about
Rosie Forrest is a cross-sector strategist, writer, educator, and lifelong dramaturg whose work sits at the intersection of ideas, institutions, and human possibility.
At The HOW Institute for Society, Rosie works across organizational strategy, partnerships, leadership development, and emerging areas of inquiry. She helps identify where shifts in the world create new questions and opportunities for HOW’s mission, with recent work focused on moral leadership in an AI-infused world and the changing landscape of higher education. She has helped shape HOW’s response to these issues through new partnerships, learning experiences, convenings, and conversations with thinkers and leaders across sectors. She also leads work with a global community of emerging leaders spanning more than 50 countries and builds relationships with organizations ranging from global corporations to universities and cultural institutions.
Rosie began her career in the theater as a dramaturg, developing new work with playwrights and directors at Steppenwolf, Goodman, Northlight, Timeline, and other Chicago theaters. That practice still shapes how she works today: look closely, understand what someone is reaching toward, ask questions that sharpen the idea, find the connections others may not yet see, and help possibility take form.
Her career has since moved through higher education, contemporary arts, leadership development, community-building, and social impact. Before joining HOW, she led education and community engagement at OZ Arts Nashville and academic programs for high-ability young people at Vanderbilt University. She has taught writing and theater at Vanderbilt, Northwestern, DePaul, the University of New Hampshire, and Interlochen.
Across these settings, Rosie is drawn to moments when the ground is moving—when institutions are reconsidering who they are, new ideas are taking shape, and the future is still open enough to influence. She is especially interested in the relationships among culture, technology, education, leadership, and the stories we tell about what comes next.
Rosie holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of New Hampshire and a BA in Theater from the University of Virginia. She is a 2026–27 Bridging Differences in Higher Education Fellow and serves on the board of 2nd Story in Chicago.
“I wish that we would not fight for landscapes that remind us of who we think we are. I wish we would fight, instead, for landscapes buzzing and glowing with life in all its variousness.”