Gwen Gordon began her career building Muppets for Sesame Street. Since leaving Sesame Street, Gwen developed Awakened Play, a play-based approach to making behavior change irresistible and transformation delightful. She has applied her insights in organizations ranging from San Quentin Prison to the MIT Media Lab and from IDEO to PepsiCo. Along the way, Gwen has collected a master’s degree in philosophy and an Emmy award in children’s programming. Her latest book is The Wonderful W, which is the first picture book for grownups.
Gwen Gordon designed and built Muppets for Sesame Street. She left the “Street” to join an Apple research group at the MIT Media Lab where she built furry computer play stations for children. Gwen started Creatures at Large, a production company based on the Gumpers, her own puppet characters and the non-profit educational foundation, Big Picture Productions, supporting children in hospitals and pediatric HIV/AIDS. Gwen has been an artist-in-residence in settings ranging from Xerox PARC to San Quentin Prison, working with research scientists and prison inmates.
