Ariel Sim is a designer-researcher, facilitator, and boundary-walker whose work unfurls at the intersections of care, culture, ecology, and justice. With a grounding in design anthropology and community-based research, she has spent years creating spaces where questions matter as much as answers — where listening becomes a practice and design becomes a way of deepening our relations with one another and the more-than-human world.

Founder of Conscious Creator Inc. and Beyond Human-Centred Design, Ariel is based in Toronto, where she often collaborates with Monumental Projects in support of community-based participatory research that informs emerging policies, upcoming urban developments, and the arts sector. In these projects, community conversations and art-making are often central to the collaborative research and storytelling process.

Ariel was Director of Design Anthropology and Design Practice Lead at MaRS Discovery District – Canada’s premiere innovation hub – where her teams’ work was recognized by Fast Company (Top 10 Ideas In Politics & Policy). She served as the first Human Rights and Design Practice Fellow with the NYU More-Than-Human (MOTH) Life Program, during which time she started imagining this toolkit. She started developing the toolkit shortly after her fellowship and continues to pursue it out of joy and passion. In 2025, she was featured at the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival (EMWF) for her work exploring democracy and more-than-human design. 

Ariel’s practice is rooted in community-based applied anthropology. She spent her early career in the US-Mexico border region where her teams’ work amplified the power of community-led solutions for the built environment (composting toilets, rainwater harvesting, chemical cleanups) and policy advocacy (environmental protection, human rights). Ariel holds a Master of Global Affairs from the University of Toronto, and a bachelor of arts in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Arizona.