Kelsey is a planner in Chicago, specializing in facilitation and public space design as a guest on ancestral land of the Council of the Three Fires. She is the keeper of Mental Landscapes, a body of trauma-informed design research and scholarship centering depression as a design lens to foster wellbeing in public space. Through Mental Landscapes, she was named the Fall 2023 Artist-In-Residence at Allerton Park and Retreat Center, and a speaker at SXSW 2024.

Mental Landscapes began as independent research in 2022, and serves as an emergent emotion-meets-design lab informed by Kelsey’s 8+ years of experience as a parks planning consultant to public sector clients. Her culture-shifting work weaves understanding around depression with recognition of the oppressive forces that exacerbate its symptoms. Kelsey partners with community workers, outdoor space stewards, and cultural institutions committed to creating and reimagining spaces that comfort, support, and accompany people through mental health experiences over the course of their lives.

Kelsey is also the creator of the Strategic Yes for Social Change DIY Retreat Kit, which she adapted into a six-week creative online cohort. Zlevor holds a master’s of Community and Regional Planning from the University of Oregon, and a B.A. in Environmental Science from the University of Iowa. She is a board member of Women in Planning + Development and the Association for Community Design, and an alumni of Pathways to Equity. In her free time, she is a cellist in the Chicago City-Wide Symphony Orchestra, and writes for Causerie, her Substack that she launched in 2022.