ROOT AND BLOOM

WORDS ARE MATTER. MAKE THEM MATTER.

There is no wholeness outside of our reciprocal humanity. —Bryan Stevenson

You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time. —Angela Davis

I help individuals and communities envision and co-create more spacious, dynamic, and equitable futures. As an educator, editor, researcher, and consultant at the nexus of economic, racial, and social justice, I strive to build social infrastructure and communities of care that lift people up instead of pinning them down or hemming them in.

I am dedicated to excavating and examining root causes to catalyze strategic interventions that promote more inclusive and accessible communities and equitable, just, and accountable resourcing. Accordingly, I work across systems and beyond siloes to forge intersectional awareness and solidarity.

Through my professional practice and numerous service roles, I seek to amplify underrepresented voices in print and in public and move underserved communities to the centers of social and political concern. My interwoven yet disparate strands of work are driven by the causes and people I care about—from the books I edit, to the students I teach, to the people I reach, to the issues I raise, to the projects I lead.

Our words sculpt selves, build movements, change minds, transform lives, and sustain communities. I want my words to matter, and I want to help others make theirs matter, too. My practice focuses on creative, authentic, and actionable communication for personal growth and social change. I help issues reach audience, ideas gain traction, stories discover shape, and people find voice, meaning, and connection. I center joy, creation, and liberation in the exploration of self and world.

For over 25 years, I’ve served in various roles and environments to empower individuals and connect communities through storytelling, direct action, historical inquiry, mutual aid, and creative exploration. All of my work strives to cultivate openness and inspired expression, catalyze social change and racial equity, and center service to others ~ in the classroom, on the page, and in my community. While the strands of my work are diverse and diffuse, my approach is singular, guided by Connection, Collaboration, Creativity, Community, and Care.

Through a strengths-based approach, I help amplify the animating visions and values of my clients and students. The quality of my work is distinguished by the ethic of care and integrity that I bring to every project, cause, client, and student. Whether I am teaching a class on liberation movements; facilitating an abolitionist study group; leading a media literacy seminar; editing an anthology, article, or monograph; creating curriculum or campaign materials; or working in individual or collective settings, I seek to listen, connect, and reflect. That may mean promoting rigorous self-inquiry for more authentic social connection, or helping organizations with base-building and cross-sector partnerships to amplify and interlink core initiatives and shared efforts. My work takes many forms, but all are inspired by my values-based approach to professional practice and personal commitment.

Intersectional issues demand multifocal lenses and multivocal responses. This has seeded the range of my professional practice, blossoming across education, communications, direct service, consulting, development, mentorship, and creative arts facilitation. My talent for interdisciplinary and systems-level thinking continues to inspire my livelihood and animate my professional trajectory. Clients, students, and families seek me out for complex projects that call for a unique, holistic lens and multi-faceted approach. To enable access, ensure opportunity, and achieve equity, I serve in numerous voluntary roles and perform abundant pro bono work for individual clients and organizational entities.

Root and Bloom is the professional expression of my quest to continually ask questions, share ideas, and expand the boundaries of my personal orientation and our collective understanding and commitments. You can learn more about my background, approach, and aspirations in my “Biography.”

A sampling of recent projects registers the breadth of my work, professional expertise, and genre range. Topics and projects include: Indigenous Librarianship and Indigenous-led cultural stewardship; racial equity toolkits; higher education partnerships to support first generation students; representations of Indigenous characters and history in U.S. children’s literature; guaranteed income for economic and racial justice; trauma-informed mental health care and its impact on undocumented immigrants; Just Transition frameworks; a social benefit platform to enhance immigrants’ economic and social inclusion; conflict mineral trade in Central Africa; homelessness and public libraries; reference services to prisons and arts mentoring to formerly and currently incarcerated individuals; the impact of Black Lives Matter in the corporate sector; 1990s Caribbean artists; artist, author, and activist memoirs; national and local civil rights histories; policymaking with an equity lens; spiritual journeys and personal transformation; sites and histories of Black economic empowerment; environmental regulations and corporate climate commitments; and place-based campaigns to redress racial and economic harms.

I take very seriously my name’s derivation from the root “to heal.” And I regard as doubly significant that the person I am named for, my father’s father, was himself a physician, known for making house calls long after office hours ended. While critical distance and illumination is a “precondition” for my work, these attributes mean nothing if I cannot apply analysis toward prescription. When I move through a manuscript or work with a client or student, my eye is trained toward respectful remedy. We collaborate to “get at the roots,” lift up the vital essence, and attend to areas of dis-ease or disharmony. We move together toward healing and wholeness.

My work is rooted in a reparative framework that centers intention, attention, accountability, and transformation:

Policy consulting – identifying root causes and investing in transformative solutions
Writing, editing, and coaching – unearthing core intentions, underlying stories, and authentic voice
Teaching – excavating origin stories and institutionalized histories to uncover hidden truths and build new worlds

I stood at the border, stood at the edge and claimed it as central. I claimed it as central and let the rest of the world move over to where I was. —Toni Morrison

Compassion is a verb. —Thich Nhat Hanh

Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. —Martin Luther King, Jr.