Pronouns
she/her
What do you do as a consultant/coach?
- Leadership coaching and support, including developing effective supervision and management systems.
- Lead strategic planning processes with member based organizations to fully engage their constituents in visioning and planning the work of the organization.
- Board development amongst mixed boards, navigating power dynamics and decision making structures, board training and recruitment.
- Succession planning and leadership transitions, including customized coaching for outgoing and new directors.
- Conflict resolution and mediation with a focus on organizational culture changes in transitions, setting strategic direction, supervision, program design and visioning.
I work especially close with organizations who dedicate their work to racial, economic and gender justice, customizing my support to include designing racial justice and equity assessments, creating space for courageous conversations, and leading workshops on racial justice and equity.
What is your approach?
I lead with intuition and compassion. As a seasoned facilitator, coach and consultant my approach is intimate and connected to my own experiences. I use various methods, both personal and creative, to engage participants ́ mind, heart, and soul. I’m a keen observer and focused listener for patterns in conversations, emotions, what is said and not said, and for emerging and contradicting ideas.
Additionally, creating a safe space where folks can build intimacy and trust is key to engaging in candid conversations and shared lived experiences that ultimately yield knowledge and solutions for transforming oppression. And creating solutions for how to structure organizations in service of their vision and mission.
My approach is fueled by a deep commitment to the leadership of people most impacted by oppressive systems; their narratives are shaping the movement work we are seeing across the U.S. and beyond. Through my work I help organizations build stronger connections with the community, amplifying their collective voices, growing their leadership, and elevating their ideas. My style of facilitation includes cultivation activities, art, movement, small groups, music, rituals, and tools that allow people to powerfully share their voice and knowledge, shaking the narratives of oppression that often keep us from imagining a different world.
Leading this work also comes with its challenges, as our intimate spaces provide a haven for candid conversions that can yield disagreements. My work includes generative conflict resolution among teams and organizations including staff, management, board and community members. I have a strong sensitivity to folks experiencing strong emotions and vulnerability and my methodology of coaching and training includes healing from trauma and oppression through a somatic approach, weaving in an analysis of race, class and gender.
How has your experience/background contributed to your work?
I have 25 years of experience in the field of social justice, as a founding and executive director, organizing trainer, professor, coach and a longtime community organizer of several justice organizations in the United States and Ecuador.
My justice work began with a powerful group of women in the South Bronx, who were just fed up with the Bronx DOE. They were tired of the poor quality and depleted schools and the menial education their children were receiving. So, they decided to organize and fight for a more just educational system and more funding for their schools. This work led to citywide efforts to transform public education in NYC. These women taught me about the power of organizing and collective action, to raise her voice and of the importance of community healing in movement and social justice work.