Giovanni Salimena
I am an experienced interdisciplinary strategist and designer who helps companies, organizations and startups reimagine, prototype and design products and brands. I am passionate about finding unobtrusive ways to explore our world and leveraging storytelling to educate and connect. This passion led me to found Nearstory, a platform that connects immersive audio stories with the listeners’ location. Nearstory was named by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the 100 Brilliant Companies to Watch in 2016.
Prior to founding Nearstory, I spent 10 years working between Chicago and the Bay Area. I honed my craft at creative agencies, digital startups, socially responsible companies and nonprofits, as well as my own design company, Salimena Studios. I have worked with Lurie Children’s Hospital, University of Chicago Education Consortium, Harpo Studios, The Chicago Public Education Fund, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Sprint, Mission Measurement, American Federation of Teachers, A Better Chicago as well as startups in Silicon Valley.
More recently, my work has increasingly focused on smarter user research to prioritize and develop more impactful digital products and experiences. I have led the digital strategy practice at Emerge Interactive for the past year. While there, I conducted research and produced thought leadership on the power of empathy mapping in COVID response and return to work planning. I also supported the CEO in the development of his leading book: Alignment: Overcoming internal sabotage and digital product failure. I am also a current board member of The Wetlands Conservancy.
I hold a BFA in visual design from the University of Oregon. I completed the Startup Garage course at Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 2014.