“Sending love…and a private message.”

This was a comment, buried among many others, when I posted about my shift to consulting. Lauren, author of the comment, soon followed up with an invitation to speak about the need for some interim fundraising support during a colleague’s parental leave. 

That was my first engagement with the Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project (YSRP). I’m now nearing the end of my third in the last eighteen months. Working with YSRP has been one of the more positive professional experiences of my life. The opportunity arrived right on time, and it provided me the chance to rebuild my confidence amongst a community that trusted both my knowledge and my instincts.

While I’m proud of the many fundraising successes we’ve had during my time as a member of the team, I’ve also thankful for the opportunity to grow my skills through a number of other projects:

1. I got to build communications chops, specifically by telling the story of Bianca van Heydoorn, YSRP’s new executive director. Lauren and Joanna, YSRP’s co-founders, bravely stepped aside to make room for more proximate leadership. The organization found a rockstar, and I was proud to work with her to share her story.
   

2. Additionally, I had the opportunity to do some professional coaching, working with members of the senior leadership team to manage multiple complexities, including leadership transitions during a period of significant growth.
   

3. Recently, I also facilitated some strategic human resources planning. With many needs and a budget for one immediate hire, I worked with the team to articulate job responsibilities across the organization, identify gaps, cluster those gaps into potential new positions, and generate scenarios to encourage strategic discussions. These discussions will ultimately lead to increased organizational capacity by creating a position that meets YSRP’s most urgent needs.

In addition to the new position articulated above, YSRP is currently seeking a new Director of Development & Communications to replace an exceptional leader who chose to move on. I am jealous of whoever gets to join this incredible team. YSRP contains a rare combination of passion, integrity, and intelligence. It’s a place of focused on exceptional impact and intellectual growth. 

Anyone would be lucky to be part of such an incredible team.