A CONVERSATION WITH: BECKY
Becky (right, bottom row) with the first design team in spring 2012!
This blog is part of our series, A Conversation WITH. As a media organization, we highlight members of our team - past and present - that have done awesome work with Wide Angle, while also pursuing their own creative goals.
Becky Slogeris -she/her pronouns- is a human-centered designer and educator working to advance equity and social justice through design. She was a wonderful staff member and teacher at Wide Angle for 10 years. We had a final chat about her time with Wide Angle and her next steps as she transitioned into her next journey as a Presidential Innovation Fellow.
Current read: Good Services: How to Design Services that Work by Lou Downs
Song on repeat: “Liberated” by DeJ Loaf & Leon Bridges
Favorite spot in Baltimore: Anywhere with snowballs!
Please provide a brief summary of your current role at Wide Angle. How did you find Wide Angle all those years ago and what was different about the organization when you started?
I joined Wide Angle as a design instructor in December 2011. At the time, Wide Angle had just received its first grant from OSI-Baltimore for design programming. Our initial work was focused on using design to improve public transportation for Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) students in order to ultimately increase attendance. In that first year, our youth launched a campaign to promote the Rate Your Ride program, created a newsletter about the program that was distributed to every BCPS student, and hosted a Bus Operator Appreciation event to improve relationships between students and drivers. After that first year, I was hooked.
My role at Wide Angle has evolved since then, but the core of the work stayed the same - introducing youth to design and then getting out of the way so they can create the change they want to see in their communities. 10 years later, we’ve gone from one cohort of students at one school to a complete design pathway for Baltimore youth. I couldn’t be more proud of all that we’ve accomplished together.
Rate Your Ride campaign poster at a bus stop in Baltimore City.
How has teaching and working with media impacted you?
Wide Angle has been a home away from home - a safe space for me to learn and grow as a designer and educator. I have learned so much from all of my students, partners, and co-workers: how to use design strategically to push for systems change, how to step back and let youth lead, and how to create conditions for youth to thrive - just to name a few!
What is the best part of what you do? What gives you energy?
I love seeing the work our youth create out in the world - whether it’s hearing about how community organizers are using our Know Your Rights cards or walking into a school and seeing a Never Late Nate poster up on the wall.
Since 2016, students in Wide Angle Youth Media’s Design Team have collaborated with local advocacy organizations to develop a series of Know Your Rights booklets to help students better understand their rights.
Attendance super hero, Never Late Nate, holding a poster with a student at the 2014 BCPS Back to School Rally.
We are so excited about your new role as a Presidential Innovation Fellow. Could you tell us a bit about the role and your goals as you advance in your career?
The Presidential Innovation Fellows is a program for designers, technologists, and strategists who are interested in bringing their skillset to the federal government to improve services and systems. I’ll be working in the Department of Justice on projects to help the public better understand their Civil Rights. I’m especially excited to apply all that I’ve learned from working on local issues at a national scale.
Becky (in the middle) with Wide Angle students and staff at a photoshoot for the Baltimore vs COVID campaign.
If you have one final message to share to the students you’ve taught over the years or to colleagues at Wide Angle, what would it be?
You are unstoppable! Keep making media that brings you joy and pushes the world forward.
Becky and Design Apprentices Tia (top) and De’Shaun (bottom) showing off their new Wide Angle sweatshirts.
MEET THE AUTHOR
Lacee is a student at the University of Baltimore pursuing her bachelor's degree in Psychology. Lacee began as an intern with Wide Angle through Urban Alliance. She found great interest in media-making after working on various projects from design to photography to video. She has developed life plans, workforce readiness skills, and design projects for clients such as Baltimore Mediation Center and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her content writing and creation skills have developed tremendously. She’s developed multiple informative posts for Wide Angle’s social media platforms, highlighting Black August, Indigenous Peoples’ Day, National Coming Out Day, and more.