Not that long ago (right after turning 30, actually), driven by a strong if not now, then when, I decided I was finally ready to start beyond the report.

The concept has been in the making for a long time. Not the actual project, just the idea in my head and my fairly niche interests that have brought me this far. beyond the report is born out of this deep feeling that qualitative research, storytelling, and lived experiences can have a much greater impact in our world than they currently do. And so, I want a space to explore that. To see how the experiences people live every day might connect us to new possibilities.

Storytelling isn’t just a communication tool; it’s the most natural way we make sense of the world. A conversation, a story, offers an unfiltered way of stepping into another’s experience.

My vision?

Change is shaped by lived experience, where change feels real, possible, and shared.

‍

For a bit of context, my background is in human behaviour and neuroscience, and I work at the intersection of Design, Strategy, and Innovation. I currently work remotely for a US-based consultancy that works with some of the biggest NGOs worldwide on transformational strategy. We build innovation portfolios, help NGO’s design with their shareholders in mind, and navigate this time of deep uncertainty. My work often draws on Human-Centered Design; it’s a practice I use every day. But beyond the report takes that mindset further, rather than rethinking products or services, it explores how centralizing the human experience can become a strategy for change.

Our context is extremely uncertain, and it might depend on who you are asking, but our dominant systems seem to be failing, and we need to rethink a lot of our business as usual. Just a few off the top of my head: we need regenerative business models, we need to rethink our cities, fulfill our need for psychological connection and communities, we need to rethink the NGOs of tomorrow with different power structures, and we definitely need to redefine our relationship with nature.

Oh, and what about rebuilding trust between social organizations and people? Or getting people to contribute to change?

Despite the diversity and complexity of these challenges, what unites them is the need for deep humanity to be embedded not just in the outcomes, but in the methods we use to get there. We need more than frameworks; we need practices that are people-first, driven by empathy, and grounded in shared purpose.

The reason this work excites me so much is that I believe there’s a real need for it. I’ve seen it through my work, and there’s an energy around it.

A lot of my role is about uncovering real needs and finding ways to bring them into strategy. And I know how powerful these stories are. For example, a community’s journeys to leadership can’t be imagined from a room on the other side of the world. You need to read or hear the words of someone who, against all odds, is gaining confidence and trust in herself. That’s when you can, as an organization, successfully imagine and design what tools someone might need along the way.

‍

We talk a lot about systems change and transformation, but too often the people most affected by those systems aren’t even in the room. Their experiences are turned into bullet points for policies, organizational strategy, or changed into a data point for the impact report at the end of the year.

If I’m going to work on something, I might as well go in on where my heart lies. And if you would tell me I’d spend the rest of my life listening to stories, learning more about what makes us human, and using that to better our future, I’d be very content.

So the questions that guide me are less about frameworks and more about what it means to design with humanity. What changes when we let lived experience lead the way? How can stories help us imagine futures that feel real, possible, and shared? Where do trust and connection begin in systems built on hierarchy and distance? What might become possible if we slowed down enough to listen deeply... If the systems and practices that shape our day-to-day were built to serve us?

There are plenty of amazing strategists, futurists, artists, storytellers, and organizations, large and small, that are actively working to achieve the same goals. And I want to explore their work, understand how we can make this a more common practice, and learn how we might collaborate to get there.

I have always believed in the power of humanity, in better futures, and in the beauty that comes when we fully embrace the diversity of human experience. Research isn’t only about what we know. It’s about the humanity in how we come to know, and how we choose to share. When we ask better questions, we create space for shared understanding and for insight to lead to change. Change takes root in the stories people carry, not just the data they leave behind.

beyond the report is about transforming what people live into what systems do — exploring how human stories can become strategies for change, and how we might bring the human back into how we think, design, and drive it.

‍

‍

With love,

Isabella

‍