Krizna Gomez

As Founder and CEO of Tala Strategies, I work with social purpose actors to actively engineer change rather than merely adapt to it.

My curious journey has led me from being a human rights lawyer and grassroots organizer to being a foresight practitioner, systems change strategist, process artist, and online community curator. Now, I challenge organizations to examine if they truly mean being “innovative” and “future-proof.” I have a knack for simplifying complex concepts, strategies, and relationships. My magic lies in creating very human and joyful spaces, so people can rediscover each other, their sense of purpose, and their untapped ability as a team to do more good with less.

Apart from foresight, I also use design thinking, systems change, radical experimentation, and a host of other tools way beyond the social justice field. I am promiscuous in my methods—I lead with the purpose and align the tools behind it, not the other way around. also work with graphic designers in almost every aspect of my work because I believe that in a field of too many words, powerful visuals simplify, ground, and clarify.

I was instrumental in creating JustLabs, a global sandbox for NGO disruption. As Director of Programs and Lead Facilitator, I worked with organizations to design and incubate narratives on human rights, with the help of non-human rights experts.

Prior to this, I led the international program at Dejusticia, a Bogotá-based think-do tank, where I focused on civil society space and human rights defenders in the Global South. Earlier, as a Presidential Fellow at the Open Society Foundations in New York, I gained a unique vantage point into the donor world, especially in Kenya, Uganda, Israel, Palestine, and Russia. I also worked on projects on education, gender-based violence in the extractive industry, and human rights defender protection in Ghana, Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, and Uganda.

I am a graduate of the Foresight Practitioner Certification Course at the Institute for the Future. In 2019, I was awarded the Joseph Jaworski Next Generation Foresight Practitioners Award (Humanitarian Special Award) by the School of International Futures. In 2021, I published a Guide on Foresight for the Social Change Field, to help ingrain foresight into the DNA of the sector. I have been delivering training workshops and keynotes, as well as giving strategic advice, to social change organizations around the world on how to infuse foresight into their work—honing in on the approaches that work (and identifying those that don’t) given the unique characteristics and challenges of the field.

I hold a Master of Laws (International Human Rights Law concentration) from Harvard Law School, BA Political Science, and Juris Doctor from Ateneo de Manila University. I currently serve on the board of the Center for Justice & Accountability.

To learn more about my approach to foresight and why I think we need to radically democratize it, check out the additional materials below.

Additional Materials: Futures Thinking Webinar by Krizna Gomez, Foresight Happy Hour