Stay human.
Stay strategic.
Shape tomorrow.
Consulting and writing for people doing good work in hard times.
Consulting
Two things have always been true about human life. There is a manmade ocean of cruelty and domination — misogyny, racism, ableism — and it isn't going away. There is also an equally ancient human capacity for love, solidarity, creativity, and care. My work helps leaders and organizations build durable impact inside that reality — strengthening what serves the people the work is meant for, and engaging effectively and defiantly with adversaries actively working to dismantle our missions.
I work with leaders across nonprofits, research centers, universities, foundations, and public service agencies. Some engagements are single high-stakes projects. Others are standing relationships that run for years.
What I do:
Strategic redesign. Surfacing options and ambitions that weren't visible from inside your existing frame.
Grant proposals and donor pitches. Aims, scope, narrative, and review-readiness.
Communications and ghostwriting. Board memos, donor letters, op-eds, internal communications.
Facilitation. Staff retreats, board sessions, working groups stuck on hard questions.
Mentoring and team development. Junior staff, postdocs, researchers, emerging leaders.
Peer counsel. Continuity of context. Candid feedback. Strategic and personal reflection.
What working with me looks like: I’m candid and tell you what I see when you ask. I am versatile and can execute across strategy, writing, facilitation, and team mentoring. The work is direct and warm. I don't perform certainty I don't have. I don't soften hard truths to keep the relationship comfortable.
What changes when we work together:
Your thinking and strategic options expand. You see approaches and possibilities that weren't visible from inside your own frame, and the work itself grows more ambitious because the thinking does.
You have a peer to think with. The hard questions stop being yours alone.
Building gets easier. I free up your time by working at executive level across strategy, writing, facilitation, and mentoring.
Results get bigger. Proposals win. Donors give. Strategic redesigns actually hold. Communications land.
Your mission impact increases. Theory of change gets clearer. Logic models get tighter. Programs and research change lives. Funders see impact they can point to.
Your team builds competence. Junior staff get mentored. The next generation of leaders gets built.
Your relationships with collaborators become more reciprocal and purposeful. Less time in meetings. More tangible results.
I work with leaders across nonprofits, research centers, universities, foundations, and public service agencies. I'm also available to speak to your team, board, or conference on the organizational and strategic dimensions of this work.
Let's talk to explore what I can do for you. No pressure. No hard sell. Mutual fit is everything in this kind of work.
Writing
I write about staying human and strategic inside conditions designed to wear us down. Authoritarian harm. Manufactured overwhelm. The wellness industry's misdirections. Coping styles under pressure. Defiance as a practice. Care as infrastructure. The work helps readers recognize what's happening, refuse the misattribution of external assault as personal failure, and build the capacity to keep going.
My main publication is Stay Human — Shape Tomorrow on Substack, where tens of thousands of readers across 95 countries are working through the same conditions together. I also write Writing for Social Impact for progressive writers building sustainable thought leadership.
The writing has produced a growing set of practical tools — workbooks, toolkits, and reference materials — designed for people and groups navigating authoritarian harm. Staying Steady, the flagship toolkit, gives you ten practices to interrupt overwhelm, recover from spirals, and build endurance for the long fight. Therapists use it with clients. Organizers use it in study groups. Ministers use it to inform sermons.
I'm also available to speak to your conference, congregation, classroom, or organization on civic resilience, staying human under authoritarian pressure, and the craft of writing for social impact.
What People Are Saying
“You are providing one of the clearest paths forward in this difficult political time. I think about your work a lot in my daily community building and organizing.”
— Blog subscriber
“I have found your work hopeful, empowering, realistic, and practical”
— Blog subscriber
“Love your work and being inspired by your brilliant mind, enormous heart, on-the-ground reality and capacity to help us make sense of our world.”
— Blog subscriber
“Your words, honesty, and inspiration help us all stay sane -- and active! -- in these insane times.”
— Blog subscriber