Jess Obayan

As a design lead, Jess brings a systems-level lens to Civilla that is rooted in social work, creativity, and a deep curiosity about why people do what they do.

Jess is a licensed social worker and trained human-centered designer, with experience designing health and social service interventions at both the city and national level. Through her career, Jess came to see design not just as a method, but as a creative practice for doing good. After graduate school, she studied integrated design and has been blending social work principles with design methods ever since. She was most recently the Director of Co-Design at a national social innovation firm and taught as a visiting faculty member at the Maryland Institute College of Art’s Social Design graduate program.

Jess’s perspective was shaped early by lived experience. As the daughter of a Nigerian immigrant, she grew up welcoming newly arrived family members and learning how small moments—shared food, new experiences, being thoughtfully hosted—can help people feel seen and connected. That instinct to bridge cultural differences with care led her to the Peace Corps, where she spent more than two years living in a remote village in Zambia. There, she learned firsthand what it means to innovate out of necessity and to rely on the collective.

Outside of work, Jess finds joy in designing meaningful gatherings, thrifting for vintage clothing, and understanding the deeper stories behind people’s behaviors. She once ran a Baltimore-based biscuit side hustle called Brown Bread and, if she weren’t a designer, would happily be a barber, drawn to the profession’s blend of creative craft with thoughtful listening and care.