Scholar · Higher education leader · Author
Dr. Bíanka M. Hausknecht, Ed.D.
Joy is not a luxury. It is something you build. I help workplaces, arts spaces, and communities become places where people can thrive.
- Ed.D. Interprofessional Leadership
- MPA
- MA Interdisciplinary Studies
About
Operations and wellbeing are not separate
I have spent more than a decade in higher education finance and operations at a nonprofit public university, overseeing budgets across dozens of funding sources, supporting grants and scholarly work, coordinating academic and public programs, and building systems that help complex organizations run well.
Alongside that work, I research wellbeing, belonging, and happiness. My approach is people first. Organizations function best when the people inside them are well, and that belief shapes everything I do, from the budgets I manage to the questions I ask in my research.
I also teach first-year students, chair the board of a nonprofit recovery support organization, and bake custom cakes when I need my hands to do the thinking.
Work with me
How I can help
For organizations
Workplace culture and wellbeing
Helping teams understand what keeps people well, engaged, and staying.
- Belonging and engagement assessments
- Staff listening sessions
- Burnout prevention and retention strategies
For arts and cultural spaces
Museums and the arts
Over a decade inside a university museum, from the budget to the public program.
- Wellbeing-centered public programming
- Community, student, and volunteer engagement
- Museum operations and store strategy
For campuses and communities
Teaching, workshops, and events
Interactive learning built on research and real experience.
- Guest lectures and courses in leadership and wellbeing
- The Daily Joy Audit workshop
- Panel facilitation and event planning
Behind the scenes
Finance and grants support
The foundation that makes the programs, the art, and the mission possible.
- Budget development and review
- Grant compliance and reporting
- Board financial training
Workplace culture and wellbeing
People do their best work where they belong
My doctoral research looked closely at what helps people feel they belong at work, and what quietly pushes them out. I help organizations hear what their people are experiencing and act on it in ways that keep good people well and staying.
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Step 1
Listen
Confidential listening sessions and one-on-one conversations with staff.
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Step 2
Assess
Belonging and engagement surveys, plus a look at the workloads and processes that add hidden strain.
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Step 3
Recommend
Clear, practical recommendations tied to retention, wellbeing, and how work gets done.
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Step 4
Support
Leadership sessions, team workshops, and follow-up check-ins so the changes last.
Topics I bring: invisible labor and fair workloads, burnout prevention, onboarding and retention, and leading through change.
A good fit for university departments, nonprofits, HR teams, and small to mid-size organizations.
Museums and the arts
Keeping arts organizations strong, inside and out
I have spent more than eleven years inside a university museum, managing its finances, its store, its students, and the systems that keep the doors open. I also study how creative making supports wellbeing. I bring both to arts organizations.
Financial and operational health
The behind-the-scenes work that lets the art take center stage.
- Budgets across grants, gifts, and operating funds
- Foundation and grant compliance
- Museum store strategy and buying
- Workflows, manuals, and shared systems
Programming that heals
Public programs designed with wellbeing in mind, informed by my research on creative practice.
- Hands-on making programs
- Exhibition-linked workshops and talks
- Program evaluation and storytelling
People and pathways
Arts spaces shape careers. I help organizations build that on purpose.
- Student employee and intern programs
- Volunteer engagement and training
- Ambassador and front-of-house training
A good fit for small and mid-size museums, galleries, university arts units, and arts nonprofits.
Workshop
The Daily Joy Audit
A guided practice for noticing, protecting, and building joy on purpose, especially when work and life keep trying to take it.
The Daily Joy Audit grew out of my research on happiness and wellbeing. It is not a prescription and it does not tell anyone what should make them happy. It gives people the questions and the space to find out for themselves.
Participants leave with their own workbook, a daily practice they can keep, and a clearer sense of what fills them up and what drains them.
Sample page · Day 1
- What brought you joy today?
- How does your body feel right now?
- What did you do to protect your peace?
Workshop
An interactive introduction to the practice for teams, groups, and conferences.
Retreat session
A deeper session with reflection time, group conversation, and a personal joy plan.
Guided cohort
Thirty days of daily prompts with check-ins and a closing reflection together.
Built for
- Staff and leadership teams
- Employee resource groups
- Campus departments
- Sororities and women's organizations
- Faith communities
- Nonprofit boards and staff
- Conferences and retreats
Finance and grants
The foundation that makes it all possible
You can plan the program, do the work, and hang the art. Strong finances are what make it all possible. I help nonprofits and arts organizations build that foundation with confidence, so the mission has room to grow.
Budgets and planning
- Annual budget development
- Cash flow and variance reports
- Financial clean-up and organization
Grants
- Grant budgets and budget narratives
- Compliance and reporting
- Tracking restricted funds
Boards
- Board financial training
- Finance committee support
- Financial policies and procedures
You don't have to be healed to be helpful. But you should fix the leak before you fill the bucket.
Dr. HausResearch
The question I keep asking
What does building real happiness look like for people navigating spaces that were not built for them?
Thread one
Belonging
How BIPOC professionals experience higher education workplaces, including the invisible labor and cultural taxation that come with being one of few.
Thread two
Wellbeing
Mental health stigma, minority stress, and the community and creative practices people use to sustain themselves when institutions fall short.
Thread three
Happiness
Happiness as an intentional practice rather than a reward, and what that practice requires when the playing field is not level.
Scholarship
Research and publications
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2016
Graduate study in the pursuit of happiness
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2017
Mental health stigma in African American communities
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2025
From Bias to Belonging
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2025
Making to Heal
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Now
In preparation Two journal articles from the dissertation
Book in progress
The Softest Resistance
How Black Women Can Lead Themselves to True Happiness
Happiness is not a reward you earn after the bias stops. It is a practice you build in spite of it.
A research-backed book for Black women in professional spaces, drawing on a decade of scholarship on wellbeing, belonging, and happiness, along with lived experience.
It is not a prescription. It is an invitation to self-discovery: the questions and the space to find what joy looks like for you.
Contact
Let's talk
For consulting, speaking, workshops, or research collaboration, email me directly.