Helping you do the thing
Your thing is big. I help you carve your path, lay the grooves for your footsteps, encourage you when it’s time to leap ahead.
Content development
I have more than a decade of experience in journalism and marketing. We can work together to hone your message and build the right support structure to develop and share your work. This spans the granular (editing, workshopping) to the grand (content planning, designing content systems).
Customized tools + systems
This is really about solving problems in a quick and flexible way. A spreadsheet engineer at heart, I build Google Sheets to solve big and little problems—from customized budget tracking to deep dive analyses to bespoke tools to manage various parts of your work. And I can help you identify and implement systems that will help you do your thing.
Personal + financial brainstorming
These are my informal services. The things I bring to the table from a lifetime of this is just how I am. Don’t think certified coach or CPA. Think thoughtful listener, discerning cheerleader, that friend who has a very complicated spreadsheet to track her finances.
How I work
Less the way I conduct business, more what makes me tick. Following is a brief look into the themes I've noticed for how I operate, and what it might feel like for us to work together.
People-focused problem-solver
At some point in my career, problem-solving became a big duh part of my work. I knew I loved it. I knew I couldn't help it. What I've learned over time is that where I derive the most contentment is from working directly with the people whose problem needs solving. I want to dig in with them, see where they've already (almost invariably) started creating a solution themselves, and coalesce the process that naturally emerges. There is innate intelligence in people systems—and the folks working to uncover them—and I am just absolutely in awe of it every time.
Supportive, like nurturing; but also like a steel beam
I've spent the better part of my adulthood learning what it means that I identify strongly with the support I provide others. It's a quality that can be mistaken as acquiescing or "soft" (which, in turn, is sometimes taken as passive). But support is its own, very intentional and complete aspect. I bring it by way of empathy, of course, but also by actively initiating and engaging in the work that builds enduring structures where they're needed.
Yes, I will bake you cookies. I will also teach you how to bake them.
Quiet. At first.
Let me set the stage. My mind is, essentially, continually managing a dense stream of ideas, questions, insights, epiphanies, analysis. But when I walk into a room (the room you are in; literally, figuratively), I go in with eyes and ears open. I want to take in the new information. There's always space for it in those racing thoughts. I may seem quiet as a mouse, but really I'm just taking time. Once we know each other, and once I better understand the landscape, I will dive deep with you. You will know what I think, and also that I hear you.
Analytical
I'm keen to understand the shape and why of the spaces I inhabit. There's intuition here, but also a deep desire to find patterns and underlying structures. If there's data, I want to surface the order in it; if there's no established data, I want to mine for it. I find the most alignment when I can use analysis as an agnostic narrative tool that inspires us to make effective change. On the other end of that spectrum, I bristle at metrics as a lash.
Contact
Get in touch. Let’s work together.