My Approach

As a young adult, I worked as a camp counselor in the mountains of North Carolina. Main camp was a mile hike through the woods to our cabins, and we would hike back each night in the dark – without flashlights! Each person placed a hand on the shoulder of the one in front, and we walked together, listening closely. If we started hearing the crunch of leaves, we knew we were drifting off the path. When the forest floor was quiet beneath our feet, we were on track.

I didn’t realize it then, but that experience quietly but profoundly changed the way I live my life. I don’t look for a visible path; I listen for the signals that I’ve strayed. The practice of listening, of letting the way emerge as I walk, has led me into experiences I never could have envisioned. It slows me down, helps me notice more, and creates space for reflection and integration. It feels like active cultivation of wisdom, and it allows me to tune more fully into what is present in any given situation. That’s what draws me to complex, multi-faceted social challenges – the places where listening carefully can make the biggest difference.

What Guides My Work

Helping people, organizations, and communities move through complexity requires this kind of deep listening. When we are attuned to the reality on the ground, and able to move at a listening pace, we can take small, deliberate shifts as we go. Understanding and accepting where we are, and how we got here, unlocks the potential to become something new. Slowing down to listen lets us recalibrate. Going slow often turns out to be the fastest way forward.

That quiet forest path is also a reminder of the space that exists in between the noise. When we pay attention to what is usually invisible – patterns, connections, tensions – we discover surprising ways to shift what feels stuck, opening new possibilities.

What I Bring to My Work

I am formally educated and experienced in methods of social systems change, but what I bring is also a rare combination of intuitive sensing and analytical precision. I can often feel where a challenge lives within a group, and I can explain it in ways that help others see it too. I am wired to see patterns of interconnection across individual nervous systems, group dynamics, organizational culture, and the behavior of complex systems. My role is to help groups make sense of that complexity so they can navigate it more skillfully and adaptively.

One simple pattern I return to in my facilitation and design practice is what I call the 4Ps. It’s not a formula, but a compass. The 4Ps help me stay attuned to what matters in each moment, while leaving space for emergence and learning along the way.

What My Work Looks Like in Practice

Here are a few examples of where my work has proven helpful:

• Facilitating cross-sector collaborations and community networks
• Supporting trauma-aware leadership capacity in public and nonprofit systems
• Designing participatory engagement processes for complex civic and organizational contexts
• Coaching civic leaders and peer networks navigating adaptive change
• Building resilience and relational capacity within teams and across systems

In all of this work, I help groups navigate complexity with resilience, creativity, and care by attending to both the visible and invisible dynamics that shape how we move forward together.

Learn More About My Work

• Involved in local or state government or other public leadership? Check out examples of my work in the civic leadership realm.
• Doing similar work, or want to partner on a community project? Check out examples of other partnerships I’ve been involved with.
• Want to learn more from me or bring me in to educate others? Check out examples of my speaking and workshop engagements.
• Curious about how to do this type of work? Check out my curated list of tools and resources that I find helpful in my work.

Sometimes the most
meaningful collaborations begin with a single conversation.