I possess a desire to make the world more compassionate and an ability to build teams, solve problems, and create value.
Experience: My career has spanned both nonprofit and commercial sectors – working in diverse functions from communications to technology and from retail to direct social services. Starting my career as a Mickey Leland Hunger Fellow, I spent seven years in Washington, DC working with the Nation’s leading nonprofit organizations. Now, I work with Merkle, Inc. a database marketing agency that helps large organizations and Fortune500 companies understand their customers and supporters through analytics in order to develop effective programs to engage them.
Training: My training includes a Bachelor of Arts from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where I focused on Political Science, Public Policy and Economics. I also received a Masters of Arts degree from Georgetown University’s Communication Culture and Technology Program. There, my research involved developing an approach to product development integrating concepts from Activity Theory and Behavioral Psychology.
Results: The most satisfying work I have done to date includes the following:
1. Helping nonprofit organizations engage millions of supporters and donate tens of millions of dollars to support their causes. At GetActive Software and Convio (formerly GetActive), I worked with hundreds of organizations, helping them articulate how they could improve their web presence to deliver greater impact – whether saving the rainforest, protecting human rights, strengthening the economy, or supporting people with chronic diseases.
2. Changing the world for the better through coffee and natural foods. In the last 18 months, I launched two sites that help people in North America enjoy outstanding coffee while improving the lives of farmers in developing countries. Consious Coffees’ web site establishes the brand presence and online engagement for a fair trade, organic, low impact coffee roaster. Small Axe Coffee is an interactive web site that highlights the work that roasters, cafes and others are doing to support the fair trade, organic, high quality coffee movement. In 2009 I worked with Olomomo Nut Company to submit the winning business plan for Colorado University’s Bard Center’s business plan competition.
3. Developing financial training curricula to help folks save money to start a business, go back to school, buy a home, and feed their families. Working with the Corporation for Enterprise Development, I coauthored “Finding Paths to Prosperity,” a financial training curiculum that was distributed to over 10,000 participants in community based organizations around the country. As a consultant to Share Our Strength, I coauthored another curriculum “Saving Smart, Spending Smart,” which is used in foodbanks nationwide.
