Creative Strategist

Mikhaila
Ackerbauer

I rarely see a project only for what it is; I'm drawn to what it could become. Bringing together ideas, materials, and unlikely connections, I design AI-enabled learning, content, and cultural experiences that make complex material engaging and accessible, from archival exhibitions and international workshops to custom AI tools.

AI Development Content Strategy Exhibition Curation Learning Design Facilitation Event Production

Background

Doctoral
Student
Doctor of Professional Studies student at Buffalo State's Center for Applied Imagination, researching creativity, human thinking, and AI
2
M.S. degrees: Creativity & Change Leadership (Buffalo State) and Literacy Education (University at Buffalo), both completed with a 4.0
6+
Years as a literacy, technology, and media journalism teacher in K–12 settings
2
International conferences: co-presented keynote at the virtual Creativity Expert Exchange; workshop and core-program session at the CREA Conference, Sestri Levante, Italy

Roger Firestien Family Creative Achievement Award

Awarded by SUNY Buffalo State's Center for Applied Imagination to master's students who demonstrate high skill in creative problem solving and inspire creative action in others. Additional honors in literary scholarship, including Sigma Tau Delta.

Read my work on AI and human collaboration →

AI Development · Learning Design

Custom AI Tools for Creative Problem Solving

I developed and tested custom chatbots for the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) process as part of a SUNY grant-funded project team. Testing the bots independently, beyond the project's defined scope, I surfaced a first-time-user usability gap that led the team to restructure the experience.

The bots were adopted by multiple universities in the SUNY system. To support implementation, I co-authored a comprehensive user guide that works as both a workbook and a reusable learning resource, with embedded bots that let users learn and apply the Creative Problem Solving process in one place.

AI shows up elsewhere in my work too: With institutional support and archival source material, I proposed and produced a series of AI-assisted welcome videos for an interactive brainstorming space, drawing on archival research and the founders' recorded speeches to recreate their voices, and integrating the videos into the room via QR codes.

My Contribution
  • Developed custom chatbots for the CPS process
  • Identified a usability gap through independent testing
  • Informed the team's restructuring of the first-time-user experience
  • Co-authored the comprehensive learning guide and workbook
  • Produced AI-generated welcome videos using voice cloning and animation
Impact
  • Developed as part of a SUNY grant-funded initiative
  • Adopted across multiple departments throughout the SUNY system
  • Shared with additional universities and international schools as part of broader implementation efforts
  • Supported Creative Problem Solving instruction through reusable AI tools and a comprehensive learning guide
Learning Guide → CPS Bot → AI Video 1 → AI Video 2 → AI Video 3 →
✦

Literacy Intervention · Middle School · Creative Confidence

Finding Their Voice: A Poetry Unit

A two-month poetry unit for a middle school literacy intervention class. I started with data on what these learners actually needed: formal literacy assessments alongside informal, observational notes from earlier work with the same students. That shaped a unit designed to move engagement and literacy outcomes together, while building creative thinking and both personal and academic confidence.

We started away from the page, pairing music, visualization, and imagery with classical and modern poems. From there students moved into their own writing, editing for meaning, then practicing fluency and presence out loud.

The unit closed with a small poetry slam at a local cafe, students reading their own work to each other over hot cocoa and snacks. Many hadn't thought of themselves as writers going in. By the end, they were choosing to read their words out loud in public.

Poetry unit outdoor presentationPoetry unit classroom workPoetry unit classroom workPoetry unit classroom workPoetry unit classroom workPoetry unit classroom workPoetry unit classroom workPoetry unit classroom workPoetry unit classroom work

Creative Practice

Creative Practice: Art & Interiors

Outside of my professional and academic work, I maintain a hands-on creative practice across drawing, painting, and interiors. This charcoal piece was created entirely through subtraction: I covered the page in charcoal, then worked backward with an eraser to reveal the image.

I brought that same experimental mindset to renovating my home, holding onto a larger vision while teaching myself new techniques, reworking layouts, refinishing furniture, and making hundreds of small decisions along the way. Both practices remind me that creative work is iterative: you begin with an idea, stay responsive to the material, and refine until the pieces feel coherent.

Charcoal artwork built by subtracting with an eraserCharcoal portrait sketchGraphite figure drawing of a dancerPencil sketchWatercolor sketchesHome before renovationHome interior before renovationHome interior before renovationHome after renovation

Community Leadership & Social Impact · Founder & Organizer

Bags of Blessings

I founded Bags of Blessings to provide people experiencing homelessness with immediate necessities and information connecting them to longer-term support. Over two years, I secured donations, contributed personal funding, sourced supplies, and assembled and distributed hundreds of bags throughout New York's Hudson Valley. Each bag included essential items as well as a resource guide I researched and wrote covering local shelters, meal programs, and outreach services.

In 2015, I expanded the initiative to Budapest, Hungary, where I organized a small team of volunteers to assemble and distribute over 100 additional bags. I am currently drafting a relaunch proposal focused on securing funding and developing an updated, locally informed response to current community needs.

Impact
  • Hundreds of bags distributed throughout the Hudson Valley
  • Over 100 bags assembled and distributed in Budapest
  • A volunteer team organized to support international distribution
  • Original resource guide connecting recipients with longer-term services
  • Relaunch proposal currently in development
Hand-lettered Bags of Blessings bags with donated socks and glovesSupplies laid out for a bag: water, granola bars, resource cardVolunteers carrying Bags of Blessings through the streets of Budapest

Facilitation & Applied Projects

What I do with people, teams, and organizations

Hudson Valley Credit Union

Facilitation · August 2026

Designed and facilitated a Creative Problem Solving experience for nine interns, guiding them through an Explore, Imagine, Shape process around the open challenge of improving HVFCU. The group identified and developed a working concept focused on building financial literacy earlier for members, using AI as a mechanism to support the idea. Participants then developed and pitched their concept to the executive board, including the organization's chief executives.

AI Curriculum Consultation — U.S. Air Force Academy

AI Consultation · Ongoing Collaboration

Provided a learning model from my master's research, along with AI integration considerations, to support the development of a training session for newly hired instructors.

CREA Conference — Sestri Levante, Italy

Facilitation · International · 2026

Designed and facilitated two sessions for an international audience, a standalone workshop and a session within the conference's core learning program:

  • AI in a Bag: an analog learning experience teaching AI prompting and large language model concepts without internet access.
  • Custom AI Chatbots for Creative Problem Solving: a 90-minute interactive workshop comparing human and AI approaches to creative thinking.

Creativity Expert Exchange

Keynote · International · 2026

Co-presented keynote research on custom AI development and Creative Problem Solving for an international virtual audience.

FourSight AI Sprint

AI Strategy · Learning Experience Design · Facilitation · In Development

Co-developing an applied AI learning experience that helps teams examine real workflows, identify where AI may add value, experiment with it, and evaluate whether it actually improves the work.

The Common Thread

I work by asking questions, noticing what is really needed before it is fully articulated, and finding connections between people, ideas, materials, and technologies. Research gives me a foundation; curiosity helps me see past the initial brief; and experience across teaching, design, AI, and facilitation lets me carry an idea through to execution.

A decade of solo travel strengthened that instinct. Museums, back roads, and conversations with people from every walk of life taught me to observe closely, adapt when plans change, and stay curious. That space between the original brief and what the work could become is where I do my best thinking.

Recent Thinking

Writing on AI, creativity & learning

A frame made of shells, pebbles, and driftwood arranged on the sand

LinkedIn

Lessons from the Sea

How constraints change what we notice.

Read on LinkedIn →
Mikhaila on a balcony overlooking the Amalfi coast in Positano, Italy

LinkedIn

Travel as a Teacher

What travel teaches about observation and adaptability.

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Bridesmaids holding garden-style floral bouquets

LinkedIn

A Tapestry Life

Why varied creative practices strengthen strategic thinking.

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Get in Touch

Let's connect

I'm looking for roles in learning design, content strategy, and AI-enabled experience design, where the work involves figuring out what a project could become and then building it. If something here lines up with what you're working on, I'd like to hear about it.

Open to remote, hybrid, or relocation. LinkedIn is the best way to reach me.

Connect on LinkedIn