# Organization development work and facilitation training My primary OD mentor has been my mother, Moe. She’s been working with teams and organizations since at least the ‘90s and is truly a world expert. I’m honored to have her mentorship. I completed a Master of Arts in Organization Development & Leadership from Fielding Graduate University in 2024. A few thinkers in our field are particularly inspiring to me: - Yabome Gilpin-Jackson, especially her work on [transformational learning](https://penguinrandomhousehighereducation.com/book/?isbn=9781626564046) and [trauma](https://sldconsulting.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ODReview_vol54_no1-Gilpin-Jackson.pdf) - Kurt Lewin, especially his work on conceptualizing the role of group process in creating healing in a broken world - Gervaise Bushe and Robert Marshak, who’s conceptualization of “[dialogic OD](https://gervasebushe.ca/practicing.pdf)” has brought our work into the 21st century I completed a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences from [Quest University](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quest_University) in 2018. I specialized in the question, “How are worlds built?”. My primary curiosity was about how the stories we tell--especially the ones we tell ourselves--dictate and shape our world. I was particularly influenced by tobias c. van veen, Shira Weidenbaum, I loved writing: - [[Reading Science Fiction - A Case Study in What It Means to be Human]] - [[Pan’s Labyrinth]] - [[What is Don Quixote? Sand on the Banks of the River Tagus]] # Grief tending ~~I work primarily in the lineage of Malidoma and Sobonfu Some. ~~ I used to say that 👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻, but I'm learning. While it is true that the grief work I do comes with a great honor and deep gratitude to the Dagara people of Burkina Faso and their lineage of grief ritual that was carried to the west by Sobonfu Somé and Malidoma Somé, it is not quite right to say that I work *in* that lineage. I continue to carry their work in my body and heart, as well as continue to feed their communities in Burkina Faso; I am also increasingly interesting in kindling grief traditions that are *mine*. What does that mean? It means me and collaborators walk the messy ground of learning from indigienous ways & teachers while we study and reclaim our (largely) European/Caucasian heritages while we also apprentice to the land and our own intuitions. This is messy and imperfect. Some of my grief mentors, who happen to websites, are: - [Ian Carrick](www.openhubsinging.com/ian-carrick), my brother - [Laurence Cole](https://www.laurencecole.com/) - [Mary Hart](https://www.harttoheartcoaching.com/blank-1) - [Therese Charvet](https://sacredgroves.com/about-sacred-groves/) - [Joshua Lowe](http://www.joshualowetherapy.com), founder of [Grief & Gratitude](https://www.griefandgratitude.net/) - [Siena Tenisci](https://sienatenisci.com), founder of [NW Grief Tending](https://northwestgrieftending.com/about/) - [Jordan Lyon](https://www.jordanlyon.com) There are others seen and unseen: - The desert home I grew up and live in no more - My dearly departed grandmother, Margaret, whose love for boysenberry syrup shows up in my dreams. I miss you daily, grandma. - The bird that died in my hands on my porch. I don't know why. - and on and on and on... I completed a year-long mentorship program co-led by Laurence, Mary, and Therese in early 2025.