Anew Conversation: Designing For Transformation
Join Anew and Rockwell Group for an evening exploring how physical environments can foster community, creativity, dignity, and social change.
Anew’s home was thoughtfully designed by Rockwell Group. This historic brownstone, the last one standing on its block, was reimagined as both a workplace and a platform for dialogue, fellowship, and collective action. The interior was restored to be welcoming and approachable to all and help facilitate Anew’s mission: inspiring positive change and dreaming up solutions to some of society's most intractable challenges.
To celebrate this collaborative project, Anew and Rockwell Group will bring together leaders from design, philanthropy, advocacy, and Anew's Entrepreneurs-in-Residence program. The panel, moderated by Debbie Millman, and featuring David Rockwell, Jacqueline Novogratz, Jhody Polk, and Katie Manderfield, will examine the intersection of adaptive reuse, storytelling, sustainability, impact-driven work, and how purposefully designed physical spaces can become catalysts for connection and transformation.
The discussion will also touch on broader ideas of material stewardship and reuse, including Rockwell Group’s Cork Collective, which engages sustainability, craft, and community.
Following the talk, guests will be invited to tour the brownstone and experience the architectural restoration and the many donated and gifted products that complete the design story.
Debbie Millman is a designer, author, educator, curator, and host of the pioneering podcast Design Matters. Named “one of the most creative people in business” by Fast Company, “one of the most influential designers working today” by Graphic Design USA, and a “woman of influence” by Success Magazine, Debbie Millman has built a remarkable career at the intersection of design, storytelling, and cultural commentary.
David Rockwell, FAIA, founder and President of the cross-disciplinary architecture and design firm Rockwell Group, is the architect behind Anew’s reimagined headquarters and co-founder of the sustainability initiative Cork Collective. Merging theater, performance, and architecture, the firm’s work includes hotels and restaurants, theaters, cultural and educational institutions, set designs, products, and urban interventions. Honors include the AIANY President’s Award; the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award; a Tony Award; two Emmy Awards; the Presidential Design Award.
Jhody Polk is the founder of the Legal Empowerment & Advocacy Hub (LEAH). LEAH was founded in 2019 with the mission to ensure isolated communities have access to legal empowerment, education and peacebuilding. LEAH’s first program was the Jailhouse Lawyers Initiative (JLI), housed at the Bernstein Institute for Human Rights at NYU School of Law. Jhody is a 2025 David Prize Winner and a 2024 Global Freedom Fellow. She is recognized as a formerly Incarcerated Jailhouse Lawyer, a Community Paralegal and Community Peacebuilder.
Jacqueline Novogratz is the co-founder of Anew, and the founder and CEO of Acumen, a global organization that fights poverty and builds dignity through patient investment in companies and leaders; sharing knowledge and insights based on impact achieved; and creating partnerships to scale what works. Since its founding in 2001, Acumen has impacted more than 700 million individuals across Africa, South Asia, Latin America, and the United States. More than 2,000 social enterprise builders have been trained and supported through Acumen Academy.
Katie Manderfield is the Co-Founder and CEO of Anew — a NYC gathering space, cafe, and incubator — built on a core belief: that a brighter world isn't made by a credentialed few, but by everyone who can see themselves in the solution. Previously, Katie spent her career at the intersection of media and storytelling at The New York Times, Bloomberg, and WPP and holds an MFA in Critical Studies.
Anew is a gathering space and discovery center for the social impact community.