Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian

If you’re looking for a dynamic super creative who will (literally) add rocket fuel to your events and campaigns – Dr Nelly Ben Hayoun- Stépanian will deliver in spades.  She is known for electrifying audiences and leaving an impression that resonates long after she has left the room.

Dubbed the Willy Wonka of Design and Science, award-winning director and Designer of Experiences, Nelly is a critical explorer and a fearless and passionate provocateur combining experiences, ideas, design, technology, film, radical pedagogy, music and art. Supporting the creation of organized communities, Nelly builds platforms for others to experience plurality, decolonial practices, social and racial justice, solidarity and equity, so that history does not repeat itself on earth or beyond.

Over the past 15 years, Nelly has performed and spoken about her unique practice and transdisciplinary expertise to sold out shows and in the world’s biggest venues and stages. Her passion is always authentic, truthful, accessible and it is felt by any individuals-being with 17500 people at the Hollywood Bowl, or in a more intimate setting with a handful of individuals. She inspires and she shares her positive energy and learnings with everyone in attendance. As an experienced keynote speaker, she has spoken worldwide about experiential design practices in the context of nightlife, outreach, community and education. Nelly is also a radio host on underground radio station Worldwide FM, and a host, who has been a MC on multiple events such as the Dezeen Awards.

In conversation, hosting panels or as opening or closing keynote, she is very at ease on stage and she enjoys to make the audience participate.

She has held an astonishing range of first-of-its-kind roles. As a Designer of Experiences at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute) she founded the world’s first International Space Orchestra, a group made up of NASA space scientists and astronauts. Nelly’s musical collaborations include grammy-award winning artists such as Kid Cudi, Pussy Riot, Damon Albarn, Bjork, Sigur Ros, Beck, and most recently, The Avalanches.

Nelly works across disciplines, she is an Associate Fellow at the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities where she works to support plurality and the freedom of thinking across borders, Vice Chair of the IAF (International Astronautical Federation) Technical Committee on the Cultural Utilization of Space (ITACCUS), a member of the IAF Space Education and Outreach Committee (SEOC), and a member of the IAA (International Academy of Astronautics) Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) permanent committee amongst others since 2013, and a founding member of the IAF Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Administrative (IDEA) committee in 2023. In 2022, she was granted a Karman Fellowship and took part into a one-year programme designed to support 15 carefully selected global leaders to strengthen personal relations, meet with thought leaders in technology, science, business, politics and the arts, and take personal commitments to further advance space-related agendas for the betterment of humanity. Ben Hayoun-Stépanian was the chief of Experiences at file transfer service WeTransfer for 10 years working with WeTransfer’s president Damian Bradfield towards building a sustainable B Corp Business, Nelly also assisted in the business development and strategy in the USA. During Ben Hayoun-Stépanian’s tenure at WeTransfer, the company grew its client base from 10,000 users to 90 million active users a month.

Now, if you’re ever in the mood for a wild ride, Nelly has also led multiple large scale scientific and cultural expeditions, trained special forces such as FEMA (The Federal Emergency Management Agency) in the USA or the United Nations on space disasters such as near earth objects and asteroid impacts. Her design practice brought her investigation to the empty lands of Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and the Large Hadron Collider, CERN situated 100m below ground^. She has also collided atoms at SLAC (National Accelerator Laboratory), trapped herself in a Soyuz rocket capsule in Baikonur Cosmodrome, and experienced a sonic Booum in the neutrino Observatory Super Kamiokande in Japan while hunting for extremophiles and the worms of Hell in platinum mines in South Africa.

She is the founder of the pioneering University of the Underground, a free MA programme taught by an all-star lineup that aims to teach students how to “design experiences and events that best support social dreaming, social actions and power shifts within institutions, companies and governments”.

As if this was not surreal enough, Nelly also has two doppelgangers who work with her to appear at multiple places at the same time, a Barbie doll and a Lego made of herself.

Her design work has been exhibited at the National Museum of China, MOMA, V&A, the MET and other leading design institutions. Wired awarded her their inaugural Innovation Fellowship in 2014, and Icon magazine recognized Dr. Ben Hayoun-Stépanian as one of the top 50 designers “shaping the future”. In 2018, Nelly was distinguished as the first on the list of the top 50 best Speakers on the speaker circuit by The Drum Magazine; while in 2017, Creative Review named her one of the Creative Leaders 50, selecting 50 creatives they felt were “driving change, not just within their organization but in the world at large”, Dezeen selected her as one of the ’50 most inspirational individual in architecture and design’.

In 2023, Design Week awards Nelly with their Hall of fame lifetime achievement award which acknowledges ‘the achievements of designers and industry figures who have made a significant impact and contribution to the industry and have provided inspiration with incisive thinking.’

ACHIEVEMENTS AND AWARDS

Design

• Lifetime Achievement Award, Hall of Fame, Design Week June 2023 
• WIRED Innovation Fellow 2014, WIRED Magazine
• One of the “Top 50 Creative Leaders driving change in the world at large”, Creative Review, June 2017 
• One of the “Top 50 inspirational women in architecture and design”, Dezeen, March 2017 
• Nominated 3 times as one of the “150 Female Creative Leaders 2017, redefining the creative industries”, The Dots, March 2017 
• The best female speaker in the “Top 50 of the best female speakers list”, The Drum, January 2018 
• Woman of the Year Achievement Award, finalist 2015 
• Dr Ben Hayoun has a Barbie doll and a Lego made of herself 
• Dr Ben Hayoun has two doppelgängers who work with her to appear at multiple places at the same time 
• Woman of the Year Achievement Award, finalist 2015 
• Advisory board member at AIGA (American Institute for Graphic Arts) in Los Angeles 2015-2018

Art

• Ben Hayoun was appointed as “Ambassador for the Underground” by the independent self-declared artist republic Užupis in Lithunia in 2019.
• Arts Council Exceptional Award 2014 for project Disaster Playground in collaboration with Near Now in Broadway Cinema in Nottingham
• Best of The Year 2016 and 2017 by the Metropolitan Museum (MET), 2016 and 2017 
• In 2020-2022 -Nelly was the creative director and founder of a new nationwide LGBTQ+ STEAM festival- Tour de moon- for youths touring all around the UK- celebrating youth countercultures and nightlife and working to redistribute wealth and public funds through commissioned project with thousands of youths involved, which led to the creation of both digital and physical assets. For this project, her team and herself brought together thousands of contributors across the globe and they won a multi-million pound public grant from the four governments of the UK as a part of UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK- this was the UK’s most ambitious showcase of creative STEAM collaboration including free large-scale events, installations and globally accessible digital experiences.
• One of Nelly’s latest immersive experiences and solo show in paris- shiny gold was an exploration of the world’s sources of energy, developed in collaboration with the Marie Curie Institute and La Gaité Lyrique.

Film

• Author and director of five feature-length movies screened and nominated for vision and grierson awards at SXSW, BFI London Film Festival and more film festivals .
• Indiewire SXSW Highlights Women Filmmaker, 2015, Indiewire 
• Grantee of Sundance Institute and BFI Doc Society Feature Fund for film Red Moon/ Doppelgangers 3 2020-2024
• Ben Hayoun has origins in Algeria and Armenia, which led to the start of Nelly Boum Show, her radio show on underground radio’s Worldwide FM. Every month, the show explores a theme in a multiverse of possible new futures, touching on economy, politics, and other systems through music and conversation, including a focus on North African and Armenian music and experts.

Creative Technology

• Ben Hayoun was the chief of Experiences at file transfer service Wetransfer for 10 years (2012-2022) working with president Damian Bradfield towards building a sustainable B Corp Business, Nelly helped the business development in the USA. During Ben Hayoun’s time at Wetransfer, the company grew its client base from 10,000 users to 90 million active users a month.
• In 2018, Ben Hayoun was a part of the executive design team at Airbnb which funded the experience department and technology application at Airbnb
• From 2018 to 2020, Nelly Ben Hayoun joined the team at Mini/ BMW as their Global Head of Research and programmes. In her role, she created a new global curriculum, curated and hosted an international year long programme- providing both strategy, reports, programming development, audience participation and learning and set design.
• In 2023, Nelly worked with Porsche to create a new electric concept car making use of new 3D software 

Academia, research, sustainability and teaching

• Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London Teaching Award, 2016 
• Senior fellow at the Hannah Arendt Center for Humanities and Politics at Bard College since 2019
• United Nations Goalkeeper for Education since 2017
• Director and founder of the postgraduate University of the Underground- the world’s first tuition-free university and charity supporting free, transnational and pluralistic education based under the urban space and teaching unconventional research practices. With board members Noam Chomsky, Prof. Arjun Appadurai and Pussy Riot amongst many others.
• Nelly is passionately committed to supporting the creation of organized communities in building new beginnings. To this end, she actively works to build platforms for others to experience plurality, decolonial practices, social and racial justice, solidarity and equity so that History does not repeat itself on earth and beyond. She is one of the directors of the Union of Justice, a European, independent, people of colour (POC) led organisation dedicated to racial justice and climate justice.
• Trustee and volunteer at Pedro Youth Club, in Hackney London, one of the oldest functioning youth clubs within the UK.
• Nelly received a BA in Textile Design at ENSAAMA Olivier De Serres (college of applied arts) in Paris, an MA with distinction from the Royal College of Arts in Design Interactions, she holds a PhD in Geography (Human geography and political philosophy) from Royal Holloway, University of London

Science and expeditions

• Principal Investigator and Analogue Astronaut at Astroland Agency in 2023. Ben Hayoun led an expedition to an analog lunar site set in an isolated, confined and extreme environment in a cave in Spain. This mission brought together a group of pluridisciplinary international experts in the field of genetics and epigenetics, collective trauma and space exploration to answer the following question: ‘Is collective trauma influencing the definition of our futures in the diasporic population?’.
• Karman Fellow 2022, The Karman Fellowship is a one-year programme designed to support 15 carefully selected global leaders to strengthen personal relations, meet with thought-leaders in technology, science, business, politics and the arts, and take personal commitments to further advance space-related agendas for the betterment of humanity.
• SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute Designer of Experiences at NASA Ames Research Center since 2013. Founder of the Experiences department at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute and NASA Ames Research Center, which extends outreach and education activities in terms of scope, scale, public and methods of engagement towards architecture, installations, immersive environments, social systems, performances, experiences, and narratives as events. 
• Nelly has led and created multiple large scale scientific and cultural expeditions, and trained special forces such as FEMA (The Federal Emergency Management Agency) in the USA or the United Nations on space disasters such as near earth objects and asteroid impacts. Ben Hayoun’s design practice brought her investigation to the empty lands of Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and the Large Hadron Collider, CERN situated 100m below ground^. She has also collided atoms at SLAC (National Accelerator Laboratory), in the Soyuz rocket capsule in Baikonur Cosmodrome,and experienced a sonic Booum in the neutrino Observatory Super Kamiokande in Japan while hunting for extremophiles and the worms of Hell in platinum mines in South Africa.
• Faculty at the International Space University, Strasbourg, France since 2013
• Member of the Space Outreach and Education Committee and Vice-Chair of The Committee for the Cultural Utilisation of Space (ITACCUS) at the International Astronautical Federation since 2013
• Founding member of the International Astronautical Federation Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Administrative (IDEA) committee in 2023
• Advisory board member of the METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence) International since 2018
• Committee member at the IAA (International Academy of Astronautics) SETI permanent Committee since 2017
• Chair and founder of the Space Culture session at the International Astronautical Congress since 2017
• Chair and founder of the Decolonial Practices session at the International Astronautical Congress since 2023
• Director and founder of the International Space Orchestra in NASA Ames Research Center since 2012

CASE STUDIES

WeTransfer

Services: Consulting, Workshops, Public Speaking, Education

Challenge

Working at the heart of WeTransfer’s executive team as Chief of Experiences during their decade-long partnership, NBH Studios was tasked with developing the platform as a space for storytelling and creative community. We established Wetransfer as a sustainable B Corp Business, secured VC funding in USA, and developed the UX design and innovation department.

Output 

During Nelly’s tenure as executive in the company, the studio has worked to accomplish accreditation as a B Corp Certification for WeTransfer – which verifies the company meets high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability whilst committing to positively impact all stakeholders – workers, communities, customers, and our planet. NBH Studios contributed to the development, funding and brand partnerships of an editorial branch of WeTransfer – named WePresent- growing creative communities globally around the brand. During WeTransfer’s move to the USA,the studio developed partnerships with US brands, such as McSweeneys, MET, MOMA and many others. During Ben Hayoun tenure at Wetransfer the company grew his fanbase from  10,000 users to 90 millions active users a month.

Nelly Ben Hayoun Studios developed the first educational branch of WeTransfer with the establishment of University of the Underground, founded in February 2017 as a charity to bring generations together to democratise access to public institutions and trigger changes and critical reflections through the use of creative and experiential practices. This led to the creation of WeTransfer charity- ‘The supporting act’.

IKEA

Services: Consulting, Talks

Challenge

To support creativity within the IKEA executive team and reflect on their internal organisational structure.

Approach 

NBH Studios’ methods of engagement with IKEA were radical and specific, combining academic research with theatrical and musical practices. The team worked across different media including digital, film, design, music and experiences to propose an innovative formula for a truly immersive and multilayered approach which was accessible to the wider public. The project was planned as a platform with one narrative being told through multiple channels.

Output

The initial project with IKEA developed into 10 years of ongoing collaboration. Creativity was continually nurtured through Nelly’s role as a jury member for IKEA’s lead competition. She continued her work with IKEA as a consultant for Space 10, IKEA’s innovation hub, alongside consulting with the marketing and innovation team.