Nova Wehman-Brown

Nova Wehman-Brown (she/her) is a UX and product design executive with nearly 30 years of experience building human-centered technology at scale. She has led design strategy, research, and product development across both private sector and public sector organizations — working at the intersection of complex systems, organizational change, and the people who actually have to use them. Known for her people-first approach to leadership, Nova has built and scaled high-performing design teams, championed accessibility and equity as non-negotiables, and helped organizations make better decisions by keeping real human needs at the center of everything. Her work spans enterprise technology, civic tech, and emerging digital platforms. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and shaped by years living abroad in pre-Putin Russia and studying language and culture in France, Nova brings a rare combination of global perspective and deep technical fluency. She is a writer, strategist, and community builder who builds at the intersection of systems thinking and radical empathy — because the most rigorous thing you can do is refuse to lose sight of the human. As co-author of Should I Stay or Should I Go?, Nova draws on her experience in design thinking, people-centered tool building, and social justice to help guide readers through one of the most difficult questions of our time: whether to build a life within a country sliding toward authoritarianism, or imagine a new one elsewhere. It is, in many ways, a natural extension of her life's work — helping people navigate uncertainty with clarity. In 2024–2025, she cofounded and served as board chair for Queer Joy Collaborative, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit supporting LGBTQ+ connection through music, art, and mutual aid. She is now the founder of Strategic Creations Studio, working with organizations navigating change, complexity, and the very human challenges that come with both.