Photo by Melissa Michal. Image of fall trees and a beach with water. The trees arch over the beach and water.
I have specialized in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in education and writing—areas which speak to my community’s values of peace and balance in justice. I have endeavored throughout my writing, editing, and education career of 15+ years to coach and mentor many undergraduate and graduate students and create welcoming, immersive learning environments where students gain confidence and knowledge in their field and/or DEIB issues. I specialize in mentoring BIPOC, Queer, and disabled students, but mentor many kinds of students. My approach is experiential based and I seek to learn each student's story and to understand them at a personal and professional level to best help. I offer consulting services which include one on one mentoring sessions, discussions of graduate entrance materials, article and dissertation critique, DEIB training and mentoring, and tenure track job application materials.
When I became involved in a month-long program studying Indigenous art, literature, and culture, where most texts read and scholars brought in were non-Native (mostly white male), and where a scholar claimed a young Haida man didn't know his own culture's art unless he studied it at a university, I saw my calling very clearly: change the system from the inside. This is erasure at a deep level that will take time to illuminate and to change for the better--and not just for Indigenous issues. Quick fixes and band-aids will not work. We need to all better prepare ourselves and strengthen our skills in DEIB and combating microaggressions to create stronger spaces in education, politics, government, media, and science.
To hire me as a coach my fees are the following: **Sliding scales available for BIPOC, Queer, and disabled students $100 an hour for graduate students $75 an hour for undergraduate students DEIB training sessions, please submit an inquiry to best decipher needs and costs $125 an one hour for article critique or job application/graduate school materials (this typically takes 1-2 hours most first rounds and includes critique aimed at publication or job preferences). If someone wishes, they could also schedule an hour zoom session at the same hourly fee as a follow up discussion to the critique. This does not include line edit grammar/sentence issues although I will mark as I see broader concerns. This kind of line editing takes much longer and I would not have time for this service.
For more on-going mentoring or specialized DEIB training, please contact me at the below form. Please be sure to include your name, organization/field, e-mail, phone number, and level of interest in my services. I prefer phone calls or zoom sessions first. A preliminary half hour meeting will help me to decipher what might work best for your organization and the costs.