Leila Kidson is a social systems researcher, facilitator, and designer focused on better integrating grassroots voices into systems design, advocacy and action. As co-founder of social design studio OCTOPI, she blends storytelling, co-creation, strategy, and intersectional feminist praxis to drive radical transformation in civic freedoms, solidarity economics, and social justice. She appreciates sitting around a lunch table with interesting people and free diving in kelp forests.

OCTOPI is a South African-based social design studio that partners with organisations aiming to create positive social impact, particularly in marginalised communities within developing nations. Their approach combines strategic design processes with accessible storytelling to co-create solutions that address complex societal challenges from the ground up.

In this episode we are treated to Leila’s exquisite ability to answer questions succinctly. She weaves with us through intersectional feminism, whiteness and what a more communally driven world could look like. She mentions Rutger Bregman’s book Humankind as an entry point into the idea of human beings being innately good. Together we consider what possibilities become alive when we reorient ourselves towards goodness. All held together by story. 

The music in this episode is composed and arranged by Rashid Epstein Adams / Arkenstone, Gabriel Montgomery and Pursuit.