Helping people uncover their super powers.
I’ve spent the last 35 plus years helping to found and lead social enterprises. I’ve come to see the power of a strong culture in building organizations that achieve great things, and the importance of trust and strong systems to weather significant challenges. Throughout my career I've witnessed the transformative nature of making a difference and the power of play in bringing out the best in people. Through writing, teaching and advising, I'm excited to support others for creating the conditions that enable these things to happen.
I founded my first nonprofit when I was 23 and have been building successful organizations ever since. Through my work with the Museum of Children’s Art, Playworks and Substantial Classrooms, I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of leading innovative organizations and to learn from co-workers, partners, and the people – both adults and children - that these organizations were designed to serve. Being a part of these organizations has also opened up extraordinary personal leadership opportunities for me including being named an Ashoka Fellow, an Aspen Pahara Fellow, and more recently spending time at Stanford's d.school.
Most recently I have been working on a new project supporting nonprofit board chairs - The Chair Project - exploring the kinds of support board chairs need as they navigate complexity, transition and the real work of leadership. This project emerged from my work in both Interim and Senior Advising roles, supporting organizations through strategic guidance in management and organizational design, facilitation, development, managing transitions, and mentorship – all delivered with an emphasis on play, design and storytelling. This past January I wrapped up a yearlong role as the Interim Executive Director at UC Berkeley's Center for Social Sector Leadership and this past Spring I supported my Substantial co-founder in arranging for SubSchool - Substantial's flagship program - to be acquired by the National Center for Grow Your Own. You can read more about our decision to make this strategic exit here - and check out the Nonprofit Strategic Exit Toolkit that the students from UC Berkeley Haas' Social Sector Solutions class developed based on our experience.
My current projects include supporting Operation Outbreak - who recently had this extraordinary piece run in Time Magazine - and the Ownership Capital Lab - who will be releasing their first-ever Employee Ownership Roadmap on December 11, 2025 - more info here! I'm also writing a quarterly-ish newsletter via Substack these days - you can sign up (for free!) here.
One of the biggest lessons of my career has been that success never happens alone – that all great opportunities show up in the form of other humans and that great ideas stay ideas until you can get other people to join you in helping make them real. The other lesson that I have learned over and over again is that we all have super powers, and that it is only through working with others, suspending our disbelief that great change is possible, and dogged, persistent hard work that these super powers are revealed. I am convinced that this moment is going to require all of our super powers - and that it demands we come together to do the seemingly impossible if we are going to ensure that our children - and their children, and their children's children - have a chance at realizing what has always been the promise of America.
The Chair Project: Second Seating
A few months ago, we asked a simple question: what would it actually look like to support Board Chairs?
The First Seating gave us an answer. Six Chairs showed up with sharpness, self-awareness, and a genuine desire to get better at one of the most complex jobs in the nonprofit space. What we learned from them shaped everything about what comes next.
When Chairs have a real thought partner and a structured space to work, something shifts. The role gets clearer. The partnership with the ED gets stronger. The work gets better. The Second Seating is built around that.
I'm joined this time by Deborah Jospin — friend, social impact rockstar, and board whisperer — in co-delivering a six-month protocol designed around what we actually learned from Chairs in the field. The cohort is small by design, capped at six participants, and it's a paid program.
What participants can expect:
If this is for you — or if you know someone it might be for — we'd love to get to work with you.
The First Seating gave us an answer. Six Chairs showed up with sharpness, self-awareness, and a genuine desire to get better at one of the most complex jobs in the nonprofit space. What we learned from them shaped everything about what comes next.
When Chairs have a real thought partner and a structured space to work, something shifts. The role gets clearer. The partnership with the ED gets stronger. The work gets better. The Second Seating is built around that.
I'm joined this time by Deborah Jospin — friend, social impact rockstar, and board whisperer — in co-delivering a six-month protocol designed around what we actually learned from Chairs in the field. The cohort is small by design, capped at six participants, and it's a paid program.
What participants can expect:
- A Chair Profile conversation to ground the work
- A partnership alignment session with your ED
- A board assessment session designed to help you co-design the full board experience
- Coaching sessions focused on real-time challenges, not hypotheticals
- A closing reflection to capture and share what we learned
If this is for you — or if you know someone it might be for — we'd love to get to work with you.