Pronouns
She/Her
What do you do as a consultant/coach?
I help people who are running social justice groups navigate opportunities and challenges. Together, we produce research, plans, materials, events, and tech tools for their internal and external work in:
- Organizational structure and systems development
- Alliance-building, coalitions, and community engagement
- Program/project design, production, and evaluation
- Fundraising
- Expansion, restructuring, and transition
What is your approach?Â
I support teams to build on the expertise, strengths, and relationships in their group and communities; and to align their values and strategies with how they work and communicate – internally and externally.
How has your experience/background contributed to your work?
I’ve been involved with social justice and community groups for 30+ years as a volunteer, co-founder, board member, staffer, co-director, and capacity-builder. An activist for LGBTQ rights, reproductive justice, and anti-war fights in high school, I saw corporate media hostility towards the people and issues I cared about, contrasted with the power of grassroots media. In the late 90’s, I was drawn into communications rights organizing, a movement-of-movements. Learning from elders and youth leaders around the country and around the world; working with other white people to undermine racialized capitalism and white supremacy; and being involved in the emerging media justice movement, I found a role helping to fortify new groups, coalitions, and alliances.
As I facilitated groups, led workshops, and volunteered in other ways in my rural NY community, and on other issues, I saw many of the same patterns: problems rooted in the structure of nonprofits and philanthropy, elite vs. grassroots leadership, and how racism, patriarchy, and other dynamics play out everywhere. Since 2010, I have worked to help founders, leaders, and teams focused on a range of justice, health, and other community projects work within these conditions to build their organizations and power.
Relevant certifications or trainings
Rockwood Leadership Institute, the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, Training for Change, and courses in theory of change, outcomes mapping, power analysis, and other planning/design process facilitation.