I believe that each of us should celebrate and be celebrated for our strengths. In that spirit, here are some of the qualities I bring to the table:

• Relationship Development | Change doesn’t happen because of an excellent SOP or project plan, it happens through the people that carry it forward. In every role I’ve held — strategy & operations, partnerships, sales, team leadership, communications — the actual work has never been the deliverable. It’s been the relationships with my stakeholders. My approach is to first listen for what matters most to the person in front of me, and to treat their values and objectives as critical inputs. From there, I find common ground and build alliance — with staff, executives, partners, whatever the work requires — because that alliance is what turns an idea into something real that can be built in partnership. It’s not a soft skill. It’s the mechanism that underpins every successful initiative.

• Strategy & Operations | Give me your most complex, sticky, cross-functional challenge and it will be my great joy to find us a resolution. I start by learning the problem from the inside out: a listening tour with stakeholders, a dive into the data, an honest look at what’s actually broken. From there, I build a strategy to workshop and socialize, identify our key partners, secure the resources we need, and translate it all into a project plan specific enough to run day-to-day. But strategy is only half the job — I’m just as energized building the operating rhythms, systems, and accountability structures that keep the work moving long after the planning session ends. Yes, the plan will shift with shifting context. That’s expected. What doesn’t shift is my commitment to keeping the team resourced, aligned, and moving toward the goal — with intention, not just momentum.

• Leadership & People Management | I think of myself as both a leader who follows and a follower who leads. I believe a leader’s role is to set vision and direction and then empower and support the team to find their own best way to get there. Because the team holds the expertise, their full engagement is vital to success. As a leader, my role is to facilitate their success by providing accountability, direction, and coaching. My approach as a leader is to be people-first, to center my team by motivating, challenging, and driving us forward together as a unit of individuals with a shared mission.

• Curiosity | In my previous role at the Rockefeller Foundation, I received feedback that my curiosity and question-asking were one of my “greatest assets.” My critical thinking skills and inquisitiveness have helped my teams understand problems from multiple angles and have pushed us to find and evaluate new, collaborative solutions. Questions ground the team in shared knowledge, highlight gaps, and reveal opportunities.

• Presentation and Storytelling | I love public speaking: researching an audience, finding the best storyline to convey a message, designing a well-thought-out (and beautiful) deck, and sharing and adapting the story based on its reception in real-time. The task of generating mission-driven enthusiasm – and then action – in an audience is one of the most rewarding aspects of my work.  

• Ambassadorship | “Your passion is contagious.” That’s what my friends tell me. When I believe in something, everyone is going to hear about it…and often they end up following suit. It’s not just for the products I am devout to (Thinx, bkr Bottle, my iPad, my Chevy Bolt). At General Mills and London Bio Packaging, I started my roles with no prior knowledge of organic farming or circularity. Once I joined the team, I learned everything I possibly could, quickly became an internal expert, and then shared my passion (read: obsession) with the world around me in communications content, client meetings, internal presentations, and at dinners with friends (sorry friends!). It’s one of my favorite things about myself. It’s what makes me great at what I do.