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Creating A Crosswalk For Collaboration
This week I was on a Skype call with a colleague who lives oversees and we were discussing the challenges of building an effective international work team. Knee-deep into our chat, I stated "it's almost like we have to build a crosswalk, and develop a safe space for...
Photos from the Front Seat
Some people meditate or practice yoga to find balance, others like to go for long walks. Me? The most effective way for me to restore and renew is to hop in my car, pump a full tank of gas and bring along my Nikon DSLR camera with some lenses. Then, I just drive....
Power Family
I am pretty certain that my lineage does not include links to royalty or political power. I do not believe any of my ancestors have run for, been born into or held any type of political office. We are the opposite of the Kennedys, the Bushes, the Carters, and the...
A Sabbatical for Old Glory
Old Glory will not be flying in front of my home this weekend, but not for the reasons you might think. Typically, my family likes to show our patriotism and when we moved to our new home a few years ago, high on the to-do list was installing a new flag pole mount on...
TanPoPo No Ye…The Traveling Dandelion Seed of Goodness
A few years ago I had the good fortune to work with some amazing folks in Japan. We took a train from the hustle & bustle of Tokyo to a very quaint little city nestled in the mountains. When we arrived two hours later in Nara, Japan, the sun was just beginning to...
Ego Out!
At a meeting with a colleague the other day, I was asked an insightful question, "How did you manage the strong personalities that surely emerged during board meetings at your agency, especially when you were planning to resign?" My colleague was referring to the time...
If Only…
I like healthy competitions as much as the next person. Of course these days, competition takes on the form of an RFP (Request for Proposal) or a vote driven-crowd funding campaign to support programming for one of my non-profit clients. But back in the day, I was a...
Why We March
This past Sunday, my daughter and I donned our thermal underwear, our pussy hats, (thanks Christy Hallas) and our warmest sweaters and headed downtown to the 2nd Annual Women's March. We weren't trekking to a big city like Manhattan or Washington D.C., we like to...
Unintentional Bridge Burning
Are you burning bridges without even knowing it? Are you confused sometimes when you get a less than enthusiastic reply from a donor, grant funder, supervisor, colleague, direct report or a vendor? Have projects that you thought were on course, suddenly explode,...
Mompreneur and Mindfulness
Last weekend at the end of a two day video shoot, my tired tween spoke up and said, “I want my mom! I don’t want the producer, editor, or entrepreneur… I WANT MY MOM!” There was no need for clarification about what she was articulating. She had been patient,...
Third World, My World?
In a recent meeting with a board member of an international non-profit, I was asked a question that stopped me in my tracks. “Grace, have you ever lived in a third world country?” My initial response was defensive, and mumbly, and I was immediately ashamed as I...
Until it Happens to You…
Two experiences from yesterday are the impetus for this blog post, demonstrating that we have further work to do as a society to create places for respectable discourse and the exchange of opinions and ideas, and to eradicate sexism in all of our workplaces. In a...
Once a Sweeper, Always a Sweeper
Aaron Burr Jr. had some free advice for Alexander Hamilton in the now all-too-famous musical “Hamilton” created by Lin-Manuel Miranda. In Scene One, Burr states immediately upon meeting Hamilton, “Talk less, smile more,” encouraging Alexander to become more of an...
Flexible Response and a Plan of Action
Disaster Recovery = Flexible Response + A Plan Of Action Pinellas County, Florida This month working with The Humane Society of Pinellas (HSP) we demonstrated that a big part of creating the smoothest and quickest path to recovery from the damage endured by Hurricane...
Manifesting the Turbulence Surrounding Us
Spinning, spinning! Many of us have been dealing with an increasingly turbulent atmosphere that has presented as violent hurricanes, the announcement of the ending of the DACA program, a healthcare system in dangerous limbo, and public demonstrations of racist,...