I help communities design the structures, culture, and relationships needed to build economic democracy — especially in places historically excluded from power and capital.

My work lives at the intersection of:

• Worker cooperatives
• Timebanking & solidarity economy
• Sociocratic governance
• Neighborhood organizing
• Political education
• Black communal traditions
• Creative storytelling

The Through-Line

Across Chicago and beyond, I support people who are trying to answer a simple but radical question:

How do we build systems that care for us — without replicating the systems that harmed us?

Whether I’m coaching a worker cooperative, designing a governance process, launching a timebank, mediating conflict, or facilitating a peace circle — the aim is the same:

To strengthen democratic capacity.
To deepen trust.
To make collective ownership actually work.
To build durable ecosystems, not just projects.

My Work Today

🌱 Cooperative & Solidarity Economy Development

Through Kola Community Solutions, I support the incubation, design, and long-term sustainability of worker-owned enterprises and solidarity economy infrastructure.

This includes:

• Cooperative culture design
• Governance structuring (Sociocracy, circle-based systems)
• Conflict mediation & accountability processes
• Leadership development
• Ecosystem mapping
• Incubator design

🔄 Timebanking & Asset-Based Community Development

As a board member within TimeBanks.Org and founder of Chicago’s current timebank ecosystem, I support communities in:

• Launching reciprocal networks of care
• Mobilizing neighbors around shared assets
• Designing Offers & Needs Markets
• Building non-monetary exchange systems

Timebanking is not charity — it’s infrastructure for mutuality.

🧭 Governance & Organizational Design

I work with boards, collectives, and member-based organizations to design:

• Clear roles and domains
• Consent-based decision-making processes
• Circle charters
• Accountability structures
• Performance & membership frameworks
• Participatory budgeting processes

My work blends Sociocracy, Berkana’s Two Loops, Chaordic principles, and Black cooperative traditions.

🎙 Cultural & Political Education Work

I host The Ujamaa Hour, a podcast exploring solidarity economy, Black communalism, and alternative development.

I design and facilitate:

• Political education curriculum
• Cooperative culture trainings
• Retreats and strategy sessions
• Story circles and healing spaces

Economic democracy is cultural work.

Current Initiatives

🌍 Shaping Change Facilitator Festival (Chicago)

🏘 Southeast Side Community Summit (Chicago)

🤝 Cooperative governance coaching across multiple Chicago worker co-ops

🔄 National programming design for TimeBanks.Org

📚 Black storytelling in the folktale tradition

Rooted in Place

I live and organize on the Southeast Side of Chicago in Jeffery Manor — an economically divested and environmentally frontline community.

I was born on Chicago’s West Side and raised in Kenner, Louisiana.

My work is grounded in Black cooperative lineage, communal traditions, and the belief that neighborhood-scale infrastructure matters.

Ways to Work With Me

I partner with:

• Worker cooperatives
• Fiscal sponsors
• Philanthropic intermediaries
• Neighborhood organizations
• Movement networks
• National solidarity economy institutions

Engagement formats include:

• Strategy & governance consulting
• Retreat facilitation
• Conflict mediation
• Ecosystem design
• Training series
• Fractional leadership support

If you are building something collective and want it to last — we should talk.