about rising action studio

Rising Action Studio is on a mission to flip the script in public health research by putting people with direct lived experience at the center of creative change and decision-making. We specialize in bringing together teams of people navigating their own health challenges, caregivers, healthcare providers, designers, and advocates to design collaboratively. We value storytelling, learning by making, and elevating lived experience as a critical type of expertise.

In a narrative arc, ‘rising action’ is the part of a story where things get interesting. It’s where a storyteller brings vivid detail to the lives of key characters, exploring their challenges, strengths, and ideas. It’s a moment full of possibility – that’s what we aim to capture in our collaborative, generative work.

get in touch

ashley@risingactionstudio.com

about ashley, founder + creative lead

Ashley K. Eberhart, M.A., is a Brooklyn-based product designer, creative strategist, and social entrepreneur who uses equity-informed, participatory design processes to build solutions that support grassroots social movements and challenge existing research and philanthropic structures.

Right now, Ashley is co-designing with tenants, organizers, and legal service providers to create Unlock NYC, a chatbot that helps people in New York City document and report on their experiences looking for housing with a government voucher – making housing discrimination visible, catchable, and enforceable. As a public health practitioner, Ashley is especially focused on how Unlock NYC works to mitigate the mental and emotional health harm that discriminatory landlords and brokers cause, and dramatically shorten the time that unhoused and housing-insecure New Yorkers spend looking for a safe, healthy home.

You can also find Ashley experimenting in the ceramics studio, providing support to pregnant people as a full-spectrum doula, and speaking and writing about the intersection of public health and design.