Lu·mi·nar·y (n)A person who inspires or influences others, especially one prominent in a particular sphere.The Luminary Collective (TLC) is a social impact consulting firm dedicated to improving people's lives. We are MBE-certified and headquartered in the vibrant city of Chicago. We partner with leaders and organizations to create lasting change through strategic planning, leadership development, community engagement, and crisis management.

As regional coach for the Bloomberg Philanthropies Youth Climate Action Fund, I support cities and young people in tackling local climate challenges through innovative solutions.

Conic Group is a leading strategy and innovation firm specializing in driving transformative change. With expertise in various industries, Conic helps organizations envision and implement strategic initiatives, fostering growth and sustainability. Their comprehensive approach combines cutting-edge insights, collaborative problem-solving, and a focus on social responsibility to deliver exceptional results for their clients.

As a Senior Cabinet member, I led the engagement strategy for Chicago Public Schools, one of the nation's largest school districts, serving more than 330,000 students across 600+ schools. During my tenure, I worked to make Chicago Public Schools the country's most inclusive district by elevating the experiences of our families, students, and partners. I designed and supported responsive policies that aimed to improve academic outcomes for our city's youth.My key leadership attributes included crisis response, executive communication, network cultivation, and partnerships, budget management, and staff leadership and development. Throughout my time as Chief Officer of Family and Community Engagement, I remained dedicated to fostering positive changes and driving progress in the education system for the benefit of our students and the entire community.-Designed and implemented the engagement and external affairs strategy for Chicago Public Schools, the nation's third largest school district, serving over 600 schools and over 330,000 students.- Oversaw an $11.7M annual budget across seven units that included seven directors and 26 managers.- Reorganized the department, resulting in improved outcomes for students and families. This was measured by a tenfold growth in participation across all district programs and a decrease in department vacancies of over 96%.- Expanded the district's network of partners, growing from 50 organizations to over 150 partners. These partners included philanthropy, universities, research institutions, parent networks, and organizations, and also involved the successful launch of a district-wide parent advisory council responsible for overseeing district policies.

Leadership Greater Chicago (LGC) is the region’s premier civic leadership development organization, delivering the knowledge and network to lead bold, transformative change.Since 1983, LGC has proudly developed more than 1,300 of the region's most promising leaders through the Signature Fellows Program. This intensive 10-month program provides the foundation for a lifelong commitment to civic engagement.

With nine partners, developed a business plan and operations strategy to launch Future Leaders of Chicago (floChicago) in the summer of 2015.

Reporting directly to the President and CEO – I built and designed the Illinois Network of Charter Schools’ (INCS) Chicago electoral strategy, policy positions, legislative briefs, coalition building, and consultancy practice.- Established a government affairs strategy that aligned INCS’ priorities to an organization-wide strategy integrating design-thinking, relationship management, and electoral strategies to solve complex policy problems- Led INCS’ debut Chicago electoral strategy including a field operation with over 120 field organizers, a mail strategy, and digital and television ads resulting in electoral wins in 13 of 15 Chicago City Council races - Developed an organizational process to manage elected official requests from INCS' membership including legislation, engagements, and fundraising, - Conceptualized and scaled INCS’ consultancy to support a high-performing charter operator with securing its second campus, the only approved charter school in a cohort of over 30 applicants

Promoted three times in three years, I built and managed a comprehensive inter-agency engagement plan and a suite of programs to help Noble identify and engage families, community leaders, elected leaders, and district leaders to deepen Noble’s relationships and service to the City of Chicago. I supported strategic growth initiatives, resulting in two approved expansion projects serving over 2,000 students, and led the development of Noble’s engagement team, resulting in four new hires and twenty campus-based representatives.- Spearheaded Noble’s charter growth in Chicago for four years resulting in one new school per year - Oversaw the hiring, management, development and budget for Noble’s Community Affairs department, growing the network’s engagement team from one to over twenty-four members over four years- Led quarterly workshops to improve parent and teacher knowledge of local, state and national advocacy issues

Awarded EP Agent of Change 2017