I have spent my career working to change the odds for children and youth by helping the adults and organizations that support young people be their most effective and very best. I have had the unique opportunity to play a leadership role in building multiple cross-sector collaboratives focused on children and youth at a state and local level, and in partnership with and as a team member of a large, urban school district. Whether contributing to the creation of a statewide effort focused on youth, launching a local out-of-school, or defining the district’s agenda for focusing on the whole child, I consistently saw that across systems our goals are more aligned than we realize, our challenges are not as unique as we think, and we are stronger when we can think beyond our organization or system and instead think about the full ecosystem in which young people live, learn, play, and grow.

In 2018, recognizing I was at a point of transition both personally and professionally, I decided to transition to a consulting role – eager to shift from direct organizational and initiative leadership to a role where I could support others in their work based on the lessons I’d learned. KP Facilitation was born. My first call to help identify and shape the work ahead was to Merita Irby, a co-founder of the Forum for Youth Investment, who had become an incredible mentor. Through that connection I have been consulting for the last three years with the Forum for Youth Investment, supporting a range of projects at the national and local levels. 

Throughout 2021, I engaged with the Forum’s other co-founder, Karen Pittman, to conceptualize and plan for the next phase of her work after she transitioned out of her role as President and CEO of the Forum. In December 2021, Karen and I launched Changing the Odds Remix to cultivate the uptake of the biggest and boldest ideas that have true potential to help leaders across the country change the odds. As Karen and I worked on Changing the Odds Remix we began to recognize the strength in aligning our individual and collective work to catalyze knowledge to power. I invited Karen to join my one-woman consulting business and transform it into this new boutique consulting firm – Knowledge to Power (KP) Catalysts. 

A Note About Our Name: You might have noticed that KP seems to have a lot of meanings – my initials, Karen’s initials, Knowledge to Power. So which is it? All of them! As a college journalist, my initials on an article file meant it had been reviewed and had my edits enclosed. My initials became (for me) a symbol of my role as a leader. As a business owner of KP Facilitation, those initials connected to my goal of supporting leaders to be more successful in their work supporting their teams and young people. In both cases, I was transforming knowledge to power. As Karen and I began to explore our partnership she was concerned the initials would be more associated with her than with me in the field – I pushed back. For KP Catalysts, KP stands for what we bring to the work – the ability to transform Knowledge to Power – and KP demonstrates the strength and leadership of not just one of us, but of our partnership.