Alumni Life Design Experience

Be Curious and Reflect on Your Values

We believe that life is growth. Growth can lead to new paths, experiences, and relationships. To discover our next chapter or path, we must first reflect on who we are and we value most. Identifying our core value can provide a “North Star” that can guide us even if we cannot see exactly where we’re headed. This Alumni Life Design Experience is an investment in yourself and encourages you to be BOLD, FEARLESS, CURIOUS and CREATIVE as you design your next life. This is just the beginning of an incredible process toward designing a life you love. Let’s go! 

Imagine 3 Possible Lives 

As individuals, we have skills and abilities we may not even realize we have. Because there are many facets to us, we want to challenge you to imagine multiple ways you could launch the next chapter of your life by working together to sketch out three possibilities. Dream BIG or create a slight variation – and everything in between. This exercise will build off of your curiosity and values and will allow you to consider alternative ways to live, grow, and thrive. Remember – you are not alone. Tap into your friends, family and fellow alumni life designers for inspiration, motivation, and support. 

Build Connections

Now it is time to involve others! Move the needle in your quest for a more fulfilling life and invite others to uplift, inspire, and encourage you. This part of our experience is ACTION oriented. Identify your key stakeholders and spark conversations with people in fields that interest you, spend the day with someone you would like to learn from, set up a small in-house experience to allow you to better understand a possible next life.  

Know Your Strengths and Tell Your Story

It’s time to do a little bragging! Well, it’s actually time to redesign how you craft your story in a way that showcases your skills and experiences for where you want to go next. Your resume can serve as a snapshot of who you are and the values you bring. Each version of your resume can inspire action as you look toward that more fulfilling life. 

Goal Setting, Using AI in Your Next Steps, Celebration

During Week 5 of the Alumni Life Design Experience (ALDE), participants will take a deep dive into flexing and developing their personal and professional strengths—all while exploring how to use AI in making their life design shine. The week culminates with each participant creating and sharing their Tiny Action Plan (TAP), a set of SMART next steps, with a wider circle of ALDE alumni and mentors. When you TAP in, you not only commit to forward momentum, you also activate a community of alumni who are ready to help you take your next leap! 

This isn’t a typical online course. It’s a facilitated journey designed to help you, as a member of the Johns Hopkins alumni community, pause, get clear on what you truly want, and design the next chapter of your life. Through a series of interactive sessions, we help you apply a “life design” framework to your own goals, all within the trusted network of your fellow alumni.

This experience is for you if you’re an alum at a crossroads. Maybe you’re feeling uninspired in your current role, know you’re meant for something more, or are navigating a major life change. It’s for anyone who craves a life of greater purpose and wants to build a career that truly aligns with their values and skills, just as they did during their time at Johns Hopkins.

You’ll meet with an instructor and a small group of alumni for ninety minutes, twice a week, over five weeks. Our sessions are a mix of guided discussion, hands-on exercises, and peer-to-peer collaboration. You’ll gain a deeper understanding of your own strengths and desires, and explore exciting new possibilities in a low-risk environment.

The most powerful part of this experience is your fellow alumni. Your group isn’t just a collection of strangers; it’s a community of alumni who share a common bond and understand the unique rigor and values of a Johns Hopkins education. These authentic connections will become a built-in support system that lasts long after the program ends.

Keira Wilson, (Co-Instructor)

Keira is a full-time celebration enthusiast focusing on what makes us revel and how communities come together to thrive. She is the Sr. Assistant Director of Life Design at Johns Hopkins leveraging creative spaces futurist and feminist lens, host for The Dinner Party, navigating conversations on grief, and performer in Philadelphia’s Vaudevillian New Year Brigade.  

Bringing more than 14 years of experience in non-profits and higher education as a facilitator, career coach, and civic boundary spanner, she believes we learn who we are through a tenacious pursuit of self-knowledge, and the letting go of fear to offer our unique form of generosity. In the past she has worked for Grinnell College in service and social Innovation, Princeton University’s civic engagement, and with Friends General Conference expanding welcoming communities.

Tessa McKenzie, (Co-Instructor)

Tessa W. McKenzie, certified as a Designing Your Life Coach and as Career Coach by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), serves in the role of Associate Director, Hopkins Connect (under Development and Alumni Relations and Integrative Learning and Life Design) after over 15 of experience in training, nonprofit capacity building, and branding. Tessa served as a Life Design Educator with Johns Hopkins University’s Krieger School of Arts and Sciences as well as for students with disabilities and international students for seven years. Prior to coaching, Tessa was Public Education Officer at the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) and served in numerous capacities, including as an AmeriCorps volunteer, regarding outreach and immigrant advocacy.

Tessa is a survivor of Autoimmune Encephalitis (AE -swelling of the brain). Serving as Chief Resilience Officer of at the International Autoimmune Encephalitis Society (IAES), Tessa promotes disease awareness and support AE warriors through “resilience” and mentorship education.

Janine Tucker, (Co-Facilitator)

Janine Tucker spent 29 years teaching communication, teamwork and leadership skill sets to her players as the Head Women’s Lacrosse Coach at Johns Hopkins University before becoming the Director of Development for Special Projects at Hopkins. In this role, she supports the Hopkins alumni base through meaningful engagement and unique opportunities to enhance the alumni experience. Janine has written six books on coaching and brings her knowledge of perseverance, motivation and uplifting others to the Alumni Life Design Experience.

We’ve designed this experience to build on itself, so full participation is highly encouraged to get the most out of it. If you must miss a session or two, our facilitators are happy to meet with you to catch you up. However, if you anticipate missing more, we recommend waiting for a future cohort.

We’re committed to making this experience accessible to all Johns Hopkins alumni. We offer a limited number of need-based scholarships and encourage you to apply early to be considered. For our refund policy, you can receive a full refund prior to the course start.