Experience + Impact

Career

Since 2015, I’ve served as a strategy and organizational development consultant for nonprofit organizations, foundations, coalitions, and multi-stakeholder initiatives. While I work on a range of issue areas, I hold deep expertise and longstanding partnerships in the fields of immigrant and refugee justice and inclusion, health equity, democracy, movement building, and arts and culture as a lever for positive social change.

Prior to founding Orchid Root Strategies, I served as Senior Advisor for Strategy and Partnerships at Refugee Council USA, a coalition of more than forty nonprofit organizations working to protect the rights of forcibly displaced people and build more welcoming societies. Prior to this role, I served for seven years as a Senior Philanthropy Consultant at TCC Group, a national B Corp social impact advisory services firm, collaborating with dozens of local, regional, national, and global organizations.

My consulting experience builds on grant making, research and learning, strategy, and program management roles at the Open Society Foundations, where I helped launch and scale the Foundations’ International Migration Initiative. My philanthropic career began at the Clinton Foundation, where I wrote foreign policy briefings for former President Bill Clinton and authored reports informing the development of the Clinton Global Initiative, Clinton Climate Initiative, and sustainable development programs in Latin America and Africa.

I’m an Affiliate Instructor at the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy and a pro bono speaker and advisor for immigrant, refugee, and youth-serving organizations and efforts to advance birth justice and reproductive rights. I’ve received recognition for my social impact leadership as a 92NY Belfer Center 2023 Women inPower Fellow.

I hold a Master’s degree in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a B.A. in International Studies and Visual Arts from Emory University. A native New Yorker, I’m a proud pedestrian who loves public art and a good street fair. When not at work, you can find me adventuring with my kids or dreaming about where I’ll use my passport next.

Impact

Select highlights from previous projects.

  • ~ Drove collaboration across functions and disciplines, as part of a global team, to build a philanthropic giving portfolio in six regions from the ground up

    ~ Co-led strategy work to integrate racial equity and social justice lens into funding portfolios advancing academic, social-emotional, and bereavement supports for underserved youth

    ~ Led landscape research and analysis to design and develop the blueprint for a new grant-making fund to advance immigrant and refugee economic integration

    ~ Designed and produced a comprehensive year-long curriculum and resource library for next gen trustees (ages 10-18) focused on inclusive grantmaking practice and the nonprofit sector

    ~ Optimized family foundation grant-making systems and processes to strength board learning and align with trust-based practices in philanthropy

    ~ Led landscape research commissioned by a philanthropy support organization, engaging 200+ foundation leaders, young adults, and national experts on youth leadership and engagement in philanthropy

    ~ Authored numerous briefings, remarks, talking points for executive C-Suite leaders of major global philanthropies to build government partnerships, raise awareness on key issues, leverage resources, and drive strategic action

  • ~ Supported development of early-stage birth justice nonprofit by clarifying mission, vision, and goals, strengthening leadership capacity, and articulating key messages resulting in seed capital for organizational growth

    ~ Delivered policy research on public funding opportunities for maternal child health services, resulting in actionable strategic plan imbued with clarity on opportunities for scale

    ~ Led visioning process to strengthen education and community programs of state-wide arts organization

    ~ Authored numerous grant applications, reports, and case studies, mobilizing philanthropic resources to advance equity, shared prosperity, leadership development, participatory advocacy, and social inclusion

  • ~ Spearheaded and led strategic planning strengthening cohesion and collective impact of a national coalition mobilizing constituents in service of forcibly displaced populations

    ~ Managed collaborative strategy and learning tables as senior member of project team to strengthen alignment across health equity, research, advocacy, youth services, and community development organizations

    ~ Led research involving coalition and association leaders across sectors to recommended strategies for effective community building and member engagement

    ~Facilitated development of clear and transparent governance (decision-making) processes to establish participatory engagement of key stakeholders

    ~Collaborated with coalition leaders to identify performance measures and assessment strategies for community engagement work

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