The Power of Your Origin Story

Growing up in Baltimore, Maryland, I saw children, families, neighborhoods, and communities with what felt like very different economic, health, and educational circumstances. I yearned for a society where all people, regardless of background, could thrive. I spent time during my academic and professional journey trying to understand how we as a society got here and what we can do about it. How can we ensure more opportunities for all people? How do we create opportunities where all children can learn and grow in safe and healthy communities and learning environments? How can we create a more shared society where all people are safe, free, healthy, and well?

I spent time volunteering with children, tutoring and mentoring elementary, middle, and high school students. In college, I tutored elementary school students during the academic year. For two summers, I went back to Baltimore and co-taught first-grade summer school with a focus on helping children learn to read and write while taking a teaching course. While studying abroad, I taught English at a local elementary school. For the subsequent decade, I did curriculum-based tutoring for middle and high school students and high school placement mentoring for some incredibly bright, passionate young people. This might be some of the best work I’ve ever done in my life. Not because of the volume of children I worked with. But because it was the real work of social change. If I could stay connected to children and communities in this way, then my professional work could seek to make larger, broader, more systemic changes.

There are many memories of working directly with children that have stayed with me, but there is one that felt formative in my academic and professional trajectory. It was my first time teaching first grade summer school in Baltimore City. I was teaching phonics, among other things, and I loved it. There was a small table in the classroom where I put supplies for the students. The school building was aged and worn, and the supplies at the school were very limited. There weren't enough crayons for each student to have their own. I remember rummaging through my old crayon boxes at my house and bringing in some more to supplement. I was excitedly teaching my phonics lesson when I heard a big thud from the ceiling. A leak had caused a part of the ceiling to cave in and crash right onto my phonics table. I was heartbroken. Not because the ceiling and table couldn't be fixed. But because this was the environment in which these curious, eager children were learning. That moment lit something inside me to want to create positive learning environments and opportunities for all of America's children.

During my academic journey, I studied the relationship between poverty and education. I learned how to analyze data to better understand the complex social challenges I sought to upend. During that time and then subsequently throughout my professional career, I have been passionate about harnessing data to spur positive social change. I love looking at data, both numbers and people’s stories, and seeing what bubbles up. What are the numbers saying? What are the common threads in the stories? What does it all mean? What are they pointing to? What could next steps be?

While working in the education field, I spent a lot of time working with large datasets. And yet, my senior colleagues kept pulling me towards the part of the work that required speaking to and working with education professionals. From recruiting school districts for participation in research studies to providing technical assistance support to state education agencies, I enjoyed building relationships with experts in the field. That relationship-building work turned into facilitating conversations with a broad array of constituent groups. I learned that even if I wasn’t from a particular geographic location or community, if I was authentic and honest about who I was and where I came from, and if I was present, empathetic, a deep listener, caring, and effective consensus and alignment builder, then we could have mutual trust and respect.

I found that I loved listening to people’s stories, asking questions to draw out more of the story, and helping people feel seen and heard. I did more of this both in my jobs and also in my local community, facilitating grassroots dialogue and learning communities. I liked connecting with people and then holding space for people to connect with each other. What I liked most was grounding the work in the study of scholarly texts, so it was less about swirling feelings and more about thoughtful analysis of information complemented with people sharing their lived experiences that informed their understanding of the world and our discussion texts.

Throughout my career, these two threads, of navigating the complexities of people and data, became one of my superpowers. In much of my work, I start with the heart work- building meaningful relationships with people, and then bringing in my data skills to help with the change-making work. While I started in education, I found myself working with a variety of causes in the social good sector, from youth empowerment and childcare to international development to women’s rights and reproductive health to dialogue and bridge building. I found that so many of these organizations needed help with doing their work in maximally strategic and impactful ways, and telling their impact story in compelling ways to bolster partnerships and support.

And that brings me to the present moment. I do a combination of head and heart work for a variety of changemaker teams and organizations. I provide executives with data strategy and leadership support, in particular during moments of inflection, transition, turmoil, or change. I build relationships and hold space for broad constituent bases for organizations to provide input for and build alignment, consensus, and support for an organization’s new strategic direction. I get under the hood of data, people, and teams to support deep, meaningful change for organizations. I am in the business of helping organizations transform.

I can’t wait to help more leaders and changemaking organizations on the journey.

Where are you trying to go and how can I help you get there?