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Lida Lewis

Design Strategist | Innovation Catalyst | Storyteller | Workplace & Human Experience Leader | Business Development Partner | Sustainability & Wellbeing Advocate

About

about

I am endlessly curious about how design, psychology, wellbeing, and human experience shape the way people live, work, connect, and thrive.

 

Design is my passion, but people are always my focus.

 

I am a design strategist, workplace strategist, and thought leader fascinated by the intersection of design, culture, wellbeing, and human experience. Whether partnering with tenants, developers, asset managers, brokers, or project teams, I believe great environments do more than look beautiful. They strengthen culture, support performance, build community, and help people thrive.

Throughout my career, I have led design strategy, workplace transformation, business development, and sustainability initiatives across diverse sectors. I enjoy helping organizations navigate complexity, uncover opportunities, and create places aligned with business goals, occupant experience, and long-term value.

 

I am energized by innovation, future-focused thinking, and design excellence. As a lifelong learner, I explore emerging trends and the future of work, translating research into actionable strategies, compelling stories, stronger pursuits, and design solutions that connect vision with execution.

 

Storytelling is central to everything I do. Whether shaping pursuits, facilitating workshops, developing thought leadership, speaking at industry conferences, mentoring emerging professionals, or helping teams articulate a vision, I believe better stories lead to better outcomes. Great ideas inspire people to see new possibilities and take action.

 

I am equally passionate about mentorship, leadership development, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Some of the most rewarding moments of my career have come from helping others discover strengths they didn't know they possessed, connecting people across silos, and creating opportunities for teams to grow together. Innovation happens when curious people unite around a shared purpose.

 

We spend most of our lives indoors. If I can help create places that are more meaningful, healthy, resilient, sustainable, and inspiring, I'll consider that a professional life well spent.

 

I'm always interested in connecting with designers, developers, real estate leaders, innovators, researchers, storytellers, and curious thinkers passionate about design innovation, workplace strategy, sustainability, business development, human experience, and the future of the built environment. Let's connect and explore what's possible together.

RECOMMENDATIONS

select recommendations

What's it like to work with me?

Client Recommendations

Lida recently completed a project for our institution that was challenging on so many levels for everyone involved: time frame; details; coordinating with numerous personalities in different locations. Throughout everything, Lida was an absolute star! Her attention to detail, flexibility, and attitude to find a way to make things work was appreciated by everyone on our end. Her level of accessibility was unlike anything we've experienced before.


I hope to work with Lida and her colleagues again in the future.

—  Brian LaBelle  |  Senior Director, Facilities and Real Estate Planning at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

Teammate Recommendations

It is rare that you come across drive like Lida's. She currently serves as my colleague on the Board of Directors for the USGBC National Capital Region. Our organization is experiencing one of our most successful years yet and Lida has been instrumental in making this happen.

 

Her thorough knowledge of the industry and interest in researching emerging topics has resulted in robust (and sold-out!) educational programming on topics like the WELL building standard. Prior to her board service, in 2015, Lida was elected USGBC National Capital Region Member of the Year for her work chairing the Tours Committee of the Greenbuild Host Committee. Through her leadership, 27 tours were developed that allowed ~1,350 national and international conference attendees to experience the best examples of sustainability in our region. This program generated over $40,000 in revenue for our organization to reinvest in our mission of green buildings for everyone in this generation. Lida's work on the tours program set the bar high for future cities hosting Greenbuild. Her fundraising prowess didn't stop there. She has since introduced us to many industry contacts who quickly became donors because of their admiration for Lida. I am in awe of Lida's enthusiasm for tackling tasks before her and offer her my highest praise without reservation.

—  Emily English  |  Executive Director, USGBC-NCR

Coworker Recommendations

Lida is one of those individuals whose passion for wellbeing design is all-pervasive. She is always teaching, and encouraging others to address a challenge by examining a variety of perspectives before landing on a solution. While I have not worked with Lida directly on a project, she has played a critical role in my professional growth as a mentor. Over the past year, Lida has both encouraged and pushed me to think “outside the box” in order to approach both project and life challenges with confidence. It is important to note that Lida is a leader who listens, our Associate body elected her to be one of our representatives to our firm at large (this was a firm-wide election that Lida won). Thus showcasing how much Lida’s presence is both felt and respected by her colleagues.

—  Lisa Goldsmith  |  Lida was senior to Lisa but didn’t manage directly at HKS Architects

Clients

clients

Below is a list of a few of the clients I've had the pleasure to work with over the years:

Save the Children

The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board 

The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board

National Defense Industry Association 

Community Development and Preservation Corporation

National Older Worker Career Association

Art Institute

Endocrine Society

The Avascent Group

Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission

Winrock Group

American Wind Energy Association

UCSD

San Francisco International Airport

America Councils for International Education

American Legacy Foundation

National Committee for Quality Assurance

Oceana

New America Foundation

Open Society Institute

PFLAG

Rapoza Associates

Strayer University

The Clearing

The League of Conservation Voters

Proctor and Gamble

Reynolds & Reynolds

The Weinberg Group

Thomson, Loss, & Judge

US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants

Ministry of Health Holdings, Singapore

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