Sheetal D. Agarwal, PhD
Principal Communication and Community Strategist

Dr. Sheetal Agarwal applies her 10+ years of experience in communication and design thinking to support organizations and businesses in developing community-centered and values-based strategy. Developing methodologies based on her published research on community engagement, communication strategy, and technology design and implementation, she incorporates data-driven insights to support clients in creating impact by developing relationships with their relevant communities. 

 Working with clients through her communication consulting business, Kwilt Strategy, she advocates for value-based and human centered approaches to identifying and cultivating connections with influential stakeholder groups. To do so, Sheetal employs methodologically rigorous ethnographic and qualitative approaches.

Her expertise in communication and research methods has supported a wide and diverse range of clients including startups, service companies, technology companies, government, non-profit and university clients. Applying her values methodology to these projects she has used methods such as ethnography, interviews, and digital ethnography to identify relevant communities and what matters most to them to inform and develop relevant and meaningful communication and/or technology strategies. 
 
Sheetal earned her doctorate from the Department of Communication at the University of Washington. Previous to her time at UW, she graduated from Georgetown University’s Communication, Culture and Technology Masters Program where she conducted research that supported political and civic organizations in developing both online and offline communication campaigns to engage young people in political and civic activities. In addition to her academic pursuits, Sheetal was also an award-winning investigative journalist for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (Center for Public Integrity) and a communication consultant. She has extensive experience navigating the arena of digital communication for government and non-profit clients. She has taught classes, guest-lectured and led workshops on organizational transformation through technology, values and community, digital media, and campaign communications. In her spare time she enjoy cooking, traveling the world with her husband, and exploring the Pacific Northwest one bakery at a time.