Categories: Career-Building
Jennifer Griffiths
Senior Book Designer at Penguin Random House Canada
Jennifer studied communication design at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, where her final project reimagined Samuel Johnson’s 1755 dictionary as a contemporary coffee table book.
After graduating, Jennifer worked at design studios focusing primarily on branding projects. In 2013, she began working on interior typesetting, which naturally evolved into full cover and interior book design. After several years freelancing, she joined Penguin Random House Canada in 2016, where she currently works as a senior book designer.
Having been in the industry for over a decade, Jennifer has designed covers and interiors across almost every genre imaginable. She has worked on covers for many prominent Canadian authors, including Michael Ondaatje, Anne Michaels, Michael Redhill and Madeleine Thien.
Erik Mohr
Owner & Creative Director of Made by Emblem
Erik is a creative director and brand strategist with over 25 years of experience exploring how ideas take shape—helping organizations connect people, ideas and purpose through design and storytelling.
From crafting compelling copy to shaping comprehensive advertising campaigns, he’s guided teams to create meaningful, results-driven work for major Canadian brands that include Air Canada, Bell Canada, Pearson Airport, The Beer Store, Sobeys, Canadian Tire Group and the Government of Canada. With a background in fine arts and painting, Erik brings a unique perspective to ideation, brainstorming and creative concept development.
Emmi Salonen
Designer, Creative Director, Educator & Founder of Studio Emmi
Emmi’s work centres on “positive creativity”—the idea that design connects people, fosters well-being and supports sustainable choices.
Her clients span purpose-led organizations like European Forest Institute, arts institutions like Tate Britain and cultural bodies like the British Council.
A leading advocate for creative well-being, she developed her Creative Ecosystem model to help fellow creatives reconnect with purpose and reduce stress and burnout. Her thinking is also reflected in her upcoming book, The Creative Wellbeing Handbook, which shares personal stories, research-backed ideas and everyday tools to help creatives feel more energized, focused and connected to their work.
Emmi’s insights are grounded in experience and training, including Yale’s The Science of Well-Being course. She is a Happiness Facilitator and RSA Fellow, teaches a Domestika course on sustainable branding and has contributed to the AI for Human Flourishing think tank at Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science.
Dalit Shalom
Director of Product Design at The New York Times
Dalit oversees the creation of new formats, spaces and tools that advance the future of storytelling at The New York Times.
She also leads design and strategy for various workstreams for the company’s AI Initiatives. Previously Dalit focused on trust and credibility, collaborating with newsroom desks and the masthead to develop features that clarify The Times’ journalism for its readers. An educator as well as a practitioner, she teaches design thinking classes at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering and ITP.
