Leadership is a way of moving with people, not a position.

Sometimes we think our only option is to put our heads down and "power through". As someone who's trying to increase our agency and choice (regardless of the situation), I'm offering a few considerations in this post next time you find yourself here.

While the reason might not have been the "purest", it's still a valid way to start something. Many of us engage in social change for the same reason so I know I'm in good company.

John Bell first articulated the 4 I's of Oppression to describe the way interlocking systems of oppression work together. Based on my experience as a community organizer, social worker and facilitator, I've remixed how I see these layers operating in real time.

In this episode, Leslie and I share how developing our friendship and building trust led to some beautiful dialogue around race, power and allyship. Together, we make a case for how 'not knowing' creates opportunities for trust and vulnerability and we describe the ways that racialized groups are pitied against each other and why us having honest convos is necessary to combat division.

Dr. Cassandre Dunbar of the Be Well Sis, Podcast allowed me to come share how we can make good trouble (in service of social change) and still keep our jobs. In this episode, I offer strategies and tactics so that you aren't the only one fighting for equity at your job and how to spot performative allyship.

Janai Gilmore of "I Want to Change the World" podcast invited me to talk about all things the Matrix. In this episode, I share ways internalized oppression shows up in leadership and life, what nonprofits can do to challenge The Matrix within organizations and and what we can do after realizing The Matrix is inside us.

This blog post is coming from the overlap of two seemingly unrelated things. #1) I'm someone who is astounded by all of the odds (like trauma, oppression, culture, etc.) that complicate our ability to navigate, relate and build strong, care-centered relationships with one another. #2) I'm someone who believes in the Emergent Strategy principle of *Never A Failure, Always A Lesson* which means I naturally find the nuggets of wisdom in almost anything and can think of ways to apply them to real life. This blog post will share 2 lessons, how we can use this to inform our leadership choices and alternative ways to lead.

When I was exploring where my skills and experience would be most useful, immediately leadership rose to the top. This felt like a no brainer since my background is in grassroots community organizing, capacity building and people management. But I knew that I disagreed with mainstream definitions of leadership because I wanted to help folx show up in their full humanity while also striving to do right by people and the planet. This is the foundation of Liberatory Leadership. In this post, I'm sharing what Liberatory Leadership means to me, why you should care about it and how you can cultivate liberatory power.

As people who care about social change, we know perfectionism isn't the value we aspire to. At the same time, I bet you and I can agree that being in integrity with our values (as an intention to move towards the world we want to see) is something we seek to improve, evolve and adapt with so we can live in greater alignment. In this post, I'm offering 3 steps to help us translate our values into grounded actions for greater impact.