Pronouns
she/her
What do you do as a consultant/coach?
My role in social movement and social change has always been as a facilitator. I love facilitating transformative dialogue and practice for the sake of collective liberation.
My collaborators and I facilitate healing-centered change at the individual level through coaching, the interpersonal or group level through political education and conflict transformation work, and on the institutional level through full-scale organizational change processes.
What is your approach?
In the past 10 years or so, I have come to believe very deeply in the intersections of political and spiritual liberation, personal and collective healing, and internal and structural transformation. I believe that each of these dichotomies are truly two sides of the same coin, fractally connected change processes that fuel and shape each other.
These days, my collaborators and I understand this kind of multi-layered liberation work as grounded in four core, interwoven arcs of change:
- From individualism toward Interdependence
- From hierarchies of human value toward universal human Dignity
- From false scarcity and false abundance toward Real Abundance
- From defensiveness toward Openness to change
These arcs have become clear over the last few years through studying various fields: critical race theory, liberation logics, social movements, somatics, the enneagram and other wisdom traditions, and meditation practice. We use this framework to shape our approach to facilitating change on all levels of human experience, from the personal through the interpersonal and organizational onto the structural and cultural.
As a facilitator, I embody this approach through emergent facilitation, starting with a plan and allowing that plan to evolve as we come to see what’s alive in the room. Technically, I use consent practices, access practices, reflective listening, direct and bold communication, balancing process and content, engaging heads hearts and bodies, and embracing imperfection and learning.
As a coach, I put practice this approach by supporting clients to name how their personal change commitments are reflections of our visions of collective liberation. Technically, I find the enneagram to be a wildly illuminating system that can reveal ways that we are still hooked in elements of domination logics. I pair that content information with the methodologies of somatics and Internal Family Systems / “Parts,” which are incredible approaches to supporting these old hooks to release over time. For myself and my coaching clients, I see how this practice allows us to show up for liberation work in more whole-hearted, whole-bodied ways.
How has your experience/background contributed to your work?
As soon as I entered the world of social movement in 2006, I found myself gravitating toward facilitation roles. As an organizer in post-Katrina New Orleans, I found a passion for facilitating dialogues, political education, and the power of transformative conversation.
Since then, I have worked in movement organizations and social service organizations. I am grateful to have spent my adulthood grounded in social justice organizing and community, most often through the lens of racial justice.
In 2016 I became a full-time freelance facilitator and organization development consultant. Most of my work has been in the world of “Racial Equity” organizational change, though I have also done significant work in strategic planning, conflict work, political education, and more.
These days, I am feeling called toward a consulting framework of “Liberatory Organizational Life,” helping organizations build real practices to bring their progressive values to life.
Relevant certifications or trainings
- Blooming Willow — Healing Centered Coaching
- Training for Change — “The Super T”
- Somatics for White Racial Justice Organizers with Dara Silverman
- Providing effective enneagram solutions — Chestnut Paes Academy
- Masters in Organization Development — American University