We’re New Room.
Hi! We’re DJ & Erin.
We want to reimagine the ways we work, live, & relate. With a combined 25+ years of organizational development & conscious culture-building to purpose-driven organizations and community leaders.
Our work combines Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Anti-Racism/Access, and Social Impact (IDEAS) practices with innovation and strategy frameworks. We design programs and experiences that enable individual, team and organizational transformation. We are passionate about creating environments where folks can learn how to adapt to today’s challenges and creatively collaborate on finding mission-driven solutions that serve the greater good.
With values at the heart of it all.
Decentralizing power
From decentralizing power to empowering and supporting equity-deserving people, New Room opens the door to real social change through anti-oppressive values and education.
Collective Action
Each of us plays a role in collective change. We believe in the collective power of individual action. We know that progress is only possible when we learn from one another in community, collaboration, and connection.
Space for creation
The culture of urgency that drives so many businesses steals our capacity to care, ideate and learn. We intentionally design room into our work to give us, our collaborators and clients space to really listen and uncover stronger ideas while we co-create.
Accessibility
Knowledge is power. We believe too much valuable informational is hidden behind dated procedures and institutional barriers. People need to be informed so they can act with agency. We shape our programming and interventions to ensure knowledge is shared so decisions can be collaborative.
New Room was co-founded in 2021 by Danièle-Jocelyne Otou and Erin Willett. Dani-Jo, working in social innovation and facilitating in EDI, was looking to collaborate with someone in culture development to ensure her work impacted people on a structural and institutional level. Erin was working in leadership development and culture strategy, looking to collaborate with someone who deeply understood the imperative of embedding practices of equity and belonging into strategic initiatives. Joining forces was a natural fit. We were long-time friends who would often meet-up to deep-dive about theories of change. We cared deeply about our work and both desired to partner up with someone who could match our intentionality and passion for social change.
Meet the founders
Organizational Development & IDEAS
Daniele-Jocelyne Otou is a seasoned social impact leader with deep expertise in organizational development, strategic innovation, and systems change.
With a Bachelor’s degree in Human Relations and Organization Development from Concordia University and specialization in Social Innovation Design from the University of Pennsylvania, she has led high-impact initiatives that drive inclusion and transformation.
As the former Director of Communications and Strategic Initiatives at Apathy is Boring, she advanced civic engagement through an intersectional approach.
Now, as co-founder of New Room, she leads IDEAS (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Anti-Racism, & Social Impact) Systems’ Intervention, helping organizations navigate complex social challenges. Her leadership extends to chairing the Black Healing Centre and serving on Concordia University’s SHIFT Steering Committee, reinforcing her ability to design and implement sustainable, community-centered strategies.
Learning & Program Design
Erin Willett is a strategic designer and creative, life-long entrepreneur, skilled public speaker and facilitator committed to building transformative programming that drives social and organizational change.
Erin’s Bachelor’s in Marketing, higher-education in Design and life-long artistic practice deeply inform New Room’s approach to experience design. She prides herself in making the complex digestible and the abstract personal through storytelling and immersive content.
Over the last 15 years, Erin has worked as a strategist and consultant to startups, tech leaders, and established organizations guiding them through purpose-driven communication initiatives, team-building strategies and leadership development.
Using her proprietary methodology Creative Courage, she has designed numerous creative leadership and culture-building programs. Her intention is always to teach (rather than show) teams how to embrace change through collaborative idea generation, inclusive practices, and curiosity in the face of the unknown.