Who I Am & What I Do
I'm a writer, consultant, researcher, and longtime organizer helping people stay human, stay strategic, and shape tomorrow under harmful systems. I also work with progressive writers building the skills and infrastructure for sustainable thought leadership.
I write Stay Human - Shape Tomorrow on Substack, where readers learn to build civic resilience. I also write Writing for Social Impact, where I help values-driven writers develop craft, use tools effectively, and build successful business practices.
I consult with university, nonprofit, and public sector leaders and organizations trying to stay principled and effective as the rules get rewritten around them. And I speak about extractive and harmful social systems, strategic response, and what it takes to endure.
Background
I hold an MSW and PhD, with 40+ years at the intersection of social entrepreneurship, community organizing, and scholarship about social systems and public policy. I've led large research projects that shaped national laws, advised nonprofit coalitions, built community programs, launched new community organizations, and supported progressive leaders navigating disruption. I created a body of published scholarship about disability policy that has been cited tens of thousands of times.
Before my current work, I spent two decades in autism research and policy—securing over $40 million in funding, publishing influential articles and reports, building research centers, and working to strengthen families and communities through systems change.
I've rebuilt after personal and financial collapse more than once. Those experiences taught me how to hold space for uncertainty, complexity, and transformation—whether in institutions or individual lives.