Connection Session

Where people and possibility meet.

As the year winds down and winter sets in, we invite you to join our final Connection Session of the year (formerly known as Welcome & Connect) — a warm, informal space to connect, reflect, and re-energize with other RSA Fellows across the US.

Whether you’re new to the US community or you have been a Fellow for a while, this quarterly virtual gathering is designed to help you build meaningful relationships, exchange ideas, and discover ways to engage with our dynamic community of changemakers. 

What to expect during our time together: 

Fellow Spotlights: hear from US-based Fellows who are putting ideas into motion and shaping a better future in their fields and communities. As we have these Fellows confirmed, we will add them to this event page and announce them via our socials. 

Connection time: meet and chat with other Fellows in small groups, building new relationships across geography, sectors, and experience

Seasonal story circles: tap into the power of storytelling to help build connections and engage in reflective prompts designed for the season 

Meet the RSA US Team: learn how we’re supporting Fellows across the US and how you can plug into our network 

Now more than ever, we need spaces where meaningful relationships can grow – where ideas are exchanged with care, where action is born out of connection, and where people from all walks of life come together to bridge divides and build a better future. The RSA Fellowship community is one of those spaces.

Come curious, come as you are, and come ready to meet others who, like you, believe in the power of community to spark transformation. We can’t wait to welcome you.

Speakers

Kat Calvin FRSA

Kat Calvin is the Founder and Executive Director of Spread The Vote + Project ID and the Project ID Action Fund. She is currently working towards the passage of the IDs for an Inclusive Democracy Act and is the author of American Identity in Crisis. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College and the University of Michigan Law School, Kat is a CFRE certified philanthropy consultant who works with highly motivated high net worth donors and foundations of various sizes, and she sits on a variety of nonprofit boards including Amnesty International USA. She is also on the Hewlett Foundation’s Culture, Race, and Equity Advisory Council and a fellow in the Royal Society of the Arts and their Los Angeles Ambassador. Kat is a Practitioner Fellow in Democracy at the University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute of Democracy, writes weekly insights and pop culture recommendations at Hot Takes and Applesauce, and hosts the Choose the Bear podcast.

Tejeswara Reddy FRSA

Tejeswara is a public policy leader and management consultant committed to civic innovation. With experience in government, philanthropy, and education, he brings together diverse voices to tackle complex challenges. He has convened funders at the White House, connected AI scientists and learning science experts to accelerate innovation, and supported policymaking in the U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and the U.S. Department of Education. A former Fulbright Scholar and Teach For America educator, Tejeswara led school operations at Uncommon Schools in Brooklyn, New York, during the COVID-19 crisis and now advises emerging leaders through the U.S. State Department, Urban Leaders Fellowship, and New Leaders Council. He serves on the board of With Love LA and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. A certified Rescue Diver and polyglot, he holds degrees from Willamette University and Arizona State University and is pursuing a Master of Policy Management at Georgetown University, where he is the Founding President of the Georgetown University Political Union. He draws inspiration from Gandhian values of service, equity, and transformation.

As he travels across Texas and the country, he weaves networks of changemakers committed to the common good.

Rachael Dietkus FRSA

Rachael Dietkus is a social worker-designer and the founder of Social Workers Who Design, a consultancy dedicated to integrating care, ethics, and trauma awareness into design, social work, and technology. Her approach—design care—centers an ethic of care grounded in responsibility, accountability, and possibility.

With over 25 years of experience advancing social justice, human rights, and social change across nonprofit, academic, and government sectors, Rachael brings a uniquely trauma-informed perspective to her work. A former social worker-designer with the U.S. Digital Service, she now serves as a Design Council Expert, joining a network of design pioneers who advocate for design, share best practices, and help deliver advice and programs that advance the Design for Planet mission.

Rachael is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Social Work Futures Lab, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Her first book, on trauma and design, is forthcoming from MIT Press.

Taking part in RSA US online events

At RSA US, we host interactive online events designed to foster connection, dialogue, and community among Fellows. We use Zoom for these gatherings, and you’ll receive joining details by email after registering. Some events may be recorded, and by attending, you acknowledge that your name or image may appear in public recordings. If there are any accommodations we can provide to support you in participating fully, please reach out to the RSA US team at general.us@thersa.org and we will be happy to support in whatever ways we can.

Our online events, especially our monthly Virtual Salons, typically held on the third Thursday of the month, have been developed as a space to have meaningful, inclusive dialogue across geography and perspective, and are often supported by volunteer moderators. We invite all Fellows to join us in showing up at our events with care and curiosity, and encourage all participants to review our Rules of Engagement so that we can best support one another in these spaces. We also warmly welcome Fellows who are interested in co-creating an event with us to reach out via email at general.us@thersa.org.