Why Listen to Me
I didn’t set out to build a “program.” I built this because, after 17 years as a social impact consultant, I now have systems that help me deliver value to a wide range of organizations. The Accelerator is the distillation of what actually works. I have been driven to share what I have learned so there are more people like you who will make the world better.
I’ve helped:
- Scientists start institutions (see Debenham Social Impact to check out the Innovative Genomics Institute at UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics)
- Foundations like Packard, Moore, and Simons clarify strategy and funding decisions
- Nonprofits find clarity, alignment, and impact (look at Ocean Conservancy’s Trash Free Seas program)
And I’ve lived this path myself. I worked full-time as a social impact consultant while raising kids, navigating uncertainty, pricing my work, and building systems that let me focus on the fun and profitable parts of the work.
About Me
In 2008, the financial crisis eliminated my job. I was also thinking about starting a family. So, I made a decision—not just about work, but about how I wanted to live.
I didn‘t want to trade time with my children for business trips. I didn‘t want 60-hour weeks with someone else setting the agenda. And I needed to earn more, not less.
So, I became a social impact consultant. And it changed everything.
Since then, I have led strategic planning for a Nobel laureate working to make gene editing safe and equitable for all. I helped mobilize scientists, corporations, and politicians to act on plastic pollution. I worked with bestselling author Michael Pollan to launch the Center for the Science of Psychedelics at UC Berkeley.
Not because I had a perfect plan. Because I built a practice that let me choose the work that mattered most to me—and get paid well to do it.
Why I Created StrategicHope™
Nearly 20 years in, I still love this work. I work on projects I care about deeply. I earn income that genuinely provides for my family. And I am present for my own life in a way I never was before.
But when I started, I had no road map. I second-guessed my pricing. I made expensive mistakes. I spent months trying to figure out alone what I could have learned in weeks with the right guidance.
The people I most want to help are mission-driven professionals capable of doing extraordinary work. I want to help them develop clear systems for turning their passion into a sustainable consulting practice.
You don‘t have to figure this out alone. And you‘re probably closer than you think.
That‘s why I built StrategicHope™ and tools like the Skills Mission-Driven Clients Want, the Client Gap Assessment, the S-C-A-L-E Clients Flywheel™, and the Social Impact Practice Planner. My hope is to pay it forward as I share the tools I wish someone had handed me in my year one.