CULTIVATING TRANSFORMATIONS
Cultivating mindsets and shifting perspectives through immersive learning experiences empowers people to do things differently with increased agility and resiliency. Incremental changes begin within each person, collectively contributing towards the transformation of the whole.
Hello. My name is Kai.
I’m an Interdisciplinary Design Strategist + Empathy Cultivator + Self Leadership Mindset Coach.
Through the combined powers of cultivating creativity, empathy and design-thinking, I help to empower people and organizations to shift from being stuck in the “we know we need to change or pivot, but how” phase and get to the ‘doing’ phase, using Design Thinking frameworks to problem solve purposefully with creative agility for longer-lasting systemic change. Whether it’s through workshops and sprints or coaching, I work collaboratively with you to discover purpose-driven opportunities for growth and innovations.
Strategy & Design
Service Design, Design Thinking, Human-Centred Design, Systems Design, Agile Design Sprints, Product Design, Experience Design, Workshop Design and Development
Facilitation + Mentoring
Group & Teams Facilitation, Soft Skills Cultivation, Coach-approach Mentoring, Human Nature, Systems Thinking, Service Design Doing, Design Thinking,
Coaching
Self Leadership, Collaborative Leadership, Engaged Empathy, Mind & Body Wellbeing, Cultivating Psychological Safety, Trauma-Informed Practice, Emotional & Cultural Intelligence,
What People Have Been Saying
Kai is a truly compassionate, warm and caring person. As a mindset coach, she has a talent for assessing things in a non-judgmental way, that makes you feel at ease and comfortable to open up to her. I would recommend her to anyone who feels stuck and need support with making big life decisions relating to career and relationships. She asked me thought-provoking questions, which helped to shift my perspective of a situation, to look at it in a different way than I normally would. Many times she empowered me to come up with solutions on my own by establishing trust in my own intuition. After working with her, I feel more positive and hopeful about how I see my future moving forward. The best thing about having Kai as a coach is how she inspires you to overcome past trauma or fears that hold you back and she gives you the confidence to know that you can live a happy and fulfilling life. Thank you, Kai!
Glynis Tao
Apparel Business Specialist and Consultant
Kai is a dedicated, talented and generous service designer and facilitator. I had the pleasure of learning from her during the 2019 Global Service Design Jam in Vancouver, which she organized and led. Her warmth and infectious energy made the design sprint fun and engaging. She approaches any subject with curiosity and establishes a genuine connection with anyone she encounters. I look forward to implementing what I’ve learned from Kai in my own practice and look forward to collaborating with her again in the future.
George Damian
Creative Strategist, CFA
Kai has tremendous skills in creativity, strategy, production management, and unlocking the potential and improving performance of others, but really she is a change maker. Having known her for may years, and collaborated on complex projects in the past, I’ve seen up close how Kai fearlessly dives into challenging situations, finds the superior path forward, and helps teams manage complexity. During the COVID-19 crisis, Kai volunteered to develop and manage a citizen action response initiative [DTES Response] that went from idea to active fundraiser and communications campaign in about one week. For anyone seeking support for improving their operations, services, culture, or creative projects, you need look no further. I enthusiastically recommend Kaishin Chu.
Mark Busse
Director of Brand, Culture, & Community at MGA | Michael Green Architecture
VGH and UBC Hospital Foundation & Brave CoopKai facilitated two Overdose Prevention workshops in 2018. This gathering brought community, frontline responders, friends, family and drug-users together to discuss perceived and actual barriers between all groups. She created a safe space where everyone’s voice was heard, lived experiences were shared and the stories of lost loved ones were honoured. Intentional conversations were facilitated while using her service design process for building and improving overdose prevention technology. Brave Technology Cooperative is extremely grateful for Kai’s flexibility and expertise in providing these workshops. She is an expert in empathy building for engagement, design-thinking and the service design framework, and we look forward to working with her again soon.
Tamara Wojdylo, CFRE
VGH and UBC Hospital Foundation & Brave Coop
The Service Design Jam is an intensive, two and a half day workshop in which the participants will solve a real-world problem using the service design process. We started with a simple theme, which later materialized into problem statement by using various methodologies and tools. Throughout the weekend, we got our hands dirty with user research on the field, defining the problem, ideas generation, rapid prototyping, business model formulation, and testing. Ultimately, we showed our prototype in front of everybody and gave constructive critique feedback to each group’s design. My experience with the host, Kaishin has been life-changing. Kai is the main facilitator of the workshop. She along with other volunteers have created a fun, non-judgemental, informative yet inspiring environment for us to fully emerge into a weeklong design jam. Kai is resourceful in the area of Service Design and Design Thinking process. She and her team constantly stimulate us into thinking deeper and wider, as well as providing constructive feedback. On top of that, her material is well crafted and intuitive, enabling a seamless learning experience. I have taken away so much from the workshop thanks to Kai and her team. The experience enabled me to be a better Design Thinking practitioner and provided with heaps of new tools to utilize in my personal project. I would highly recommend Kai to anybody who is looking for Service Designer, mentor, workshop facilitator or collaborative leadership instigator. Her expertise and quick wit will transform your organization, and better yet your life definitely!
Deacon Poon
HR Specialist + UX Developer
