In this episode, I'm talking about Mastermind Groups - or more generally, the why and how of building a structured network of support and accountability. I feel really strongly about this topic. Creating intentional systems of support may feel like a "nice to have" for so many people, but it’s actually so, so deeply important and impactful. So often, when I talk to the Executive Directors and CEOs that I work with, and the topic of leadership comes up, I find myself in a conversation about how l...
Feb 08, 2022•43 min
This is an encore presentation of a wonderful conversation I had with my friend and colleague Ana Polanco last Spring. Ana is an intuitive, international coach, storyteller, and wisdom keeper who helps culturally diverse women and social change organizations find new ways of leading. She is a beautiful case study in how to do and lead deep social change work in a way that is aligned with one's values, past, and purpose. This conversation is about sustainable leadership, and about how leading fro...
Jan 25, 2022•36 min
This week’s conversation is with LaFrae Sci, a friend, colleague, and superstar in my Impact Accelerator! LaFrae is an accomplished musician, imaginationist, and Executive Director at Willie Mae Rock Camp, where she created the innovative and transformational Willie Mae Future Sounds STEAM-based curriculum. I’ve been excited to talk with LaFrae on the podcast for a number of reasons. First, I think that her story of stepping into the ED role at Willie Mae at a time of flux and stewarding the gro...
Jan 18, 2022•46 min
This week’s conversation is with Payal Beri, CEO, and Founder of RK Empathy. Payal has worn many hats over the course of her professional life - clinical psychologist, leadership coach, and now advisor, consultant, and coach to start-ups and Fortune 500 companies alike - all around this beautiful concept of empathy. That has been the throughline that ties her many journeys together, and that is what she and I talk about in today’s episode. More specifically, we talk about empathy as a set of pra...
Jan 11, 2022•44 min
I wanted to start off our year on this podcast with a brief overview of what I call the Architecture of Impact. It’s the framework around which all of my teaching and coaching is built. The basic idea is this: We talk about impact in so many ways, and ultimately, this impact is our organization's north star. It is what guides us programmatically and organizationally. If we’re doing it right, it serves as a foundation for our strategic vision, our fundraising, our hiring, who we partner with… The...
Jan 04, 2022•22 min
In today’s episode, I have the absolute delight of talking with Jennifer Ching, Executive Director of the Northstar Fund here in NYC. Northstar is a social justice fund that supports grassroots organizing led by communities of color building power in New York City and the Hudson Valley. I was excited to talk with Jenn about the report that they released, in partnership with the New York Foundation, called Streets To Statehouse. The first part of the report shares the lessons learned from two 201...
Nov 30, 2021•46 min
The Transformative Power of A Truly Engaged Board, with George Suttles Want to work together? Apply for the Next Level Nonprofit Accelerator , a high-touch coaching and training accelerator for established organizations that want a smart, powerful playbook for taking their growing organization to the next level. Connect with me! LinkedIn Instagram YouTube...
Nov 16, 2021•51 min
Many of you have an organizational vision - the broad statement (end world hunger) that helps give shape to your mission and values and culture. I argue that the annual vision is in many ways more important as a tool for intentional planning and growth. Creating an annual vision lays the foundation for your goal setting and your budget. It transforms the process from one that is iterative and in the weeds, into one that drives forward movement. Your vision answers two questions that are central ...
Nov 09, 2021•21 min
This week I get to talk with Vanessa Luna, co-Founder and Director of Programs at ImmSchools. ImmSchools is an immigrant-led nonprofit organization that partners with K-12 educators to transform schools into safe and welcoming spaces for undocumented students and families. I had a hard time deciding what to call this episode, because Vanessa and I talk about so many great and important things, and because she shares insights into so many aspects of working with her co-founders to grow the organi...
Nov 02, 2021•43 min
This conversation was such a delight for me! I got to talk with a friend I’ve known for 20 years, from back in our graduate school days at the Kennedy School -- Jennifer Anastasoff. Jennifer is a serial entrepreneur who has spent the past two decades identifying gaps, breakdowns, and inefficiencies in our social systems, and responding by building real, lasting solutions. Her superpower is bringing together incredible talent - building high functioning, high-impact teams that work together to so...
Oct 26, 2021•44 min
In this week’s episode, I’m talking with Don Waisanen. Don is a Professor of public communication in the Baruch College, CUNY Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, as well as an adjunct lecturer at Columbia University and New York University. He teaches seminars, courses, and workshops on topics ranging from communication strategy and leadership to storytelling and improvisation. I’ve known Don for close to a decade, when he joined the board of the organization that I had founded and...
Oct 18, 2021•40 min
Starting this month I’m doing something new! It’s something I’ve been super excited about, and heading into the final stretch of the year felt like a great time to start. Each month, one show/ month will be a solo show where I take a look at some topic, specific to growth stage nonprofits, exploring some aspect of mindset or strategy. This Month's Topic: Nonprofit Life Cycle Assessment As A Tool To Guide Growth As we head into the end of the year and we all begin to explore possibilities for the...
Oct 12, 2021•1 hr
This is the fourth and final installment of my short series revisiting some of the incredible conversations I’ve had with folks as part of my Next Normal series at the beginning of this year. I’ve been struck, as we head into yet another phase of this pandemic, by just how different so much feels different, and yet oddly familiar. It’s like my favorite book from growing up - 100 years of solitude. The idea of time turning in a circle - returning to the same place that is somehow fundamentally an...
Sep 28, 2021•28 min
This is the third installment of my short series revisiting some of the incredible conversations I’ve had with folks as part of my Next Normal series at the beginning of this year. As so many of us continue to grapple with the implications of COVID for how we work and how we lead, I wanted to revisit the idea of leadership in this next normal that’s being created. I call it the next normal because what counts as normal is always changing and evolving, the work of social impact and social justice...
Sep 21, 2021•29 min
This is the second installment of my short series revisiting some of the incredible conversations I’ve had with folks as part of my Next Normal series at the beginning of this year. As so many of us continue to grapple ith the implications of COVID for how we work and how we lead, I wanted to revisit the idea of leadership in this next normal that’s being created. I call it the next normal because what counts as normal is always changing and evolving, the work of social impact and social justice...
Sep 14, 2021•37 min
In reflecting on some of the incredible conversations I’ve had with folks, I wanted to revisit the idea of leadership in the next normal; to dissect it and pull apart some of the themes that my guests have unearthed about what it will mean to be an effective and whole-self leader in the world that is being rebuilt in real time, as we head out of COVID. This week, I’m looking at one question that I found myself sitting with is about the ways in which our traditional models of leadership can fail ...
Sep 07, 2021•39 min
In this week’s episode, I get to have a conversation with someone I’ve wanted to talk with for this podcast for some time: Heather Vickery. Heather is a celebrated public speaker and success coach that inspires audiences and supports others with the tools they need to live empowered, bold, joy-filled, and successful lives. She’s a published author and the host of The Brave Files Podcast. I’ve wanted to talk with Heather because the core theme of her coaching and work is one that is so central ...
Aug 24, 2021•45 min
This week, I’m joined by Rhea Wong, my long-time friend, and multi-time guest on the podcast. Rhea and I talk all the time about the work that we each do supporting and coaching small nonprofits in the areas of fundraising and strategy, and occasionally we hit on a topic that gets us really excited. This is one of those topics: the messy and complicated relationship between fundraising and founders. We found ourselves talking about the oh-so-common situation that many EDs who take over from foun...
Aug 17, 2021•23 min
This week I'm talking with Emily May, the co-founder and Executive Director of Hollaback, a global, people-powered movement to end harassment. Emily is an incredibly thoughtful steward of the Hollaback mission, as well as one of the most incredible strategic minds I’ve known. In this conversation, Emily pulls back the curtain on her strategic prowess. She talks about her growth as a leader against the backdrop of the astounding growth that Hollaback has experienced in the past year: How, as a le...
Aug 10, 2021•46 min
This week, I'm talking with two incredible and inspirational women - Donnie Belcher and Lauren Burke - CEO and COO respectively, of Camp Equity. These women have, multiple times in their lives, seen a deep social problem and jumped into action - as a teacher and lawyer, as a Skadden Fellow, as Echoing Green fellows, and now together, through Camp Equity. In this conversation, we talk about what it means and looks like to be both intentional and responsive to a critical moment. I loved this conve...
Aug 03, 2021•1 hr
In this episode, I have a wonderful conversation with Charlie Vazquez. Charlie Vazquez is a storytelling consultant, workshop facilitator, and Buddhist meditation instructor. He’s designed and facilitated multi-sensory storytelling and wellness programs for the NYC Department of Health, New York Public Library, Bronx Council on the Arts, and PEN America, serving LGBTQI youth-of-color, undocumented immigrants, low-income communities, and senior citizens. He uses story to create transformation and...
Jul 20, 2021•49 min•Ep. 27
I'm joined this week by one of my oldest and dearest friends, Terri Davis-Merchant. Terri works at the intersection of affordable housing development, homelessness, policy & philanthropy as a Program Officer at Trinity Church Wall Street Philanthropies. This is one of the most open and frank conversations I’ve had, and about a topic that is so often opaque: Philanthropy and the inner workings of foundations. Terri brings to her role as a grantmaker, both a unique depth of content expertise a...
Jul 13, 2021•55 min•Season 1Ep. 26
This week's guest, Rachel Mills, is the Founder and CEO of Harmony Consulting , and has been on a mission since she was 16-years-old to help others, help others - a personal and professional mission that just really resonates with me. For over a decade now, Rachel's been working with and creating award-winning campaigns for world-changing nonprofits such as Big Brothers Big Sisters and the United Way, helping them harmonize their fundraising and marketing strategies to create content that really...
Jul 06, 2021•42 min
This week, I'm sharing a recording from a really great panel discussion that I facilitated with four inspiring nonprofit leaders who each grew their organizations to $1M and beyond: Jill Eisenhard, founder and former ED of the Redhook Initiative Kemi Ilesanmi, ED of The Laundromat Project Steve Choi, former ED of the Min Kwon Center and the NY Immigration Coalition Suzy Myers-Jackson, former ED of Opening Act This conversation goes behind the scenes of what it actually looks and feels like to gr...
Jun 29, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Today I’m talking with Alexa Kasdan, Director of Policy and Research at Demos, here in NYC. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Alexa for almost two decades. We met in the early 2000s when she was working at an incredible organization called Community Voices Heard in NYC, and I joined the board as an Ally Member. It was through Alexa, and her policy work alongside the members of CVH, that I first came to understand what participatory research and policy worked looked like in practice. And I fell in...
Jun 22, 2021•44 min
Very rarely have I met someone as naturally gifted at resource generation as Suzy Myers-Jackson. I say resource generation, rather than fundraising, because what Suzy has spent the past 18 years doing - first as the ED of Opening Act, and more recently as a strategic consultant and coach, has been more expansive than just raising money. Did she grow her organization from $25K to a multi-million dollar organization? Yes, Did she perfect her Power of 10 campaign strategy to raise over $175K in 10 ...
Jun 15, 2021•46 min
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Toya and her organization, viBe Theater Experience, for over a year now. I’ve loved watching Toya in action, as she’s taken her organization to the next level. The tremendous increases in her budget, staff & programming over the past year have been so exciting to see, as has watching her continue to carefully cultivate an internal culture that centers wellness and trust. That’s what I wanted to talk with Toya about - the nuts and bolts of driving for pro...
Jun 08, 2021•44 min
This week I’m having a really fun conversation with my good friend, Steve Choi. Steve is a lawyer, activist, organizer, political strategist, and nonprofit leader. Most recently, he was the ED of the NY Immigration Coalition here in NYC. In the decades that Steve and I have been friends, I’ve come to understand him as a truly gifted advocate and political systems thinker & strategist. In this episode, we talk about how important it is for nonprofits - especially small and emerging organizati...
Jun 01, 2021•41 min
This is week two in my series on fundraising for early-stage organizations. During this brief series, I’m bringing back some of my favorite conversations from my Fundraising Virtual Summit last year - these are interviews with incredible folks on topics ranging from how to think about building relationships with corporations to brandraising. As I’ve mentioned, when I started the podcast and called it the Mastermind, I had in mind the amazing group of women that I met with as my own mastermind fo...
May 25, 2021•23 min
In today’s episode, I have a great conversation Sarah Durham, the CEO and founder of Big Duck. She founded Big Duck in 1994 to help nonprofits increase their visibility, raise money, and communicate more effectively. She is also the CEO of Advomatic , which builds and supports websites for nonprofits. Sarah and I do a deep dive into branding - what it means and the nuts and bolts of how small and early stage nonprofits can get on the radar of donors and funders, and how they can find and use the...
May 11, 2021•31 min
