Pronouns
they/them/elle
What do you do as a consultant/coach?
My mission is to share knowledge and wisdom from the field of organization development (OD) with individuals, teams, and groups that are working to create a world that they and I want to live in.
Clients work with me when they’re seeking guidance through challenging times and pivotal opportunities. I offer my clients two main offerings that foster sustainable culture change: (1) collaboration to design and facilitate processes, training, meetings, and retreats; and (2) deep listening or participatory data collection, so that perspectives and information from inside organizations and movements can direct organizational work. I am fortunate to have been able to apply these offerings to strategic planning and visioning; equitable compensation; justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) assessments; and team retreats.
I have worked with organizations across many movements and issue areas: reproductive health and rights, gender justice and transgender advocacy, participatory research on domestic violence, immigrant rights organizing and advocacy, environmental justice, progressive faith-based organizing, as well as education and public health. I also take great joy in working with folks with whom I share identities and beliefs–whether they are Black, queer, nonbinary/trans, and/or committed to liberation and justice.
I continue to work across issue areas, identities, and ideologies, because I believe that our movement toward liberation and justice requires each of us.
What is your approach?
I use facilitation, coaching, training, and other tools of OD as the methods to support my clients.
My approach as a consultant and coach is:
- Collaborative: My clients’ experiences with their organizations and lives lead the direction of our work, and my experience and expertise offer guidance based on the applied behavioral sciences that comprise the field of organization development. For some consulting, I also work alongside another consultant to bring complementary skills and perspectives to our clients.
- Participatory: In purposeful ways, organizations and their communities participate in the work to be done, so that their consent, input, and actions can carry the work forward.
- Generative: I support my clients to use each interaction to build more authentic relationships, purposeful communication, and new ways of learning, working, and being together.
- Values-based: I support teams and organizations in using their values as their guide. I also find the overlaps in my clients and my values to help us work together. My own values include (1) grounding in history, place, and analysis; (2) the pursuit of liberation and justice; and (3) movement in ways that are person-centered and life-affirming.
How has your experience/background contributed to your work?
A handful of key experiences led me to commitment to working with folks fighting for justice and building toward liberation.
As a young person, my faith community centered learning and action in service of community and justice. I organized community-building spaces for queer and trans folks like myself, facilitated training and workshops, and navigated through conflicts–all in ways that influence how I work decades later. In college, I was drawn to Black studies courses, where I learned about movements for liberation across the globe and ancestral ways that help to sustain us. My spirit was deeply nurtured by being in spaces where I could develop my political analysis and practice being in deep relationship.
Later, I learned the fundamentals of community organizing while I was an active member of Organizing Neighborhood Equity in DC (ONE DC), contributing to their Right to Wellness campaign and supporting all their campaigns with online communications.
In my first career, I spent 10 years coaching, advising, and facilitating cohorts of adult career-changers in career services and workforce development. I loved supporting individuals as they prepared to support themselves and their families financially. While doing my jobs in nonprofit organizations, a for-profit company, and a higher education institution, I also served as an internal change agent, leading and participating in organizational culture change initiatives.
Gradually, these experiences strengthened my desire to focus on a larger-scale of change. I completed a Master of Science in Organization Development (MSOD), and began working as an external consultant to movement and justice-seeking groups and orgs focused on affecting societal change.
Relevant certifications or trainings
- Master of Science in Organization Development, American University, Washington, DC 2021
- Training for Social Action Trainers: Facilitation, Training for Change, Washington, DC 2012
- B.A. in African American Studies, concentration in History, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH, 2005