Q&A with our Executive Director

A QUESTION FROM VIOLETA BERMUDEZ, CHIEF STORYTELLER, PROGRESSIVE MULTIPLIER

“AS YOU STEP INTO THIS ROLE, WHAT DOES YOUR DREAM TEAM LOOK LIKE? WHAT’S YOUR VISION FOR LEADING AN AUTHENTIC TEAM THAT SHOWS UP EVERY DAY TO LIFT UP GRANTEE VOICES AND HELP THEM SCALE?”

There are many scholars and human resource experts I could reference here abut what makes a high functioning team. But I’m an unabashed Shonda Rhimes fan. Any self-described chubby geeky introverted child who grows up to build an empire that ensures someone sees people who looks like them and loves like them in mainstream media that lifts up stories so everyone can recognize themselves in people who don’t look like or love like them? YES!

In her book, Year of Yes, Shonda said, “I am smart, I am talented, I take advantage of the opportunities that come my way and I work really, really hard. Don’t call me lucky. Call me a badass”

My dream team is made up of badasses who want to build progressive power so that injustice can be realized for all people.

Everyone on my dream team shows up human, every day. They have blunt conversations with our partners about the white supremacist legacy of ‘donor delight’. They try to answer with our grantee partners how one can be an anti-capitalist fundraiser. They acknowledge that we’re a three-year-old organization working imperfectly through our equity statement and how to be real and not performative when it comes to JEDI. They fail forward – as teammates, as storytellers, as grant makers and grant seekers. They bring drive, collaboration, and a “figure it out-ness” to the work at hand, every day. They honor the amazing opportunity we have to be part of a sea change in philanthropy and to grow progressive power.

This dream is being fulfilled. We have a couple of new badasses joining us to focus ono building partnerships across the movement and scaling our programs for groups. We’ll be introducing them in just a few weeks, stay tuned to meet them