As Vice President of Grantmaking for the Bush Foundation, I thrive on supporting transformative ideas creating innovative development strategies for experienced and emerging leaders with a focus on enhancing justice and equity. At the Bush Foundation we are committed to supporting great ideas and the people who power them, ensuring leaders across the region have the skills and connections to lead in ways that are equitable, innovative and sustainable. For our region to thrive, we need leaders who understand their own stories and history, the context from which they operate, and how that is different or similar to others. Recognized as a visionary leader by my colleagues, I am driven to help people envision what’s possible and ask, “What if?” for themselves, their institutions and the systems that guide our lives and to help that “what if?” become “what is.” I believe in the power of people working together.Before joining the Foundation, I served a Vice President for Racial Justice and Public Policy at the YWCA of Minneapolis, where I helped develop a wide range of leadership and inclusion opportunities, including the annual "It's Time To Talk" event that brings hundreds of leaders together to talk about racial equity issues resulted in individual, organizational and systemic change that advanced racial equity in Minnesota.I have a deep love for people and I know that each of us has the power to create change. I think equity and the ability to create organizations and systems where all people can thrive is achieved through human connection and systems change. Passionate about justice for all, I serve on the boards of Voices for Racial Justice, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations. I have served as Committee Chair and held Executive Board positions at the Minnesota Humanities Center, WATCH Charities Review Council and the Minnesota Women’s Consortium (WoMN ACT). I also invest my time mentoring young women, particularly women of color, and coaching leaders from different organizations. I am humbled to be selected as 40 Under 40 by the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal. In 2011, I received the Hubert H. Humphrey Public Leadership Award from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.I am fortunate to have strong parents who have modeled the idea that we don’t need to be bound by the boxes. Committed to our community, we didn’t have a library in our hometown so my parents, my mom a nurse, dad a dentist and both small-business owners, decided to start one. I got to have library card No. 1!