San Francisco host
Mafe Perez
@mafeperezt
Scott Shigeoka shares how being courageously honest can open opportunities to deepen our relationships, inspire our work, and enrich our personal journeys.
About the speaker

Scott Keoni Shigeoka is an artist, designer, writer and community builder. Currently housed at IDEO’s open innovation and social impact arm, his work explores questions around collective action, distributed leadership, decolonizing design, healing and innovation at the edges. His projects focus on human experiences—death, identity and belonging—and have been featured in Variety Magazine, MTV, The Washington Post and Fast Company. He loves freestyle rapping, islands (born in Hawaii, Fulbright in Iceland) and tree houses, like the one he had growing up. It was his sanctuary, a space where he felt safe to be, wonder and heal. Now he’s asking: What are the tree houses we can build for others? Scott is writing a book about people living on the outskirts of society and is a student of Japanese tea ceremonies and wabi-sabi (侘寂). His favorite word is ‘komorebi’ (木漏れ日) which means the sunlight that shines between the leaves of a tree. Learn more about him here: www.scottshigeoka.com
Favorite quotes from this talk See all
“Discover the spaces where honesty thrives for you. Maybe it's a car, maybe it's in nature. Maybe there's a place where you feel safe to be honest. — Scott Shigeoka

“Honesty makes us happier and healthier, even if it means shedding some tears. — Scott Shigeoka

“We should be tapping into what makes us most vulnerable. We should be tapping in to our emotional honesty and whether that comes through our words or through our tears, that's okay. We can see that as strength. — Scott Shigeoka

“Art can help us heal and open us up to honesty in profound ways. — Scott Shigeoka

“My relationship with those that I've lost are still continuing to grow with time. And I can see them in different ways. — Scott Shigeoka
