The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded a deep study to answer a burning question. They saw that an emerging class of job-preparation schemes in the U.S. called “dual-customer training programs” showed promise but had largely failed to scale. I was the lead author on a massive qual/quant research study / book-a-zine that endeavored to answer why. I ran the equity-centered community design program; conducted multi-round qualitative research interviews personally; did the writing itself (in partnership with a developmental + copy editor); and creative-directed the visual artifact (in partnership with an art director).lg...more

American Carbon Registry, a subsidiary of Winrock, was the first private voluntary greenhouse-gas registry in the world, issuing carbon offsets according to a rigorous standard and registering them. But what to do when your name is "carbon registry" but you want to get into the climate-finance space (which may not have anything to do with carbon)? It was time for a brand think, and they hired me for two consecutive scopes: (1) brand strategy scope including renaming, which I conducted solo, followed by: (2) verbal and visual brand identity scope, which I conducted with my favorite sub, visual designer Leah Koransky (the same art director whom I subbed on 'Toward Economic Justice' for Gates Foundation). ACR has not yet implemented the rebrand online but has indicated they still intend to. I'm thinking about doing it for them for free....lg...more

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis asked me to use language to help their deeply wounded organization heal and rebuild trust. Through a series of ‘ideology’ workshops, I crafted a ‘Cultural Constitution,’ which served as a touchstone in a department-wide retreat where norms were officially re-set. I orally presented and delivered beautifully printed and bound copies for the 75-person group, twice in one day.lg...more