My Journey: From Hikes to High Impact

A Journey Through Passions and Purpose

I am a proud dad of three wonderful children: two newborn twins and an amazing four-year-old. My idea of a perfect day involves a 14-mile hike where there’s no cell reception and not a single soul in sight. It’s my way of recharging and connecting with nature.

When I’m not hiking, I’m indulging in my love for music. I have a quirky ritual of buying concert tickets well in advance, then diving into forums and Reddit threads to predict the setlists. I meticulously create playlists and memorize every song so I can sing along to every word once I’m there. It’s like a delightful test for grown-ups! I’m always up for a chat about your top 3 songs on Cowboy Carter, how Janelle Monáe is a visionary artist, or the time Sigur Rós toured with a 42-piece orchestra.

My Professional Path

My journey into social justice began with a profound connection to music, which served as my initial bridge into the realm of social advocacy. During my college years, I majored in African and African Diaspora Studies, gaining a comprehensive understanding of the historical and systemic challenges faced by marginalized communities. This fueled my passion for social justice.

The pivotal moment in my career came when I joined AmeriCorps after graduation. Working with Community Tampa Bay, a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating discrimination by empowering youth leaders, was transformative. I quickly realized that facilitation was not just a skill but a powerful tool for driving change. I decided to direct my professional passion toward using this tool to foster dialogue and experiential learning.

Facilitation allowed me to apply the theoretical knowledge I had gained in college to real-world scenarios, helping to create spaces for meaningful conversations and transformative experiences. Since then, I have gained over a decade in nonprofit leadership, progressing from roles such as AmeriCorps VISTA to program director, communications and development director, and associate executive director. I have extensive experience in advocacy and building coalitions with stakeholders, including DCFS, school officials, political leaders, and nonprofit partners. This experience cemented my commitment to fostering a culture of innovation and inclusivity.

In 2018, I founded a digital marketing agency, leading a diverse team and serving numerous mission-driven clients. My focus was on guiding organizations through scaling initiatives. This role honed my skills in strategic thinking, visionary leadership, and leading by example.

The Intersection of Marketing and Social Impact

As a digital marketing expert with experience spanning both for-profit and nonprofit sectors, I offer a distinctive approach to driving growth while advancing social impact. My perspective on marketing extends beyond mere promotion; I view it as a vehicle for amplifying the missions of purpose-driven businesses, facilitating empowerment, and catalyzing transformation.

I am passionate about marketing and believe it is at the heart of how powerful and important work and ideas spread. Throughout my career, I have honed my skills in crafting compelling narratives that resonate across digital platforms. Effective copywriting is not just about words; it’s about building authentic connections that motivate immediate engagement, whether through donations or activism.

Bringing It All Together

However, I discovered that professional accomplishments alone did not equate to fulfillment. I decided to wind down my agency to devote more time to my family and answer a deeper calling to return to the nonprofit sector. I aim to apply lessons from my entrepreneurial experiences—high performance, successful scaling, and the entrepreneurial mindset—to help mission-driven organizations maximize their impact.

I truly come alive when I dive into deep strategy. I love the nitty-gritty of data, research, and analysis, and deciphering patterns and naming what the data means. I appreciate the creativity and abstract thinking required to be strategic, to think years ahead, and to create scenarios, projections, and models with contingencies for anticipated obstacles. I want to work with people who are deeply passionate about their work and are experts in their fields. Many of these experts may not have had the opportunity to articulate their genius in a way that is replicable and trainable. I enjoy helping them identify and name these unique qualities, making them sustainable and an integral part of the team’s culture.

What I really love doing is working with leaders and organizations to develop scalable systems for expansion and capture the intangible factors driving organizational success. This includes identifying unique qualities that enhance performance, from effective management practices to cultural values. I enjoy transforming these insights into practical frameworks, enabling organizations to institutionalize best practices, enhance self-awareness, and unify around their identity and goals.

I especially love when the leaders I empower get to shine, turning my ideas into their own and advancing as leaders along with the organization. This is the work I am passionate about doing.

Central to my approach is developing scalable systems for expansion and capturing the intangible factors driving organizational success. This includes identifying unique qualities that enhance performance, from effective management practices to cultural values. By transforming these insights into practical frameworks, I enable organizations to institutionalize best practices, enhance self-awareness, and unify around their identity and goals.

I have extensive experience in strategic planning, cross-functional collaboration, and evaluation and learning. I have led thorough analyses of organizational objectives, developing integrated planning, evaluation, learning, and adaptation cycles. Additionally, I have implemented best practices to ensure strategic plans, goals, and OKRs are coherent, shared with the right stakeholders, and meet necessary timelines.

Scaling isn’t just about growth; it’s about nurturing organizational uniqueness and alignment with purpose. In a world where expansion often sacrifices depth, I create playbooks that drive growth while nurturing organizational spirit. My expertise transforms intangible drivers into tangible assets, enabling precise, purposeful, and resilient scaling.

Conclusion

So there you have it—my journey as both a music-loving hiker and a dedicated nonprofit leader and marketing strategist. Whether I’m belting out every word at a concert, diving deep into data, or helping organizations find their unique path to success, I’m all about passion, purpose, and making meaningful connections.

Let’s connect and see how we can make an impact together!