Joanie Accolla

Joanie Accolla, Display and Exhibit Design ’89, is co-founder and creative director of the Healing Headbands Project, which brings the healing power of laughter into children’s hospitals and other organizations such as the Girl Scouts and Kiwanis Club. In each Laugh, Create, Heal workshop, Accolla and co-founder Barbara Grapstein lead laughter exercises, then guide the children in painting artworks that are scanned and printed onto stretch microfiber, creating a keepsake headband. Parents are encouraged to participate, though there’s a learning curve: “Children are natural laughers. With adults, you have to help them remember.”