Founding Foster, a formal introduction

This first post is a brief account of the founding story behind creating Foster; a solo studio and independent service business. It’s about where things started, where I’m headed, and includes some manifestations and a few very important thank you’s.

Have we met?

Actually, maybe.

Foster officially turned 4 this year! But it’s been a quiet build as I balanced my previous full-time in-house role, a move from Seattle to Amsterdam, and an independent study—so consider this more of an official coming out 🎉 rather than a welcome to the world announcement 🐣.

With that said, it’s quite possible (especially if you’re reading this on the official announcement day) that you may have worked with Foster already. First, I want to express my gratitude to the people who have believed in and trusted me to do this work, long before I left my full-time job, before I had a website, and before I made Foster my full-time focus.

Getting a warm start wouldn’t have been possible without the projects, events, workshops, and speaking gigs that helped me prototype Foster in the wild—learning what is needed, what I’m uniquely good at, what resonates with companies, and how I could define the Foster brand and services. This early momentum has been invaluable in getting a running start behind this moment. Thank you!

Why Foster?

I intend to answer a couple of things behind this question.

As with any formal introduction, I’ll start with the name, because it does have significance (and I think an interesting origin story). It only feels right to explain the name as it relates to my “me-as-a-service” studio (very much inspired by Behzod Sirjani and his writing on starting his own solo practice, Yet Another Studio) and how this connects to what Foster offers (more on that here).

The name matters

In 2019, I went to the AIGA Design Conference in Los Angeles where I, in standing room only, attended The Complete History of Branding by the inimitable, Debbie Millman.

At this point in my career, I had long since decided I would some day run my own studio and it would undoubtably involve design. I had been thinking about what going solo would look like and what I would focus on, but it was early days and I hadn’t yet landed on a name.

Feeling cosmically similar to the slide pictured below, in full honest truth, the word foster struck me during this presentation. Like the big bang pictured on her slide, the name literally felt like it had leapt into focus (something my expert friends in brand naming would say is almost mythical it happens so rarely).

A picture I took of Debbie Millman presenting The Complete History of Branding to a packed crowd at the 2019 AIGA Design Conference in Los Angeles. Debbie presents a slide showing the big bang.


I knew, even back then, that my business would use design to foster what I believed design had the potential to do. But it wouldn’t be until later, when I would make the connection with the idea of design in another sense, a less pixel-focused way, that Foster would become more clear.

So what do you do?

I’ll admit my answer to the “what do you do?” question has often been a bit of a stumble. Even within the industry, the focus on collaboration, workshop design, and facilitation isn’t always well understood and often clashes with people’s natural preference for clean-cut titles.

Everyone is familiar with an Engineer or a Marketer, but a Facilitator?

On top of that, people have heard the term workshop thrown around so frequently that this too is often misunderstood. Unfortunately, many teams have experienced an elongated meeting titled as a workshop, and never witnessed the difference a skilled facilitator can bring.

Zooming out, most teams aren’t trained in how to make collaboration work. Even more, the way we come together to work together hasn't evolved much. Hierarchies remain rigid, creative thinking is locked away in silos, and innovation feels elusive.

Foster exists to change that.

At its core, Foster is about designing collaboration—crafting structured, intentional experiences that create clarity, alignment, and action.

What Foster offers

Foster works with teams to navigate challenges, make better decisions, and unlock collective creativity, so collaboration can be an engine for innovation.

A facilitator creates the conditions for engagement, ownership, and progress and is what I believe to be the missing layer between ideas and impact.

Through workshop design and event organization, Foster is a facilitation practice that cultivates creativity, collaboration, and transformational ways of working.

Why now?

The world of work is shifting and the way teams work together hasn’t evolved much. The rise of AI is a boon in automating many tasks and can act as a collaborative tool towards innovative pursuits. But the future of work isn’t just about speed—it’s about alignment. My belief is that the companies that achieve standout success aren't just moving fast, they’re coordinated. Collaboration means moving in the right direction, together.

Now more than ever, companies of any size need collaboration to:

• Navigate complexity without getting stuck in decision paralysis

• Achieve diverse, breakthrough thinking that results in real action

• Ensure clarity and cohesion across teams

Foster isn’t about making meetings better—it’s about making collaboration a strategic advantage.

Clients = Collaborators

I call my clients collaborators because clients work with Foster in a collaboration towards their ambitions.

The way I like to explain it comes from Behzod Sirjani’s concept of 1+1=11. This perfectly captures what it's like when a team (1) and an external facilitator (1) work together for outsized impact (11).

Dreams in progress ☁️

I know I know, manifestation may be a bit woowoo to some of you, but in taking stock of this moment and everything that’s led me here, I thought it would be a fun opportunity to make note of some client collaborations I’d love to make possible:

✨ Canopy & Stars – To co-design retreats for cross-functional leaders to exchange ideas on the future of work and how teams can work better together.

✨ Teenage Engineering – To explore how facilitation and sound design can merge in interactive team experiences. Think LEGO Play but with synthesizers.

✨ Notion – To lead a community hackathon on what’s possible when teams push the limits of collaborative work in Notion.

✨ Lovable – To create a hackathon style event for kids learning how to explore and build with AI.

✨ Buffer – To design and facilitate an offsite experience for an organization that has always been at the forefront of defining strong company culture.

✨ Toast – To organize a Toast Tour as an immersive research and co-creation opportunity. Think bar crawl, but for research and community building.

More gratitude

I owe an enormous thank you to a few key people who have not only inspired my work, but who I have been lucky to personally cross paths with:

Debbie Millman – One of my longest-standing creative inspirations. Her remarkable career has deeply influenced my own creative pursuits, illustrating an indelible example of how to courageously carve your own path.

Behzod Sirjani – For his astute writing and impressive portfolio of work that has shaped my thinking, including his me-as-a-service articulations and thoughtful explorations on going independent.

David Hoang – For his vast writing and keen sense of design as a field, practice, and potentiality—which has deepened my thinking on how design can be applied to challenges and experiences outside of product.

Conclusion

Foster isn’t just an experience design and facilitation studio—it’s a combination of my obsession on what makes teams tick, the nature and possibilities of work, and a focus on what happens when people come together.

The truth is Foster is a vehicle for me to help teams make ambitious things possible. Much of that work is focused on collaboration and how it is practiced, but I have my own ambitions to expand the realm of collaborations as I go. Foster is anything we can foster, when we do it collectively.

In working together,

- Ash at Foster