Personal Statement

Strategy/Innovation
Organizational Re/Design
Mediation/Conflict done well
Participatory Decision Making
 Leadership Coaching

I partner with individuals and leaders who are working for social transformation  in the world as well as in their projects, groups and organizations.

Since being a student leader in the US Anti-Apartheid and Divestment Movement, I have worked for racial and economic justice at the intersection of social crisis and political will (ACT-UP, Harm Reduction, HIV Prevention Justice). I have co-founded both failed as well as tested and scaled social innovations.

Presently, I serve on the board of the  Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance  and am a steward/trainer with the international learning community of the Art of Hosting/Participatory Leadership.

I earned a degree in Human Development and Family Studies from Cornell University and a master’s degree with a focus in health policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. I also studied structural family therapy directly with the revolutionary practitioner Salvador Minuchin and harm reduction with the original US-based educator Edith Springer. I learned from my students as a teaching associate with the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University.

In 2013, I completed a certification course in Permaculture Design, which I practice with friends and neighbors of the Bashakill Family Farm.

​Find recommendations and connect with me on LinkedIn.
Read the latest on our collaborative blog Power & Privilege 2.0
Check out my interview with Lex Schroeder  for the New Prosperity Initiative.

More Project  Highlights

Positive Life Workshops – providing people living with HIV/AIDS with the knowledge, support, and skills necessary to develop health supporting routines.
Sex Worker Project– the first program in the US to focus on the provision of legal services, legal training, documentation, and policy advocacy for sex workers. Using a harm reduction and human rights model, the SWP protects the rights and safety of sex workers who by choice, circumstances, or coercion remain in the industry.
AID FOR AIDS INTERNATIONAL – ¿Cuánto sabes de VIH y SIDA? reducing HIV transmission rates in Latin America by empowering young people to become leaders in the fight against AIDS and bringing prevention and advocacy to the community level.
Sustainable South Bronx – working with under-served urban communities as they transform themselves into great sustainable places to live. We do this by providing a collaborative model that addresses environmental, economic and social concerns through green job training, community greening programs and environmental education.
Fortune Society – David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy – advocating for a fairer criminal justice system; promoting effective program models and needed supports for people with criminal justice histories; and changing the counterproductive laws and policies that create unfair barriers to the successful reentry of people with criminal justice histories into our communities.
Canadian Union of Public Employees, Ottawa, CA                                                           Provided a three-day training in participatory practices for re-membering the union’s legacy and re-igniting its base and co-hosted the Executive Team of the largest union in Canada in strategy and action planning for their quest to engage the wisdom of their members, staff and leadership in order to both hold onto their bread AND grow roses as the right gains ground in Canada.
Centennial Ecumenical Gathering, National Council of the Churches and Church World Service, New Orleans, LA                                                                                                     Co-hosted and harvested multi-lingual World Café conversations among 800 conference participants exploring Unity in an Age of Radical Diversity in order to inform the ecumenical movement’s quest to engage in “new ways of holding unity and diversity in appropriate and creative relationship.”

Project Highlights

Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Summit, Kuala Lampur, Malaysia
Design and implementation of team projects to create public awareness campaigns about issues that span all four YSEALI themes: environmental protection, civic engagement, education, and economic development. Participants will then take those campaigns back to their home countries after the event. Follow #YSEALI on Facebook and Twitter.
SEIU, Washington DC
2016 campaign strategy facilitation for senior leaders of “…an organization of 2-million members united by the belief in the dignity and worth of workers and the services they provide and dedicated to improving the lives of workers and their families and creating a more just and humane society.”
AHRC NYC, New York
Providing Art of Hosting training to the innovation team of “A family governed organization committed to finding ways for people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities to build full lives as defined by each person and supported by dedicated families, staff and community partners.”
Social Entrepreneur Bootcamp, South African Region
Joined the faculty of a training program in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia that was founded by YALI fellow Irene Chikumbo to support young entrepreneurs to advance solve social programs and break the donor-dependence cycle.
Amida Care, New York
Providing member engagement consultation and facilitation for mission-driven, not-for-profit health care insurance company that specializes in providing comprehensive medical, behavioral and psychosocial support services to people with multiple chronic conditions.
Global Action for Trans Equity, International
Facilitated leadership transition for co-founders and strategic planning gathering with international stakeholders “to unite trans* movements for common goals, while developing trans* agendas on a conceptual policy level.”
Advocates for Informed Choice, National
Co-hosted strategic planning retreat for board and staff of the only national organization dedicated to “innovative strategies to advocate for the legal and human rights of children born with intersex traits.”
Crossroads Community Food Network, Takoma Park, MD.                                                     Co-hosted a series of bi-lingual World Cafe discussions with board members, staff, funders, farmers and community members who strategized together about during the winter months about ways to increase year-long access to fresh food and healthy eating.
Deepening Our Roots Conference – Growing Meaningful & Sustainable Sexual Assault Services in Rural Communities, Seattle, WA.                                                                              
Co-hosted conversations during the Opening Plenary, a Learning Together World Cafe and a Knowledge Marketplace for about 100 organizational leaders and staff of rural domestic violence/sexual assault providers who convened for three days to share experiences and study cutting edge practices in their field.
The 9th Annual Harm Reduction Con, Portland, Oregon                                            
Co-hosted four days of Open Space and Harvesting with staff members from the Harm Reduction Coalition and Graphic Recorder Avril Orloff in Portland, Oregon. The conference convened 700+ people from the US and abroad to address the many critical issues affecting drug users including overdose, HIV, hepatitis, incarceration and stigma.
HIV Prevention Justice Alliance, National                                                                                Hosted a strategy retreat for the national committee of the PJA, which is committed to expose and confront the persistence of inequality that comes from economic, political and social conditions that benefit the few to the injury of many. steering
Stone Soup Project of South Suburban Restorative Justice Coalition, Chicago, IL              Co-hosted a three-day training of participatory practices and inquiry about ‘what it takes to engage community leadership in preventative and restorative justice’ for a collective of faith leaders, youth workers, academics, lawyers and judges, public educators, CBOs, family, friends and parents from Chicago’s South Suburbs.
Transforming Race 2012–Visions of Change Conference, Kirwin Institute, Columbus, OH Co-hosted the opening session for a gathering of 400+ conference participants from racial and economic justice organizations and think tanks to launch a learning community where participants could enter co-learning and find a shared vision for a “just and inclusive society where all people and communities have opportunity to succeed.”
Latino Health Access, Santa Ana, CA
Co-hosted a Spanish-English retreat for 100 youth and adult residents and 50 providers charged with co-creating a strategic plan for collaborative funding that would transform the health and wellness of their community, which is among those zip codes with the lowest social indicators in California.