Andrea Ngan (she/her/hers) is an organizational leader, service designer, strategist, media artist, and co-design facilitator committed to building collective power and mutual care.
The daughter of Chinese immigrants from Guangzhou and Toishan (by way of Hong Kong), she was born and raised on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples, in what is now known as the San Francisco Bay Area. From a young age, she helped family members navigate language barriers and intergenerational trauma—experiences that ignited her commitment to design justice, systems change, and building community power for healing and racial and economic justice.
Since 2010, Andrea has co-founded and directed organizations rooted in culture change and justice. With over a decade of experience leading the design and development of products, services, policies, programs, and multimedia experiences, she brings both strategic vision and hands-on practice to her work. In 2020, she joined the City of Philadelphia's PHL Service Design Studio as a founding team member and now serves as the city's first Director of Community Co-Design, centering residents' voices and lived expertise in shaping public services.
As a facilitator and educator, Andrea has launched youth-led programs and taught at the University of Pennsylvania's Weitzman School of Design. She regularly leads workshops on co-design, equitable community engagement, youth leadership, socially engaged art, and strategies for building and sharing power.
Land acknowledgement: Andrea lives on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Lenape people. She honors and uplifts the histories of the Lenape, Susquehannock, Shawnee, and Iroquois nations—whose names and presence have been erased by colonialism, genocide, and displacement—in her everyday life and work.