I believe we can change the world, and that everything we need to make that change is within us already.
I started volunteering with nonprofits and mutual aid efforts as a child, and my interest in being part of supporting my community and changing the systems around us never stopped. Today, I have the privilege of serving as NTEN’s CEO, supporting our work and a diverse community of folks putting technology to work for social impact across the US and beyond.
The technology sector and the nonprofit sector are both rife with inequities, white supremacy culture, and the perpetuation of racism. And, we can change it. But doing so will take intentional collective work. I am personally committed to the lifelong every day work towards collective liberation.
I love connecting with and learning with other folks working at the intersections of racial equity, technology, and social impact. I am white, queer, and nonbinary, with chronic illness and disability; I prioritize requests for my time in resource sharing to and supporting of BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, and other leaders who experience oppression in this work. If I have a contact or resource that can benefit your work, let me know!
I regularly speak and travel to communities around the world but call Portland, OR my home. When I swim in our waters and plant native species here, I am entering a story that began long before me. These lands and rivers are the ancestral home of the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla peoples, the Clackamas, the Stl’pulmsh (Cowlitz), and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and Siletz Indians—who have cared for these places for millennia. If you live here, or travel through, remember you are a guest on their enduring homelands and waters. I strive to listen to their teachings—to plant what belongs here, to clean what has been harmed, and to share what I learn with others. I invite you to join me in this commitment: not just to visit this place, but to care for it as part of a living relationship—one that honors the people who have been its protectors for generations.