# Liin Nur's Manager Readme

**Lead, Design Strategist at Black Health Alliance**

# My Role

Hellooooo! My name is Liin Nur and I'm the Lead, Design Strategist on the Strategy, Design, and Implementation team here at Black Health Alliance. I work closely with Kim, Maame, and Paul (but my work puts me in close contact with others across the organization) and I report to Maame. I spend a lot of time working on projects and brainstorming with other team members, taking notes, reading any relevant documents, and learning about new tools for facilitation and design. 

My portfolio is a mix of strategy work and design work working with others on the team to embed new ways of working into new and existing projects. I also work at the organizational level looking to create processes and systems so that we can all do our work better and more efficiently, learning from what works and creating tools that help with things like project set-up, close-down, and grant writing. 

# My Background

My journey to this work started when I did my undergraduate degree in Health Studies at the University of Waterloo where I was also enrolled in the co-op program. I initially went to school wanting to be a doctor but organic chemistry and physics did me sooo dirty that I haven't had thoughts of medical school since I was 19. It was through my co-op experiences that I came to the Region of Peel and fell in love with the idea of working within the health system to make improvements that impacts people across Paramedics, Public Health, and Long Term Care. I stayed at Peel taking on different roles for 9 years with a break in 2018 to do my Masters in Design at OCAD in the Strategic Foresight & Innovation program.

In 2023, I moved to the UK for a change and lived in London for three years still doing work in government but shifting to work at a digital transformation consultancy (TPXimpact) and then a small national non-profit (New Local) where I put my design skills to use and worked with local and central government on initiatives related to health, housing, community cohesion, and deliberative democracy. I loved living in a different country and I'm already itching to pick up start over somewhere else again (Nairobi is calling my name) but not for another few years. 

# My Hours

My day usually starts between 9:30am-10:00am and I work until my energy runs out. This means some days I am working until 8pm or 9pm (especially when something has really captured my attention / ideas are bubbling up) but most days I wrap things up around 5:30pm. I don't have a consistent lunch break but usually step away for 30 mins at some point in the day to make sure I eat. If I have to be away from my desk for longer (for an appointment or something), I will update my Slack status and also block it off on my calendar so that everyone is aware. I try not to work weekends but may occasionally go online to capture something that I thought before I forget it but that's about it. 

I try to go into the office once a week for a change of scenery but otherwise, I mostly work from home. Although I'm very happy to coordinate in-office days with others as I enjoy the creative energy that comes from a buzzing office!

# Communication

The best way to reach me is by sending a Slack message as I'm usually quick to respond (within 1-2 hours). If it's something that is best discussed, a quick huddle is great but if it's something that requires some time, then a longer scheduled meeting works best for me. I'm always happy to work through ideas with others as I value that process a lot and will often ask to do the same. 

# My Style

I find I usually work best when I have a few things on the go so that I don't get bored. 

I'm usually never without at least one notebook and a pen nearby as I process information much better when I've written it down. My notebook is also the place where I make little diagrams to connect information as I'm taking it in as I'm a visual learner and pattern recognition (even if it feels far fetched) is how I retain things. For the same reason, I also LOVE using Miro and will often summarize my learnings and in-progress thoughts on a board to share with others. But while this may look "polished" it most definitely is not and I see these boards as a starting point from which we can build and create something better. 

I love to receive all types of feedback as I view it all as constructive and I'm committed to growing and bettering myself in all ways. If you have any feedback, please share it with me through a 1:1.

# My Strengths

I'm really good at making connections between (seemingly) disparate pieces of information as I'm a big picture thinker. I'm also good at sequence-based thinking (if this, then that) and have a long view of potential futures that partly comes from my training as a foresight practitioner but it is also innate in how I view the world. I'm a strong facilitator, collaborator, and strategic thinker and I love, love, love coming up with new ideas, testing them with others, and landing somewhere that's even better than where we began. Seeing something from the idea stage all the way through implementation is what makes me happy. 

# My Challenges

Although I've managed projects of all sizes, teams, and budgets throughout my career, I'm still a scrappy project manager and know that it's an area I need to develop further in. I also find it difficult to absorb a ton of information without a visual grounding which is why I lean on my notebook a lot.   
  
Days with back-to-back meetings for the entire day really drain me so I try to avoid those as much as possible. When there's no avoiding it, I will log off as soon as the last meeting of the day is done so that I can recoup my energy and start the next day fresh. I've learned that if I don't do this, the effects of that one meeting heavy day will carry forward and I'll be half-drained for the rest of the week. 

# About Me

Although I'm ethnically Somali, I was born in Toronto and only went to Somalia for the first time with my dad in 2021. I wish I could bring everyone I care about there because it is such a vibe!!! Beautiful beaches, rich history, good food, the funniest, kindest people, But we have to figure out a lot of things in the country first before that happens and I'm always trying to find my own small way to contribute to making things better.

I'm a lifelong volunteer as I believe that's the heartbeat of society. I love to read (mainly fiction), musical theatre (Hamilton and Six are my favourites), history, being active (I've been a pilates devotee since 2020), getting outdoors, and watching movies. I also like working with my hands and taking on new hobbies so I am a very amateur sewist and I hope to start some woodworking soon.  Outside of this, I also do research on diasporic futures and I'm working on two things at the moment related to that: 1) making a short documentary on the how the Somali language came to be written and 2) translating a 1950s play from the original Somali to English so that I can use it in workshops with intergenerational Somalis in the GTA and maybe, possibly, one day stage a reading of it.

I don't love: seasonal allergies, bad vibes, looking for a parking spot in a packed lot, and artificial sweetener. Oh and if there is a zombie apocalypse tomorrow, let it be  known that I have every intention of being bit IMMEDIATELY because I need a restful night's sleep always and survival sounds stressful and quite frankly dirty.