When the school administration said there was no funding to take the one act play my kids wrote on tour, I wrote and was awarded my first grant. No is merely a suggestion.

When children and families lacked resources and supports, I helped schools and communities across the country build nonprofits to meet their needs. Through training, tools, and building partnerships, I was privileged to support local and statewide initiatives that continue to serve students 20 years later. Together there is no need that we can’t meet.

When I was told that students with special needs and challenging behaviors couldn’t actively participate in the city-wide afterschool or summer program, we built a team and expanded the resources so that thousands could be served every day. When students met and exceeded their social and academic goals, we took more than 5,000 to Six Flags for the day. Celebrate success even when no one believes it is possible.

When a consultant serving as the interim VP of Advancement, told me, the Grants Manager, that grants didn’t really matter, I and the team of brilliant staff, wrote grants for the largest private and federal awards in the college’s history. We believe in our own potential and skill to do what needs done.

When an international nonprofit needed grants and support for program design, I was able to collaborate with colleagues across three countries and successfully secured their largest grants and wrote a first-person app on human trafficking. As the chief storyteller, that same nonprofit asked me and my team to build their first communications department, where we expanded our reach and supported mission driven events for corporate and nonprofit leaders. Stories told ethically are powerful and invite greater participation and investment.

In a thirty-year career spanning education, social services, politics, and national/international nonprofits, I and so many other women, were told no, directed to stay in our lane, and were forced to implement ‘best practices’ from external consultants because we couldn’t trust ourselves to find the answers. Collaborating and connecting as humans first was often viewed as a weakness. Bravery to think bigger, go further, take calculated risks and ask new questions to solve old problems was frowned upon in favor of ‘business as usual’.

The rules have changed, and business may never be usual again, nor should it.

What impact can a collective of professional women with diverse lived experiences who are caring, creative, brave, and strategic make on some of the toughest challenges? What if we looked at things not according to the rules, but by the systems that support them? And what if we kept people at the center of all our work, caring first about each other?

Forward Together Strategies has a mission to rewrite the rules and change the playbook. We will turn no to yes, tell powerful stories as we believe that together we have the skills to meet the greatest needs of our time.

I’m glad you are here.

Until every child, family and community is healthy, strong and thriving, we have work to do.

Let’s move forward together.

Founder