Redesigning our inner place: Unlearning bias to build responsible futures

Abstract

In this talk, I will invite attendees to reimagine place not only as the spaces we design but as the inner landscapes we occupy, the inherited systems, unconscious assumptions, and internalised narratives that shape how we lead, design, and relate. As an award-winning product strategist and design leader of Afro-Indigenous heritage, I’ve navigated both systemic barriers and the quiet, daily work of confronting my own internalised biases—racism, misogyny, homophobia, and more.

This talk will share how the path to decolonising design and enabling diverse leadership begins within. Through storytelling and a behind-the-scenes look at a leadership fellowship rooted in responsible design practices, I will guide attendees through the journey of transforming bias into awareness and awareness into action.

Attendees will be gently encouraged to reflect on their own biases, explore the limitations, and consider how lived experience is often missing from our process. The tone will be honest and compassionate, inviting curiosity and self-reflection.

About

Sandra González | Product Strategy Leader, Founder and Director

Sandra González is an award-winning product strategy leader and advisor, and the Founder and Director of UX for Change. For over a decade, this global initiative has connected purpose-driven organisations with the UX community in cities including London, Sydney, and NYC.

Currently, Sandra is focused on scaling global collaboration and redistributing responsible design knowledge through the Responsible Design for Change Fellowship.

She is also a Pluralsight author and has contributed to works by best-selling authors such as Nir Eyal and Trenton Moss. Her impact on the UX field is recognised in In Through the Side Door: Fifty Years of Women in Interaction Design (MIT Press) by Erin Malone.

Beyond her professional work, Sandra enjoys performing Afro-Indigenous flutes and is currently transitioning from unlearning South American-style salsa to learning New York-style mambo. She also spends time reflecting on what it means to be a “good ancestor” rather than a “dutiful descendant”.