I founded Hands to Hearts International from my kitchen table. For over a decade it burned inside me — some days like fire in my belly, other days like something I couldn't put down even when it was consuming me.
Just days after our first project launched in India, our partner was thrown in jail. The orphanage was shut down. By the time I landed back in the US, the children had been scattered across facilities and years of work looked like rubble.
I wallowed. Drink-cry-rage-repeat — I'm not proud of the weeks that followed, but I'm not ashamed of them either. Then a friend asked me the question I needed to hear: "So, what are you committed to?"
My answer came immediately. Not to the project. Not to the plan. To the children.
I told my team: follow the children. And then I got out of the way.
When I returned to India months later, my team had delivered HHI's training at every orphanage those kids had been scattered to. Two orphanage directors told us the same thing, independently: "No babies have died since HHI's training."
We didn't save the original plan. We saved the mission — by releasing the plan entirely.
That's the thing I bring into every engagement. Not a playbook. The ability to find the through-line when everything has come apart, ask the right question at the right moment, and build something that outlasts the chaos that created it.
THE FOUNDER
I started Hands to Hearts International from nothing in 2004. By 2014, we'd scaled to nine countries, reached 200,000+ people directly, and partnered with HealthPhone to extend our reach to another 1.2 million caregivers in India. I built everything from scratch: finance systems, HR infrastructure, fundraising strategy, M&E frameworks, board governance. I raised over $1 million, secured partnerships across three continents, and led a successful merger when the time was right.
THE OPERATOR
At Nike, I ran enterprise operations with an $18M budget, 208 staff across three sites, and 650+ children in care. I scaled capacity by 12%, reduced turnover by 11%, and was awarded Global Integrated Workplace Services Team Leader. I learned what world-class systems look like — and what they cost when you get them wrong.
At Save the Children, I led a $175M global portfolio across 30+ countries. I raised over $100M from bilateral aid, foundations, and corporate partners. I built cross-functional collaboration infrastructure across implementation, research, fundraising, and strategic initiatives. I operated in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East — navigating complexity, politics, and cultures most consultants have only read about.
THE COACH
Most operational consultants will tell you what to build. Fewer can sit with you in the moment before you know what to build — when the pressure is high, the options feel bad, and the decision is as much about who you are as what you know.
I hold an M.A. in Counseling, and I bring that training into every engagement. Not as therapy — as a way of understanding what's actually happening beneath the surface of a hard decision. The team dynamics that aren't on the org chart. The founder behavior that's quietly becoming the bottleneck. The thing nobody in the room is saying but everyone is thinking.
I've sat with founders and CEOs in their hardest moments — the ones that don't make it into board decks. And what I've learned is that the best operational decisions and the hardest human moments are usually the same conversation. Most consultants are equipped for one or the other. I'm built to hold both.
RECOGNITION
H.H. Dalai Lama's "Unsung Hero of Compassion" (2014) — one of 50 global recipients
UN General Assembly keynote speaker (2020)
TEDx speaker (2015)
WHO Advisor
Clinton Global Initiative member (2014)
Nike Global Integrated Workplace Services Team Leader Award (2017)
Featured: Portland Magazine "25 Portlanders Who Are Changing the World"
Thirty minutes. No pitch, no pressure, no prep required. Just an honest conversation about where you are and whether I'm the right person to help.