Introduction to Your Lead Trainer – Vanessa Cullen
Vanessa Cullen is a leader in built environment strategy, sustainable design, and circular economy innovation, with over two decades of professional experience in circular design. She is the Founder and CEO of Forward Thinking Design (FTD), a Certified Social Enterprise dedicated to creating ESG-driven strategies and design solutions. Vanessa also leads FTD Circular, an award-winning initiative driving the transition to a circular economy in Australia’s built environment. FTD Circular enables the diversion of materials from landfill, supports circular practices across design, procurement, construction, asset management and disclosure reporting, and conducts research to foster a regenerative built environment ecosystem.

Vanessa holds a Bachelor of Design (Hons, UNSW), a Postgraduate Diploma in Museum Studies (Deakin) and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She is a co-author of the journal article “A New Retail Interior Design Education Paradigm for a Circular Economy” (Sustainability 2023), a self-published White Paper on Fitout As a Material Bank (2024), and was a lead contributor to the Circular Office Fitout Guide by Aurecon and the Better Building Partnership (2023) showcasing her commitment to advancing circular economy design education and implementation. Her work has earned widespread recognition, including Gold in the Better Future Australian (2023) and Global (2024) Design Awards for the FTD Circular project.

Vanessa has been an industry assessor at Sydney Design School, a sessional tutor and industry mentor at UNSW, industry mentor at Billy Blue Design/Torrens Uni, trainer for NSW Treasury and a guest presenter at numerous design and sustainability educational events and conferences. She is an Elected Member of the NSW Council of the Design Institute of Australia and previous Junior Vice-President of the Interior Fitout Association NSW, committed to professional design advocacy and continuous improvement.

Through FTD, Vanessa dedicates over 30% of her time to pro-bono advocacy and services supporting the design profession, sustainability, charities and social enterprises, cementing her commitment to values-led creative and commercial practice.