{"id":5596,"date":"2026-01-21T11:28:55","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T19:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/thehive\/?p=5596"},"modified":"2026-01-21T12:55:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T20:55:35","slug":"chelina-odbert-at-the-hive-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/thehive\/chelina-odbert-at-the-hive-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelina Odbert at the Hive! (2025)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published on March 1st, 2025. (backlog article)<\/h3>\n
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CEO + Founding Principal of Kounkuey Design Initiative, and Visiting Professor at the Hive, Chelina Odbert.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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This spring, the Hive is excited to bring\u00a0Chelina Odbert<\/strong>\u00a0to campus to join our faculty teaching team. With an appointment in the Environmental Analysis field group at Pitzer College, Chelina will bring both curricular and co-curricular programs to the Hive community that focus on the intersection of community engagement, design, urban planning, and social justice. But this isn’t Chelina’s first time at Claremont, she’s an alumni who graduated from Claremont McKenna College in ’99. For more about her path, read on!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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Chelina’s Background<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Chelina Odbert grew up in Sacramento and attended Claremont McKenna College (CMC), where she double-majored in Psychology and Spanish. While at CMC, she did clinical work at the Autism Center and was\u00a0actively involved across campus. After graduating, she spent a year teaching in Honduras and another year in Mexico, experiences that reinforced her commitment to social justice. Speaking to that, she says,\u00a0“I’m Mexican-American and Serbian-American, and growing up, I always knew, though I wouldn’t have called it social justice at the time, that the work I would do professionally would be about creating easier access to opportunity for communities, for black and brown communities, or communities like mine.” She later pursued a Master’s in Urban Planning at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, where she focused on how design could be a tool for inclusion, equity, and social justice.<\/p>\n

KDI and Chelina’s Work<\/strong><\/h3>\n

At Harvard, Chelina met like-minded people who wanted to use design in non-traditional ways and\u00a0co-founded\u00a0Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI)<\/strong><\/a>, an organization that applies design and urban planning to support under-resourced communities. KDI’s approach is rooted in participatory design, meaning that residents are directly involved in identifying problems and shaping solutions for their neighborhoods. Chelina says, “At the core of KDI is the foundation of a design practice\u00a0that’s rooted in fostering agency for\u00a0communities and everyday people to\u00a0define change initiatives that are priorities to them. We see our professional experience just as needed and valuable as residents’ lived experience, and when the two of them come together, that’s kind of where the magic happens.”\u00a0KDI has worked internationally, across the U.S., and\u00a0in greater Southern California, particularly Los Angeles and the\u00a0Eastern Coachella Valley. Their work includes the development of public spaces, improvement of infrastructure, and advocacy for policy changes that address long-standing community needs, utilizing\u00a0design to\u00a0expand\u00a0access to resources and opportunities.<\/p>\n

As a CEO, Chelina sees entrepreneurship and creativity as intertwined ventures, particularly when it comes to impact-driven innovation. She believes successful entrepreneurship requires identifying challenges, understanding barriers, and developing creative solutions to bridge\u00a0gaps in any problem area. She says, “I think the reality is, in our world today, entrepreneurship for impact is the most important kind of entrepreneurship that we can be focusing on, because we have so many challenges that must be impacted in order for us to continue as a society and as a planet.”<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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Photos from KDI’s “our resilient rio vision plan” and “adopt-a-lot” projects, from their website.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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Chelina’s Class at The Hive<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Chelina is teaching\u00a0Community-Engaged Design for a More Just Public Realm<\/em>\u00a0at the Hive this semester.\u00a0Her course introduces students to urban planning, landscape architecture, and related design disciplines while emphasizing the built environment’s impact on social and economic disparities. Her students learn how inequities in urban development contribute to larger systemic issues, such as climate change and racial injustice. The class also focuses on inclusive design processes prioritizing community input, helping students understand how design can be used for meaningful change.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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by Salina Mu\u00f1oz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Published on March 1st, 2025. 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