PLAYLIST: The making of me
The experiences that made me the changemaker I am today
Behind every framework and research landmark is a lived story — unlikely, synchronicities, and undeniable at once. This is mine.
This playlist gathers my most personal reflections — the experiences, missteps, and hard-won lessons that shaped me as a changemaker. If you’ve wondered what it takes to forge a profession changemaker — or wonder why I do what I do — start here.
Why we must professionalize changemaking
Transformation initiatives remain at an abysmal 70% failure rate despite being essential.
What makes a home? The truth about a life-long reconning
This dispatch comes from a place I called home for many years. Having raised our kids here, we’ve returned far less than we would have liked.
Making space – and coming clean with you
I live both with a hyperactive mind and an extremely well-honed self-discipline. While I have accepted that these are assets to the world, they are very much a double-edged sword to me. Based on what I have heard from countless changemakers around the world, you may relate to my experience. So, I am ready to come clean.
Care to Dance?
I have danced since birth. Yet, last month, I danced for the first time in nearly four years. And for the first time in a long time, I remembered what it meant to feel fully alive.
PLAYLIST: on darkness/depression
Depression is as familiar to me as rain. Heartbreak coloring it is, however, new and unsettling. In my commitment to support all changemakers in their vital work and to compel focused research into changemaking, I have chosen to share my experience with these heavier feelings to help make space for a greater range of human experience.
Beyond biology: unmasking the harmful stigma against stepparents
What Kamala Harris represents is saturated with significance. While much of it is being thoroughly dissected, there is one aspect of her identity that hasn’t garnered the attention I believe it deserves.
What’s the difference between bacon and eggs?
On November 2, 2024 I published Beyond biology: unmasking the harmful stigma against stepparents. In response to the heat Kamala Harris took for not being a bio-parent to her kids, I busted some of the stigma’s logical fallacies. The ensuing exchanges with many of you — godparents, unties and uncles, grandparents, foster parents — inspired me to share…
Political assassinations. Tanks in the streets. Fealty and fear. A Saturday morning in… wait… America!?
Having grown up in the imploding Soviet Union and moved countries eight times, I presently live in the US. “Unprecedented” describes most days in today’s America, but this morning has stunned me. Left me speechless. Which is exactly why I am trying to find some words for all who follow Changemakers’ Substack across 20+ countries.
When brown-nosing is a life skill and humiliation is the price of survival
This video post was triggered by the White House visit by President Zelensky of Ukraine last Friday. I reflect on today’s dynamics across geopolitics that have been snagging on memories of growing up in the imploding Soviet Union; memories that feel as foundational as bone marrow.
Is there something you'd like to better understand about my personal journey as a changemaker? I'm open to questions!