what i do
I’ve been called many things - an organizer, an instigator, a spark plug (1), a community architect (2), a disruptor (3), a case worker (4), an executive director (5), a board member (6), a visionary (7), an artist (8), an impresario (9), a pantologist…
I think of myself primarily as an agile doer:
Agile in my comfort adapting to changes, scenarios, input, ideas, and external factors;
Doer in my drive towards material impacts and outputs in the real world.
I’m the type who’s quick to see an abstract vision, and then break down the intricate and interconnected steps which might bring that vision to fruition.
I am consistently engaging with my carefully cultivated intuition, lessons learned, and lessons I am still learning. My process always engages with difficult social challenges. I seek out a kaleidoscope of inputs, for justice, equity, and liberation.
I’m most experienced in participatory engagement and planning, group facilitation, organizational strategy and modelling just + sustainable practices. Through our work together, my clients and partners have greater clarity in their processes, a framework for equitable engagement, and a clear pathway through complexity for solid, joyful, and meaningful work.
With a keen emphasis on intersecting systems, my work includes strategic planning, project management, financial assessment and management, marketing, pr and branding for community engagement, system design, and assessment and evaluation.
My training is in sociology, case work, performance theory, and sustainable business management. My heart is in the visionary world of possibility.
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(1) my job title with the glass monsters (2) my job title while freelancing with a podcast (3) by Openly Disruptive (4) with Project REACH, HERO, STAGINGS (5) with St Lou Fringe and Sustainable Seattle (6) Superheroines, Etc (7) St Louis Visionary Awards (8) Younger Than Beyonce Gallery, among others (9) Riverfront Times Best of St Louis
incantations
Be generative in practice.
It takes more to undo harm than to do good.
Exquisite pressure.
how i work
collaboration & communication.
looks like: frequent communication, generative idea bouncing, and clear, consensus decision making.
Like mycelium, flocking birds, and social dancers, I work in close concert with collaborators. I work this way based on principle - fluid and interconnected ecosystems are the strongest and most just.
learning through risk, joy, daring, and doing.
looks like: prototyping, gathering feedback, reviewing and revising, and living, adaptive projects.
True story: I once had a loose acquaintance ask to meet with me after reading a Brenee Brown book. She was inspired by the way of living Brenee puts forward, and told me she saw me as the “vulnerability queen” and wanted to learn from me. Truthfully, I’m still not sure what specifically she wanted me to impart to her, but I can share how I show up in the world.
I thrive with responsible risk - that which does not do harm to communities or individuals, but which becomes robust through iteration and action.
participatory is key.
looks like: relationships with immediate communities, leveraging networks, and deep community engagement through digital tools, community events, group facilitation, and many, many, many conversations.
The strongest systems are those which scale up, and intake perspectives from many sources. I thrive while balancing my own experience and knowledge systems with the learned, intrinsic, and generational knowledges of others.
femme and kinda queer.
looks like: embracing the inherent validity and expertise of all people, assuming competency, capacity, and potential, and responding to stress with mutual reliance, trust, and compassion.
Over the years, I have learned that my working style is deeply femme - collaborative rather than competitive, coming-together rather than dominating-over.
I say “kinda queer” because I recognize my other-than-hetero worldviews as a queer person, but as someone who is hetero-passing, I do not experience the same subjugation and infractions on basic rights. My queerness looks like comfort with the nonbinary and the non-absolute.
(eco)systems.
looks like: identifying relationship-points between departments, aligned strategic plans, and facilitating shared vision.
The resiliency of healthy, interconnected systems is a trustworthy, wonderful lesson that nature teaches us time and time again. We see this in nature, and in the most effective organizing efforts. I have a tendency to unsettle overly rigid or linear structures and habits, and seek out pathways for alignment and interconnectedness.
justice, equity, liberation
looks like: seeking out justice-oriented environments with which to collaborate, mentorship and knowledge sharing across identities, pro-active listening, structural support for as-of-yet underrepresented experiences.
Every aspect of my work considers how it contributes to a more just society, supports equity or reparations, and takes part in the global effort towards a liberated world. This is a simultaneous practice of learning and improving my own skills, while also recognizing the characteristics of liberation that I already know to be central to any space in which I operate.
action- and outcome-oriented
looks like: clear and realistic project plans, built-in systems for review, and clear expectations (and/or boundaries) that prioritize timely outputs.
While I revel in big pictures and theory, they are only as valuable as the changes they engender in the real world. Collaboration, participation, risk taking, and visionary ideas must yield timely, relevant, and impactful deliverables.