About Me (aka the email that got me booted from Mailchimp)
Hi!
Below is the text of an email that prompted Mailchimp’s automated system to suspend my account. The email that notified me seemed to insinuate that I was doing something untoward. You can read on and judge for yourself. Mainly I wanted to (re)introduce myself to those on my email list in a fun way.
The reality is, I could write five or six different bios for areas of my life that I have deep experience in. I share a bit on LinkedIn and my website, recently wrote two specific bios related to my work as an organizational consultant and as a labor and community organizer for different clients, could write another specific one related to the parent and caregiver support I offer (and there are probably others).
But bios do not an interesting email make, so this morning I sat down to write 13 7 … 9 things that give you some insight into who I am.
I ran/walked a marathon once in 2001—the LA marathon. After that I never wanted to run again, but here I am more than 20 years later training for a half marathon that’s happening next month.
I have a PhD and Master’s degree in sociology and Bachelor’s in psychology. I don’t necessarily encourage that much formal education but I also have no regrets. Now that I know more about the world and what I like to do, I think one of the publics (i.e., public policy, public health, public administration) would have been the way to go.
I became a parent six and a half years ago at the age of 37. I’ve always been passionate about the wellbeing of children, and now, as a parent, I understand how much support parents and caregivers need to show up for their kids in grounded and healthy ways. I combine child development, mindfulness, and leadership coaching into my approach of supporting parents and caregivers.
I view most aspects of life as connected to leadership and have found the concept of Self Leadership to be helpful in how I approach my life and the support I provide to clients.
I was born on a Friday the 13th and consider that lucky.
Over the years, I would often find myself in leadership positions even if it wasn’t my intention (cut to the time I attended a neighborhood association meeting, said I’d help them with their newsletter, and was immediately recruited to a vacancy on their executive board). These days I’m a lot more thoughtful about what positions I take on. Two of the most formative leadership roles I’ve had are serving as the president of my union while in graduate school (we represented over 12,000 workers across California when I was in leadership from 2008-2011) and more recently as the Executive Director of Long Beach Forward, a community-based organization focused on racial and economic justice through the lens of health equity, from 2014-2020.
I pride myself in being resourceful and love sharing resources with others as well as helping people tap into their own inner wisdom and resourcefulness.
I studied herbalism and use both plant and allopathic (i.e., “conventional”) medicine to support my health.
I consider my work to be at the intersections of social change and personal and organizational development. So, in addition to working with individuals, I love supporting teams. Lately I’ve been facilitating retreats (aka long meetings—we have fun though!) for nonprofit boards and organizational staff teams to help them reconnect in this phase of the pandemic and refocus on their priorities and work together.
Thanks for reading! Now it’s your turn. When my daughter was in preschool, she and her classmates would use the connection sign in sign language to let each other know when they related to one another or had something in common. I’d love to hear from you through this contact form about our connecting points and any thoughts or questions you have.
Sincerely,
Christine
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