In 2008, as the Director of Strategic Initiatives for Social Solutions Global, I began asking how some nonprofit organizations were able to achieve meaningful, sustainable, measurable change (while most did not). This question led to the making of the PBS documentary film Saving Philanthropy (2011).
During this time, I was deeply immersed in the Masters of Fine Arts Program for Self-Producing Theatre Artists at Towson University. I defended my thesis “Using Devised Theatre to Improve Self-Efficacy” a few weeks before the premiere of Saving Philantropy.
In 2014 I created and co-directed the long-running improvisational performance series Mothering Apollo while my youngest child was in the NICU. This devised theatre series became a vital way of coping, educating family and friends, and gathering love for my family.
In 2016, after realizing that I had failed to appreciate the significance of organizational culture in achieving measurable social change, I became fascinated by the interconnected roles that organizational leadership, culture, and learning play in continuous improvement and achieving measurable outcomes. This exploration became the film Failing Forward (2019).
I gave several keynote presentations about failing forward in 2019:
bbcon Annual International Conference, Nashville
Grant Professional Association Annual Funder’s Forum, Austin
University of Wisconsin Nonprofit Leadership Institute, Madison
In 2024 I have returned home to theatre
Throughout 2024 I am devising and directing Feel The Peach, a monthly series of workshop performances. This series is an open and interactive exploration of long-form embodied storytelling and stand-up comedy. Autobiographical accounts of coming of age as a woman in the 1990s United States, Mexico, and Central America form the backbone of the series. These are the stories of learning to listen to, befriend, and own my body.