I am Diana (she/her), a mother, artist, facilitator, strategist, coach, organizer and organizational change consultant who works nationally and internationally in diverse contexts – including government, social services, Jewish communal organizations, legal and political advocacy, arts and culture, elementary / secondary / higher education, grass roots community groups, and faith communities – to cultivate racial equity, social justice, and belonging, and support individual and group transformation. I focus in particular on understanding and dismantling racism, antisemitism, and interconnected forms of oppression in mindsets, strategy, policy, and culture.
I am moved by a vision of an interconnected, healthy and just society, one that is free from the violence, dehumanization, inequity, and injustice experienced by people, animals, and our Earth. My goal is for the organizations and individuals I work with to develop an authentic and internalized practice of racial equity, social justice, and belonging that they can bring to all they do.
I follow a relational, strengths-based and ecosystemic approach to creating equity and belonging. My partners and I work with the interconnected systems, teams, and structures within an organization and its network of partners and community. This approach recognizes and draws from the inherent resourcefulness of all living organisms to design and apply strategies that simultaneously support those who are farthest from thriving and improve outcomes for everyone involved.
I integrate arts, culture, mindfulness, and embodiment throughout my work, calibrated to meet clients where they are at so they can stay open, curious, rooted in their values, in their creativity, and in the wisdom of their bodies. I believe that organizational culture – the often tacit expectations and patterns that guide all of our behaviors and choices – is the fertile soil in which practices, procedures, policies, and programs can grow and sustain their intended impacts. Tools that help us analyze issues, develop strategies, write policies, engage communities, and create processes and programs are only effective if the individuals and groups applying them have an understanding of what it means to move, together, in racially equitable, socially just, and mutually caring ways.
I build my clients’ capacities to embody the vulnerability, presence, self-interrogation, adaptability, resiliency practices, and commitment that transformation demands. I love supporting my clients as they develop practices and turn them into habits: listening to and centering those who are farthest from equity; naming, examining, and interrupting imbalances of power (social, hierarchal) as an act of collective care; trying imperfect responses; noticing with loving non-judgement what our bodies have to say to us and slowing our reactions so we have space for more choice and care; repairing when we have caused harm and there is a desire from those we have harmed to engage in that repair, and returning to our commitments; and lifting up what brings about collective health and wellbeing.
My personal practices and support for others come from a lifelong commitment to deepening my own embodiment of these values and actions, and of uncovering, interrupting, and healing from the ways that white supremacy, antisemitism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, classism, and all forms of oppression have shaped me. I bring these practices and awarenesses to work with my Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) consulting partners and our partnership multi-racial organizations and to my work with white leaders within multi-racial organizations and with historically and predominantly white organizations.
Despite our best intentions and even with lived experiences of harm related to our gender, ethnicity, sexuality, class, ability, religion, and other facets of our identity, so many of us in white bodies are often unaware of the ways that we have internalized and perpetuate the status quo of racism, other forms of oppression, and separation and disbelonging of many kinds within and through our relationships and organizations. We can choose to engage in a lived practice of reconnecting with our full humanity — our spirits, bodies, minds, hearts, and creativity — in all of its nuance and complexity. We can come to terms with white supremacy and the interlocking forms of oppression that shape our laws, our organizations, and each of us. When we do this, we open up the possibility for an internal transformation that ripples outward through our relationships, our organizations, and our communities.