Meet Natalie!
Natalie is a skilled organizer, campaigner, facilitator, manager, development specialist, and coordinator. She has founded two organizations, Care About Climate a youth led training and advocacy organization to engage in international climate fora, and A Wisdom Keepers Delegation, which is a group of Indigenous Wisdom Keepers from around the world that advocates for ancient wisdom as a solution to the climate crisis and other environmental challenges. She has also worked deeply with networks, organizing campaigns, and served on boards of large organizations such as Sierra Club.
In 2021, Natalie began consulting in addition to working other jobs. Her clients have included, the Lower Mekong Network, the US Youth Climate Policy Council, the Southeast Climate and Energy Network, People’s Justice Council, and the US Climate Action Network. She has managed networks, implemented programs, developed documents, run campaigns, acted as a liaison between civil society and, created strategic plans, provided organizing trainings, implemented equity trainings, and created monitoring and evaluation plans. She has over 15 years of experience in nonprofit management, networks, international development, and policy, Natalie is well versed in tackling problems with clients, and can work closely with clients to develop specialized solutions and implementation strategies with them for their needs. Some clients, such as A Wisdom Keepers Delegation have asked her to step into officer roles to really get the organization up and running.
Natalie is excited for new challenges and to work with teams that are ready to imagine the future, and how they will impact that future.
Core Philosophies
Natalie believes in horizontal structures and developing cultures where individuals feel ownership of their work and of the direction of the organization. In her experience, this philosophy creates the best outcomes and centers people’s humanity and voices in the work. This does not mean that positions like Executive Director or Program Director are eliminated. However, it does mean that someone who is not in those roles can offer ideas and provide feedback to influence decisions those director-level individuals have, and they should feel safe doing so. Feedback should be met with curiosity rather than defense. Stakeholder engagement is not an option, but a requirement in decision making processes. For those privileged enough to be in leadership positions in an organization, they are there with the intention of creating an environment where others can be successful in doing their work to contribute to the greater mission of the organization. It is about building the power of the collective rather than the individual.
Equity is central to this work, and is not an afterthought. Natalie works to build spaces that are inclusive and center those most impacted so that they can bring their whole selves and stories to the conversation to be honored and considered. She focuses on designing processes that put everyone on a level playing field so the game can be played fairly in the first place, which means taking into account certain inherent benefits some members of a community may be already getting due to their position, race, class, gender, etc.