ABOUT

Life Experience

 

My consulting/facilitation techniques and capabilities is the result of more than 40 years of leadership, management, and grassroots level involvement. I was introduced to coaching through various leadership encounters. My earliest encounters included days of training in community mobilization on the West Side of Chicago in the late sixties. Working with local elders, I learned the importance of listening to the wisdom that comes from those who are most impacted by the problems we were trying to solve. So often they had the answers when the right questions were asked. I also experienced being part of a community of love and accountability, and what it means to have vision. It was their insistence that I go out and experience all that the world has to offer and bring back those gifts to the community.

 

Social Justice

 

These seeds of expectation, hope, and love from both my family of origin, and chosen family of community were the roots that launched my lifelong journey into social justice.  More importantly, it introduced me to the work of preventing violence against women and girls.  For over 20 years I worked in small communities in Venezuela, Zambia, Kenya, Jamaica, Brazil, India, and throughout the United States under the tutelage of the Institute of Cultural Affairs.  

 

The majority of work included designing and implementing small economic enterprises that enabled women and youth to become economically self-sufficient within small communities.  

These life-changing experiences eventually led me to STAND! For Families Free of Violence in Contra Costa County where I recently retired as Client Services Director after 24 years.  During my tenure at STAND! I worked in a variety of roles, including Regional Director of Residential Services, Prevention and Clinical Programs while serving as a member of the Senior Management team. I became well known for my work in prevention. 

 

Community Partnerships

 

I am most proud of the various community partnerships that I was involved with including:

 

• The Kaiser Resilience Project, a multi-year effort that addresses school climate wellness.

• The Collaborative Response to Victims of Crime project, a multi-faith and service provider initiative to minister to social and spiritual needs of crime victims.

• The Faith Community Taskforce of CCC (Contra Costa County), an 8 year effort of domestic violence advocates and faith leaders from Judaic, Islamic, Christian, and Buddhist traditions that provided education and training to the community on addressing the Role of the Faith Community in preventing family violence.