my work

My work is that of a nepantlera (per Gloria Anzaldúa). It is intersectional (per Kimberlé Crenshaw) and emergent (per adrienne maree brown). It is grounded in restoring our inherent interconnectedness – between people and with the natural world – through the work of decolonization (per Tuck & Yang) and reparations.

For networks to be transformative – bringing about new systems and structures – we must also implicate ourselves and our relationships in this transformation. This means rooting out our internalized patterns relating to white supremacy culture, settler colonial mindsets, capitalist models of work, and cis-hetero-patriarchy. We do this individually and in groups as we dedicate our work to radically imaginative social justice work (per adrienne maree brown and Walidah Imarisha).

My work has two main components:

  • to understand and support self-organizing (per June Holley) in these networks, and
  • to move resources to the emerging next economies through decolonization and reparations.

Transformative Networks

Supporting Self-organizing in Transformative Movement Networks

Bringing together co-design methodology, network mapping, network communications strategy and technology, I’m working with several networks to understand how self-organizing happens and how to make it happen more intentionally. Self-organizing requires the decentralization of resources and power within a network to facilitate emergence.   It requires that we confront dominant narratives about leadership. It also requires that we move beyond our comfort zones and reach out to our learning edges.

In this work I bridge open-source technologies, deep listening, network strategy, and cross-cultural communications. Mixing all of that together, I’ve been working on a prototype of a platform to support self-organizing called Rhizome.

Next Economies

Supporting the Inner and Outer Work of Decolonization and Reparations

Bringing together a coaching mindset, organizing experience with wealthy people in the U.S., and a deep desire for us to see economies not limited by capitalism, I write and organize trainings on connecting personal and political work. I’ve worked as an chapter leader, organizer, and co-designer (respectively) in Resource Generation, Regenerative Finance, and Thousand Currents‘ Buen Vivir Fund. I am also a certified transformation coach.

Some writings include:

Workshops include:

  • Centering Love and Finance at NEC’s CommonBound gathering (co-facilated with Kate Poole of Chordata Capital and Aaron Tanaka of Center for Economic Democracy)
  • 4 month Decolonization praxis group with Regenerative Finance (co-facilitated with Lane Fury)
  • Consultation with Radical Imagination Family Foundation on investing in next economies (with Kate Poole)
  • Regenerative Investing at Resource Generation’s MMMC (co-faciliated with Gopal Dayaneni of Movement Generation and Andrew Meeker)

Offerings

Every project is different. What’s written below are a few suggestions for what I could bring to a new collaboration. The categories are one way to understand my way of relating to a network: as a coach for network facilitators, as a behind-the-scenes data collector and interpreter, and/or as a part of a team of network facilitators. I’m comfortable in roles that span the introvert-extrovert spectrum from facilitating interactive trainings to diving into spreadsheets and always enjoy a mix.

Transformative Network Coaching

Guiding Principle: Demystify the natural ways we want to connect while interrogating and undoing dominant culture’s practices of individualism, competition and centralization of resources.

  • organizational culture shift toward network mindsets and ways of working
  • support on setting strategy that includes self-organization, DEIJ, decentralization
  • training on basics: network weaving, structures (for example), mapping

Transformative Network Data/Viz

Guiding Principle: Network data should inform participant actions and relationships, rather than being based on extractive practices.

  • data, mapping, and visualization
  • implementing strategies for data collection that connect data to
  • live network mapping (kumu or hosted d3)

Transformative Network Teamwork

Guiding Principle: Find my unique gifts to offer to a team of network facilitators.

  • participate in team-based work, my focus in the past has been on setting up network scaffolding and structures; communications strategy; data collection, analysis, and visualization

Work History / CV

Here’s my visual CV. Click the button below to download the PDF.

AriSahagunCV2024Download CV