I have built my 25-year career based upon two core beliefs. First, authentic communication, centered on empathy and equity, creates strong and sustainable families, communities, and institutions. Second, given the space, tools, and skilled support most people hold within them the solutions to their challenges. As a native Baltimorean, my work has spanned mediation, community organizing, and leadership across organizations within the education, community health, and public sectors. My career in mediation began as a volunteer mediator at the Baltimore Community Mediation Center. During my grounding years in community mediation, I served in many roles at both the Baltimore City and Baltimore County mediation centers, including Board President, Executive Director, and Training Director, all while continuing to mediate a large variety of cases. In 2003, I founded Resolution Works, a firm that specialized in mediation, facilitation, and conflict resolution skills training, where we focused on collaboration, transparency, leadership, and effective action-based planning for institutions like Smithsonian Institution, Baltimore City Public Schools, and State of Maryland. Along the way, I helped build the Community Schools movement in Baltimore City, designing systems to facilitate bringing coordinated resources to school children. I led an award-winning community-based health initiative with Morgan State University’s School of Community Health and Policy and helped create Creative City Public Charter School. In 2018, I founded Signal Fire Consulting, which works with businesses. We engage with companies, government agencies, and other non-profit organizations to assess their current barriers to effective communication with internal and external audiences, define the root causes of those problems, and build sustainable solutions for the clear, authentic communication needed to propel growth. We developed the Authentic Engagement framework to help groups work through difficult conversations. As the world has experienced a pandemic, it became increasingly clear that the principles of authentic engagement, conflict resolution, deep listening, and problem-solving could be helpful for many to learn. I am excited to use my deep experience with conflict, collaborative problem-solving, and inclusive solution-building to benefit the most important group of all - the family.I am the married mom of one daughter and 2 dogs. I’m an avid reader, and when not working, I enjoy camping and going to the beach with my family