the founder of Common Oddities, I get to work closely with companies at the early stages of strategy, innovation, and communication — they are where the biggest shifts can happen. It’s a chance to influence how things are made, how behaviours are shaped, and how systems can move toward more regenerative and sustainable models.
At Common Oddities, sustainability is embedded not just as a goal but as a lens for rethinking how we design, innovate, and plan for the future. A core part of our work involves studying shifts across macro factors — cultural, socio-economic, political and regulatory — and imagining future scenarios where they intersect in new ways. This helps our partners prepare for emerging challenges and design more adaptive, regenerative solutions.
These projects aim to move sustainability upstream, influencing strategy, innovation, and storytelling at the point in time when long-term impact can be shaped.
One key challenge is shifting away from entrenched systems of capitalism, consumption, and waste. Building regenerative frameworks requires systemic design and real behaviour change — both of which take time we don’t have. I can’t say I have overcome these challenges, but I try. I try by reinforcing the importance of embedding sustainability at the core of business models, products, and services, and I’m always seeking ways to scale this impact through projects that drive meaningful, long-term change.
I’m proud of the career I’ve built—running successful insights and strategy consultancies, and partnering with some incredible global brands. I’m grateful for that journey. But what I hope to be most proud of is still ahead: using my skills to influence real impact in sustainability and regeneration. That’s the work I’m building toward every day. 😄