Celine Semaan
Céline is a Lebanese-Canadian designer, writer, speaker, and advocate working at the intersection of environmental and social justice. She speaks four languages, is a designer, writer, educator, strategist and mother.
Céline is the founder of Slow Factory, a 501c3 public service organization addressing the intersecting crises of climate justice and social inequity — filling the gap for climate adaptation and preparedness, building community power through open education, narrative change and regenerative design. As a part of this work, Slow Factory produces a conference series promoting sustainability literacy called Study Hall, the first science-driven incubator in fashion called One X One, and a range of other offerings.
Her works has received many awards: Slow Factory’s Open Edu has received an award from Harvard for innovation in education; Slow Factory Labs has been awarded a Fast Company Innovation by design award, funding from the JLL Foundation, and has been a finalist in many global design and innovation competitions.
Recently, Céline is building a climate institute focused on designing solutions addressing pollution reduction and accessible climate education.
An advocate in a range of fields, Céline is on the Council of Progressive International, has been a Director’s Fellow of MIT Media Lab, and served on the Board of Directors of AIGA NY, a nonprofit membership organization that helps cultivate the future of design in New York City.