My Approach
I provide a multilayered approach that supports Colorado organizations to transform their cultures and practices to be more equitable spaces that produce belonging.
1.Personalizing the Work
It would be impossible to know every industry and your personal work culture, and I don’t claim to be able to do this. But, having worked with organizations in Education, State Government, Startups, Non-profits, and Criminal Justice, I have found patterns in the types of conversations that need to happen.
All workshops, consulting, and coaching will be personalized to your organization, and driven by some key building blocks for success. These building blocks were forged through my doctoral level expertise and real world experience leading EDI in organizations. The work we do together will be personalized to your organization and employees, will be informed by current theories and research, be results driven, and provide an evaluation component. I believe strongly in the need for this level of rigor to be present, because my number one goal is to create transformation.
Our work together will be focused on transformation- building a lens together so that natural actions will achieve desired results. This is a joint endeavor, driven by your needs and goals and supported by my expertise. Together, we will shift the conversation from one of compliance and shame to one of inclusion and analyzing how your organization can BE BRAVE in these difficult conversations.
2. Creating a Brave Space to Make EDI Approachable
Unfortunately, I hear this far too often. Given the personal and important nature of this work, professionals take different approaches. Not all approaches work for all people, and some can leave people at an earlier point in their journey feeling shamed and demonized.
Growing up in a white community with white parents and teaching at predominantly white universities has helped me to develop a more gentle approach to guiding people in their journeys. My approach creates a space for people to authentically enter these often taboo conversations, at any place in their journey. I center the work on assuming positive intent, but making sure that the group also grapples with the impact of unintentionally hurtful statements, using these as learning opportunities.
Through our work, I will guide individuals and organizations through headwork and heartwork, creating a cadence that grows your ability to move between both forms of work.
Headwork is the research-based theories and methods we guide you through. These have interdisciplinary roots in sociology, psychology, neurology, anthropology, history, and women’s studies.
Heartwork is, for many, the hardwork. I guide you through the emotions and vulnerability that comes with building your own awareness and being authentic. It is this heartwork that is the key to being brave and true transformation.
3. Centering EDI Work in Real World Benefits
EDI work is about more than simply teaching people and organizations to “be nice” or search out the “bad apples.” When organizations come into the work with the sole goal of ‘being better people”, EDI work is either or viewed as unnecessary or pushed to the backburner due to pressures the organization faces (limited resources, deadlines, time constraints, annual goals).
My work with organizations is rooted in understanding the benefits (time, money, turnover, productivity, employee satisfaction) to their organizations. For organizations to truly transform, they must all see benefit in the work they are doing. The work that it takes to transform requires effort and resources, and isn’t a silver bullet that will magically make your organization run smoothly. But, with time, transformation, effort, and mindset shifts, your organization will gain the tools to being more effective and productive in the future.
4. Grounding Services in Research and Evaluation
My doctoral studies were focused on educational access, looking at inequities at both identity formation (individual level) and system level inequities. This has given me a theoretical and research based foundation in which I do this work. In addition, I am dedicated to real change, and to do this requires evaluation. Without evaluation, this work can leave people feeling warm and fuzzy, but without the skills to know how to continue to grow and develop. I provide formative and summative evaluations, that are both qualitative and quantitative. These evaluations provide a more clear roadmap of root problems, as well as an opportunity for organizations to benchmark their successes.