/The story

Never underestimate a room full of hopeful strangers

For eight years, innovating with the social sector has served as my career focus. At the University of Vermont, I studied Community Development & Applied Economics so that I could focus on big-picture, holistic approaches to social and community challenges. Today, I focus on motivating teams through support, flexibility and a focus on outcomes. I’m energized by the process of moving projects from research and strategic planning, to grant and/or award funding, to coordinating and reporting data, and transferring projects for future sustainability. I thrive on learning, deeply pursuing relevant details, and continuously seeking to connect and engage with stakeholders — focusing on efficient processes and effective outcomes. Thanks to my out-of-the-box strategy, projects like Hillel Fresh have increased community engagement by 200% at ¹/₁₄ the cost-per-student of comparable programs. My specialty is in bringing a community-development & design-driven mindset to nonprofits, medical organizations, and governments. Through my commitment to participatory research and entrepreneurial approaches, I will bring value, energy, and results to your team.

Empathy

If a person asks for a physical bridge, it is crucial we ask "why?". Often it is not a bridge they seek, rather, it is the most effective way to connect two lands. By empathizing with their deeper needs, we often open a better range of solutions than they thought possible.

With, not for

The most effective, sustainable, lasting projects are built with input from the people they will serve. By involving the users right from the start, we create capacity, buy in, and blindspot knowledge. This directly leads to better ideas and results.

Prototyping

Rather than staking everything on an idea and hoping it works, I believe frequent prototyping is key. We don't know what we don't know until we test! By testing early and often, we create solutions that are built to succeed at a fraction of the risk.

10x mindset

Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots at Google X, has said is it easier to improve something by 10 times than it is 10%. This mindset both opens innovative thinking and provides the fuel to reach your stretch goals.