Case study2025–2026
Homegrown & POV
DC Design Week is a citywide series of events celebrating the people and ideas shaping DC’s creative community. Each year, a chair and co-chair lead the vision and programming across the week.
In 2025, that leadership was Eden Patrick and Robbie Stanfield. In 2026, Robbie and Eden exchanged roles.
I’ve worked alongside Robbie for nearly two decades. We know how to build on each other’s ideas, and across both years of DC Design Week, I served as a creative thought partner and program producer, supporting the leadership team as plans became experiences.
02Program · 2025
For Homegrown, my work centered on the experience surrounding the program.
I collaborated with Robbie on stage design, helped coordinate talent and vendors, and contributed to the decisions that shaped how guests would move through and experience the event.
Much of that work happened in the details. The goal was to make sure the experience felt as considered as the programming itself.
03Program · 2025–2026
2025
My involvement in Portfolio Review began with the audience experience: thinking through arrival, movement, and how guests would navigate the event while Robbie developed the program itself.
2026
In 2026, the event evolved into POV. I helped shape its new identity, contributed to the overall event flow, and took a more hands-on role in the participant and volunteer experience.
POV · Saturday, October 3, 2026 · The Malin
| Group | 12:15 | 1:00 | 1:45 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red | A | B | C |
| Blue | B | C | A |
| Yellow | C | A | B |
Every participant moved through all three rooms in their color’s order.
The digital companion
Conceived, designed and built by Aja SophiaUX/UI Design & Digital Experience Development
I also conceived, designed, and built a digital companion for the event. It gave participants a way to navigate their experience and volunteers the information they needed to support it, bringing two sides of the production into one connected system.
ParticipantFind your pathway
VolunteerVolunteer guide
Same groups, same rooms, same clock on both sides.
Screens captured from the event apps with the clock set to event day. Participant and reviewer names blurred.
Aja Sophia
Program Producer
DC Design Week leadership
2025Eden Patrick, Chair
Robbie Stanfield, Co-Chair
2026Robbie Stanfield, Chair
Eden Patrick, Co-Chair