I’m Elizabeth Redmond- your designtrepreneur (a term my friend and colleague Joe coined meaning designer, entrepreneur, and allow me to add, inventor). Back in 2005 during my BFA thesis work at the University of Michigan, I set out to design interfaces that generate electricity from the human body. Now, two and a half years later, I’m working around the clock to turn the alternative energy paradigm on its head through my brainchild I call POWERleap -- a flooring system destined for high foot- traffic urban areas that generates electricity via human footfall. Think 5th Avenue powered by the stampede of shoppers! The POWERleap concept is meant to engage the community, you, to take responsibility and generate some of the electricity we use everyday. This interaction between our exerted energy and the electrical energy we create/consume is where my designer mind comes into practice- my job is to make it functional, mysterious, fun, interactive, educational, sexy, and satisfying; and also, to make it work! On a larger scale, my vision is to sustain urban public electrical consumption via human energy.

I am determined to create the day when we produce our own electricity by walking to work, running in the park, walking through the airport terminal, and simply playing on the streets together.

I’m 23 years old, but maybe not your ordinary 23 year old.  This I attribute to my large family (I’m the youngest of four) of socially and environmentally conscious mentors.  They are my foundation.  They inspire me to think big and keep my head on straight. After graduation I worked for my sister on her Discovery Health series she hosts "Get Fresh with Sara Snow". I helped her develop content while we packed our suitcases and travelled across the country to feature do-ers actively living and serving for the planet.

Today, as I traverse the road of a young social entrepreneur, I am led to new friends and collaborators nearly every day doing amazing work to improve lives globally, enable environmental change, and educate mindsets. While dividing my time between POWERleap, a start-up sustainable material sourcing called Ecolect, and various sustainability and design related consulting projects; the breadth of my work is dedicated to making healthy, green decisions easy, obvious, and of course, enjoyable for consumers.  Join me this summer while I partner up, collaborate, and activate.

Follow me as I meet with the office executives, the movers and the shakers, and the next generation designers about POWERleap. Support me as I t troubleshoot circuitry problems the day before a television press gig, and field waves of emails from all corners of industry. I’ve dished up a lot onto my plate, yet somehow I manage to enjoy and learn from (the majority of) it.

After receiving runner-up status in the 2007 Metropolis Magazine Next Generation Design Competition, POWERleap began gaining traction.  From an overwhelming amount of media support to a generous grant from Mohawk Group of Mohawk Industries, POWERleap is growing by the day. Currently, POWERleap is in its third generation prototyping stage and I am working hard to pull together the funding to push the product into its next stage of development. Alone I am one person, together we are a network.  You can help me to turn this prototype into a product.  This summer I will take the Changents’ Earthkeeper community to a music festival where I will participate in a renewable energy think tank… to California to meet with new installation hosts for POWERleap tiles…to my humble office where the design magic happens and exciting inquiries are led.  Meanwhile, you will experience where I draw my eco-design curiosity from, and enjoy the summer fun on the streets of Chicago with me!