Meet Sam Bradd
Sam Bradd (MEd, he/him) is the Principal of Drawing Change. With 25 years’ of facilitation experience, he focuses on creating visuals for organizational development and systems change. He's an author, has worked in 11 countries and is recognized for expertise in health systems, environment, social policy and helping people have better meetings. Drawing Change likes to give back with our Foundation. Together, we’re drawing change.
Drawing Change has deep expertise in strategic communications consulting, focusing on visuals for organizational development and systems change. We provide facilitation and graphic facilitation that is strengths-based, creative and participatory, works with complexity, and uses an intersectional and anti-racism lens.
Drawing Change is recognized globally for our expertise, especially in health, environment, and social policy. Our collaborators include the World Health Organization, Harvard, knowledge translation experts, Indigenous rights-holders, researchers, governments, Google, and non-profits working for a better world.
About Sam Bradd
My facilitation is grounded in who I am, and where I’m from. I’m a 3rd generation white settler of Italian/Scottish heritage, and I live on unceded Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territories (Vancouver Canada). When I was a young queer and trans person, making art got me through the hard times – and looking back, I realize I did something unusual in meetings. I would pull out paper and explain ideas by drawing. Drawing helped me think. It wasn’t about the fanciest drawings – it helped people around me do their best work.
My first career was in the advocacy sector, where my toolbox included working in consensus, labour relations, and building capacity in the disability sector. This strategic visual thinking pivoted my career in a new direction – and I found my knack for visualizing systems and abstract concepts that are hard to explain. Today, I love seeing people be creative together, especially the ‘aha!’ moments when we can use non-linear methods and dialogue to find new ways forward.
My formal education includes:
- a Masters of Educational Studies (MEd, UBC, 2014)
- Certification in Human Systems Dynamics (2020)
- Certification in Integral Facilitation (2020)
- Training with Deep Democracy; Liberating Structures; Training for Change
- I’m #firstgen to go to university, and I’m a Dialogue Associate with the Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue.
As an author, I’ve co-edited two books including Drawn Together Through Visual Practice and am a co-founder of the award-winning Graphic History Collective that creates peoples’ histories in accessible formats.
I love collaborating with people who know we can approach complexity differently – with visuals.
Together, we’re drawing change.