Daianna Karaian

Daianna is founder and CEO of Thoughtful, a global community that brings creative people together to change the world. Through its online magazine, creative studio and outreach campaigns, Thoughtful helps them learn from and collaborate with each other to make things that make a difference, and inspire others to do the same.

Prior to setting up Thoughtful, Daianna was head of brand strategy at Futerra, working with clients like Unilever, Lego and Danone. She also worked as brand strategy manager for EDF Energy, where she received the Marketing Society Grand Prix for her brand revitalisation, and was awarded a Marketing Academy scholarship.

Daianna has a bachelors in industrial engineering and a masters in business administration, and in her early career worked in urban design and clean energy before moving from Chicago to London to work for Business in the Community, one of the Prince’s Charities, to advise blue chip companies on sustainability.

Having worked at the intersection of marketing and sustainability since the late 1990s, when it was decidedly less cool, she’s thrilled about the growth in social enterprise and the trend toward a more thoughtful way of making and buying.