EMILY HUNT TURNER

My training in architecture taught me that every building is designed. My training in law—and experience in the nonprofit sector—taught me that every statute, system, and sector is designed, too. From this experience, I have come to describe myself as a social architect, joining a universe of others who apply the discipline of design to the systems, organizations, products, brands, environments, and ideas that shape our lives. We ask: How do we design the conditions under which people can flourish together?

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As a self-declared social architect, I believe our greatest social challenges persist not because we lack talent, compassion, or resolve, but because we've poorly designed the ecosystems meant to solve them. But here’s the great news: If something has been designed, it can be redesigned. And this is my life's work: to design, or redesign, ecosystems worthy of the people they exist to serve; to create the conditions where people flourish, together.

BEAUTY & CONNECTION

In 2023, I joined a cohort of nonprofit leaders for an executive leadership program at Northwestern University. During a lecture dedicated to focusing the leader’s mind, we were each asked this simple yet provocative question: Why are you here? Nobody had ever asked me this question—nor had I asked it of myself—and, without thought, these words spilled from my pen: I am here to forge social change through beauty & connection. Why? I want to leave behind something that helps people become more fully human. This clarity liberated me. And it provided a north star, of sorts; something I can turn to time and again as I move through the next chapters of my life.

A QUEST FOR INCLUSION

​My whole life has been defined by a quest for inclusion. In examining the origins of this pursuit, I’ve recently uncovered that it started when I was young, maybe six or seven? At this time, a quiet yet insidious fear hung in my chest: If people ever knew I liked women, would I be excluded? Dropped? Erased? Though I hadn’t actually experienced being, or feeling, excluded until mid-life, the fear of exclusion is something that has haunted me since childhood. As I continue to channel my commitments to a world that welcomes us all, it has been important for me to confront, understand, and heal my deeply-routed fear of exclusion. 

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MY ROOTS

Speaking of my roots, I grew up in Wahpeton, North Dakota, a town, a community, that I will always hold dear. After graduating high school in 2002, I dwelled in so many cities across the world: Syracuse (New York). Atlanta (Georgia). New Orleans (Louisiana). Florence (Italy). Benin City (Nigeria). Vienna (Austria). The contrast between these vastly different landscapes and cultures continues to feed, and fuel, my social footprint. 

PRAIRIE SILENCE

In 2013, my mom gave me the book Prairie Silence for my 30th birthday. At the time, I was living in New Orleans, studying for the Louisiana Bar Exam. My desire to read anything "extra" was very limited - but thank the stars that I read Prairie Silence (after the bar exam...!) This book quite literally rerouted my life in the most unexpected fashion. Namely because I fell in love with the author (smiling) and moved to Minnesota, my current home. My wife and I have a son, Henry, who continues to give his Old Moms a run for their money. :)​

BACKGROUND

My formal background is in law, architecture, and public policy. Shout out to my alma mater(s) Loyola Law School (juris doctorate), Georgia State University (masters in public policy, and Syracuse University (bachelor of architecture).