My mother has always told me, “It’s not just what you do, but who you work with (and for) that’s important.” She’s right. I’ve learned that I’m at my best when I’m able to do work I find meaningful and useful while working with people I respect and trust.
Read MoreI grew up curious about the multiple narratives that informed and gave life to my identity. The result was a professional pursuit to make sense of how mine and others lives are informed, shaped, and changed by the larger narratives and our responses to them that allow us to live meaningful and worthwhile lives.
Read MoreI decided to make TerraLuna my professional home because of its core value of social justice and equity, and the members of the cooperative. Our commitment to social justice and equity shapes the work we do and don’t do, the organizations we partner with, and our approach to the work. Being part of a values-forward cooperative was and continues to be of great importance to me.
Read MoreI have always described my ideal career as a professional student. As a graduate student at Michigan I learned to blend the complexity of the real world with methodology and structure. I learned that both rigor and heart resulted in the best kind of outcome - change.
Read MoreLike many good things in life, chance and serendipity were what initially brought me into TerraLuna Collaborative. In 2012, I was bike commuting home from the University of Minnesota. I had just started a PhD program in evaluation studies and I was eager to get home to make dinner for my spouse and walk my dog.
Read MoreI had been a journalist for fifteen years. I love the work, but was interested in taking my toolbox to a different kind of job -- to acquire new tools and to see how compatible my skills might be in a different context. I was also looking to do meaning-making in new ways.
Read MoreOver the past decade, I've been incredibly fortunate to work with several community-based organizations and foundations narrowly focused on addressing socio-economic disparities in the communities in which I've lived. I became enmeshed in the unique challenges facing these institutions.
Read MoreI was lucky to meet incredible people through a graduate school internship in evaluation. As I was graduating and beginning a position in early childhood education research, one of the internship colleagues reached out to me about starting an evaluation firm. It felt so outside of my comfort zone that I entered into those conversations very tentatively but am happy that I did.
Read MoreWhen I joined TerraLuna, the opportunity gave me the chance to serve educators doing meaningful work in K-12 classrooms in different regions of the United States. I had just completed a challenging turn as an internal evaluator at a large corporation making products for K-12 educators and students.
Read More
