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One day, I nodded absentmindedly at a comment my four-year old made. She looked at me and said: ‘Mama, you aren’t listening to me with your listening ears!’ I was simultaneously taken aback and humbled. This was undoubtedly something she heard from one of her teachers at school. The prescience of this message and its tiny messenger were unexpected, but I…

Words are like cozy sweaters. You’ve had them so long that you don’t remember who gifted them to you, but you keep them anyway. But what happens when they no longer fit?  When they feel itchy on the skin and suffocating at the neck? When they are tight around the shoulders and the seams start to tear? When you recognize that these words, were…

I walked away from the corporate world after a decade of practicing law at a multinational business, and I never looked back. I dove into the philanthropic space with curiosity, passion, and a thirst to learn all I could in this new space. But with time I have recognized the value of looking back. I’ve noted the differences and the…

The ocean is our global commons, our birthright, our collective heritage, and our heirloom. This concept is enshrined under international law – the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). However, laws and concepts resonate much less with us than the things that pull at our heartstrings. With any precious gift entrusted to us from generation to generation,…

Some early mornings during this tumultuous pandemic when there was no calm or accessible refuge for my family and I, we found ourselves at the ocean.  Our awe of the ocean was accompanied by a deep appreciation of our obligation to share, steward, and sustain it.  It is difficult to explain concepts like sharing, fear, and protecting the future to…

  “If I’m gonna tell a real story, I’m gonna start with my name.” – Kendrick Lamar The human rights version of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act” (FCPA) is being proposed by a range of global advocates, including grassroots organizations who have for decades recognized the need for mandatory legislation to NGOs in the business and human rights space.   The…

I froze.  Speechless.  Unable, unwilling to breathe. It’s been almost a year since I’ve hugged anyone outside my household, specifically my husband.  Hugging – the way Americans and many cultures do – isn’t big where I come from: the Isan Region of Thailand.  But after about a decade of living in the United States, I’ve become accustomed to it as…

In summer of 2020, the Response and Vision Fund, seeded by True Costs Initiative and nine other funders, first launched with the goal of building and shifting power to workers and frontline communities; holding corporate, financial, and government actors accountable; and shaping economic recovery to promote systemic change. This first round included eight initiatives who received a total of nearly…

Throughout my career in sustainable development and now philanthropy, I’ve always wrestled with the concept of “capacity building.”  It’s common to see the term described and practiced as a means to bring change – be it long-term, short-term or at a systemic level.  Capacity building is often associated with providing education and other tools to impoverished populations and those impacted…

What Bob Marley’s “One Love” Can Teach Us About the Climate Catastrophe in The Bahamas My eyes filled with tears several times as I watched the media coverage about Hurricane Dorian’s devastation of The Bahamas.  This story is becoming much too familiar.  Caribbean islands, like the Bahamas and my island of Jamaica, are acutely vulnerable to this climate crisis.  Sea…

Sometimes, truth has a color.  Have you ever gone looking for something – a gift for a loved one, a thrift shop item, a toy for a beloved child?  You don’t know exactly what you are looking for, but you’ll know when you see it and you’ll know when you don’t.  You can almost see it in your mind’s eye….

The term “narrative” has been bandied about as if it is some kind of magical unicorn.  In many sacrosanct human rights circles, once the term is uttered there is the knowing nod, the collective hum of acknowledgment and then a silent acceptance of what I call the Nike© approach to narrative – Just Tell It.  But we must resist that…