Our team
Urbnkind is an urban design firm providing consulting services for placemaking initiatives, urban planning projects, strategic development, and community engagement services. Our mission is to create vibrant, inclusive, economically sustainable strategic, development initiatives for our city. We are a women-owned and majority minority-led business, and a team that has a deep understanding of the challenges facing our city and the potential for positive change through innovative design.
DIRECTOR OF STRATEGY & DESIGN
Chantell Marlow
Chantell Marlow (she/her) has spent the past decade solving creative design problems for both corporate and consumer markets and teaching interactive design and UX courses at Bradley University. Her approach to design has always centered around the questions, “How do we make products, spaces, and places that ACTUALLY work for the people who use and/or inhabit them? What problems are taking the joy away from their experience? How can those problems be designed out of the equation?”
As remote-working transplants, she and her husband decided to call Peoria home because of the diversity, passion, and innovation they saw in the city. In the five years since, they have grown their own family and seen over a dozen additional family members relocate to the Peoria area. They are invested in Peoria and committed to the unending task of community development, not just for their family that now calls Peoria home, but for the entire community around them.
DIRECTOR OF PRESERVATION & DESIGN
Reagan Leslie
Reagan Leslie, Preservationist and Interior Designer, found her way to Peoria when looking to purchase her ‘forever home’. Reagan intentionally chose Peoria’s West Bluff neighborhood for the unique cultural, social, and economic diversity it had to offer. Since purchasing her 1908 Tudor Revival in 2016, Reagan has sought to impact Peoria’s historic and preservation initiatives by connecting local resources to an ever expanding national network of professionals dedicated to making a societal impact through preservation.
Reagan has founded and serves as Principal Designer of Leslie Tyler Design, spearheads social initiative BlackHouse Seven, and sits on the Peoria Women’s Club Preservation Committee overseeing the extensive restoration of their historic clubhouse. She looks forward to positively impacting education and resources available in the historic preservation space, alongside intentional new development rooted in innovation.
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
Tonja Bockover
Tonja Bockover (she/her) has over 20 years experience in human relations including real estate. She approaches her work with a heart to serve not just the individuals with which she works but to serve the community as a whole.
Tonja, as a Peoria area native who has lived in other major cites, has a unique perspective of the community. Tonja is a Peoria passionate individual. She sees Peoria as a city with rich history that is ripe with future potential, she believes Peoria offers a greater quality of life for less while providing the opportunity for its incoming residents to make their mark. Tonja is committed to collaboratively working to see the city reach it’s full potential.
License #(102171038)
COMMUNITY COORDINATOR
Autumn Cain
Autumn Cain (they/them) is a multimedia artist and entrepreneur, with a lifelong passion for social equity. Their firsthand experience in blighted communities has led them to being a strong advocate for more diverse, inclusive, and accessible spaces. After graduating high school, they were able to gain valuable organizational experience through their social justice work. Autumn strives to educate citizens on ways they can not only improve their own lives, but the culture of their community.
Growing up in a single parent household, They are well aware of how a city's infrastructure can affect its locals. With empathy and compassion as a superpower, human centered design is a core value in their mission for a vibrant city. Autumn’s goal is to foster happy, thriving, and connected communities that last for generations.
RESEARCH SPECIALIST
Kate Setti
Kathryn (Kate) Setti (she/her) has spent the last four years studying American History at Luther College in Decorah, IA while also studying the local history of Peoria, IL for the past six years. She hopes to become a teacher in the local school district PSD150 and wants to create a better education for the students of the area. In the future, Kate plans to obtain her masters in Educational Policy to better the education system across the nation. Kate strives to create a community that citizens are proud to be part of.