Hi, I'm Amy Clanin
Founder of Design Pathways
So much of what we create in the world is what we personally need for ourselves. I started my career as an educator more than 20 years ago. In 2012, I founded Primate Education Network (PEN) to train and champion other educators and conservation practitioners like myself—an effort I led for seven years.
After participating in a bootcamp on Behavior Design with Silicon Valley companies, the trajectory of my career changed. I discovered new methods that I wished I had as an educator and wanted to share them with the conservation sector to change behavior more effectively.
However, this new methodology required teams to shift their organizational culture to take a people-centered approach to their work and iterate on programs quickly. In order for leaders to shape their organizational culture, they needed to start by showing up as their best selves, best teammates, and best problem solvers. These insights and my own personal evolution as a leader led me to make the hard decision to close my education nonprofit and begin the next chapter. Enter Design Pathways.
Leadership is learning.
Leaders can often feel like their problems are unique to them and therefore must solve them alone or learn to live with them. They struggle to address challenges they’re not trained in. But leaders have a choice. They can live with their problems or they can design their way forward. The best leaders and highest performing teams are life-long learners. But it’s hard for them to find programs that actually help them create change in their life and work.
As a 2x founder, I have experienced the successes and challenges of leadership. When I see other leaders struggle with the same challenges I faced, I see myself in them and want to provide everything they need—from powerful tools to thoughtful feedback to heartfelt encouragement. I want them to feel validated and know that they are not alone. I want to give them an amazing learning experience that meets them where they're at and takes them where they need to go with new skills. I want them to become happier, healthier, and empowered to accomplish their mission.
That is why I am dedicated to designing experiences that people love and can’t get anywhere else; programs I always needed for myself but could never find. This is my call to serve.
People are at the heart of everything I do.
As a learning experience designer, I help leaders and teams transform the way they learn and work together to impact nature and people. I love to create a learning environment for leaders and teams to become more open and collaborative. I am inspired by people who listen to the communities they serve, who aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo, and who live their values inside and outside the workplace.
When you work with me, you get a more personalized experience that puts you at the center of your learning. You’ll be greeted by warm smiles and encouraged to bring your whole self.
I typically only work with one cohort or team at a time, so I can focus all my attention on you and deliver an artfully designed learning program that has the power to create incredible results. My programs move busy leaders from lonely and unsupported to connected and cared for, stressed and reactive to reflective and responsive, and stuck and unsure to equipped and confident.
Creativity is always in progress at Design Pathways.
Crafting high-quality and memorable experiences that are guided, actionable, and thought provoking is very important to me. That’s why I provide leaders and teams with practical problem-solving tools to apply immediately and use for a lifetime.
The magic of Design Pathways’ learning programs is rooted in my creative process. Great design, creativity, and play are the components that make working with me a delightful, unique, and life-changing experience!
Stories of Transformation
My approach is shaped by my educational background in anthropology and primate fieldwork in Costa Rica, Indonesia, and Uganda, disc jockey and teaching experience, 2 years of service in the U.S. Peace Corps in Senegal, 5 years at nonprofits in Washington, DC operating in the DRC and Rwanda, and 11 years of running my own organizations. I am trained in Behavior Design by Dr. BJ Fogg at Stanford University and I leverage proven methods used by the most successful companies in the San Francisco Bay Area where I am based.
When I’m not learning or helping other people learn, you can find me exploring California’s spectacular redwood forests and beaches with my husband and chow chow or “puffy lion dog”.
The best way to find out more about my work is to experience it for yourself.
I invite you to explore our learning programs in Leadership, Culture Design, or Behavior Design. My team and I work with organizations of all sizes anywhere across the globe. If you don't find a program you’re looking for, we can customize one for your team.
I am an avid researcher and constantly add to my toolkit to design new learning experiences that meet the needs of leaders and teams like yours. Reach out to me here and let’s chat.
I can’t wait to meet and work with you!
Ready to tell your story?