MEET AMY:

GUIDING YOUR

TRANSFORMATION

I believe in the power within each of us to shape the world we want to have—a future with more awareness, compassion, connection, & love.

I bring clarity to complexity to build ecosystems centered on growth, learning, and belonging.

Our world is getting increasingly more complex, volatile, uncertain, and ambiguous.

We’ve changed our environment more quickly than we know how to change ourselves, leaving many of us burnt out, disconnected, and lonely.

We must evolve to meet the moment.

MY STORY

Growing up, I was moved by the beauty of the people and places around me, while isolating myself from an overwhelming home environment. All my senses were on high alert while all my emotions were magnified. Sadness was a deep sorrow, and joy was pure ecstasy. I had a rich and vivid inner world; I cared deeply about others and empathized without limits. I was permanently linked with everything around me.

What I didn't know at the time was these traits would give me superpowers. Later, I was given language to talk about my experience: I was an empath and a “Highly Sensitive Person.” An empath is someone who can literally feel and take on other people’s feelings as if they are feeling it themselves. Empaths have been found to have hyper-responsive mirror neurons in our brains that help us share another person’s pain, fear, or joy. Highly sensitive people (HSPs) are a portion of the population that have heightened physical senses, which has allowed me to see the world in unique ways as I often see and feel things other people do not pick up on.

I evolved to be an empathetic adult that put value in relationships and connecting with others. Later, I would found out that my biggest strength is Empathy according to the Clifton Strengthsfinder test:

“...you have the ability to sense the emotions of others as if they are your own. You are able to accurately put into words how they feel, and this gives great comfort to others. With you, they feel heard, understood and supported. You are someone others love to be around, they confide in you, knowing that you will listen and not pass your own judgment.”

This result was a bit of a gut punch as I’ve found myself in professions that were unkind to people like me: a tall, fat, queer, awkward, highly sensitive empath who was a first generation American and first generation in my family to go to college. That realization lit a fire in me, and explained how I had always been driven to caring for and helping others achieve their vision. 

With that great realization came great power. I brought my whole self to a series of organizations and projects, which I call my “supernovas,”-- powerful and luminous explosion of stars in my galaxy of life. These are:

  • Director of the St. Bernard Rebuilding Project/Team Leader in AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps

  • Senior Innovation Strategist at Booz Allen Hamilton  

  • Presidential Innovation Fellow for The White House and General Services Administration (GSA)

  • Director of the Transformation Center of Excellence at GSA

In each of these supernovas I was driven by purpose, but didn’t always have a clear mission of my own. I sought to change that on a journey to detach myself from what was expected of me, my own mental anguish and conditioned thinking. Beginning in 2018, I tried on the label of solopreneur (aka a solo entrepreneur), and experimented with a number of entrepreneurial projects before researching and writing my book Empathy for Change: How to Create a More Understanding World.

After years of allowing others or the systems I’m in to have power over me, I’m stepping into the power within myself to be an actor in my life and pursuing the types of projects and research I want to work on, resulting in the energy and goodness I want in the world. Never before has something felt so right while also being terrifying at the same time. I feel like this is a great marriage of all the skills I’ve developed to date, and it will serve me and the clients I touch in the coming years and beyond. Grateful that you’re on this path alongside me. 

MISSION

Through self–compassion and mindful awareness, I guide understanding of ourselves and each other to create systemic impact and reconnect with our shared common humanity.

I design ecosystems that are open, participatory, and peer–driven, where power and agency are shared & built on empathy & trust.

VISION

I believe in a future where every person gets what they need, has the power to achieve what they want, & the agency to do what they love.

A world where we have a deep understanding & awareness of ourselves while being more connected to the people around us, have organizations that feel like communities, and a system that works for everyone instead of a few.

Amy in a Nutshell

TRANSFORMATION LEADER

I served as a Presidential Innovation Fellow (PIF), a White House entrepreneur-in-residence, to tackle the nation's biggest challenges in two Administrations. I:

➞ Co-authored 15 research reports that created a shared language on government innovation and a 100-page Toolkit on Innovation.gov. I coded the open source website using Jekyll in GitHub.

➞ Created the Better Government Movement–an inclusive space where public servants build 21st century, delivery-driven government to solve problems and affect change within their organizations. The Movement grew to nearly 5,000 members, 2,000 participants and more than 200 active volunteers.

➞ Piloted the Design Challenge where 40 public servants grew their creative capacity, learned new tools to jumpstart innovation and solve government-wide problems. Participants completed 3 months of training in eight methodologies and pitched their ideas to leaders.

ECOSYSTEM BUILDER

I’ve built accelerator programs all focused on providing founders the right learning, tools, mentorship, coaching, and connections to realize their visions. I:

➞ Co-created the next generation of cyber product companies validated product ideas and coordinated investment capital to accelerate a founder’s path to a sustainable business model as Managing Director of the MACH37 Startup Accelerator.

➞ Founded the Digital Acquisition Accelerator, the first government-wide technology accelerator to for public servants to be better buyers of digital products.

➞ Managed the 2,000-person White House Open Data Innovation Summit and wrote a Fact Sheet to celebrate of the open data and civic tech movement during the Obama Administration.

➞ Improved filmmakers' storytelling ability through monthly facilitated meetings, project accountability, and advice on issues related to the documentary landscape, work/life balance, and the creative process as part of Docs in Progress' Doc Film Fellowship.

(RE) DESIGNER

I’m a systems and policy entrepreneur developing outside-of-the-box approaches to society’s problems or reimagining existing solutions for new realities. I:

➞ Served as the Director of Moonshot Ideas for Jobs for the Future to reimagine the school to work transition and climate jobs in regions across the United States and India.

➞ Founding member of the Institute for Equity Design and Justice, a research and design think tank that builds the field of equity design.

➞ Incubated People Powered Policy, a Tech Policy Fellow at the Aspen Institute Tech Policy Hub combining technology and modern strategy to encourage two-way communication between city governments and their constituents to shape policy about topics constituents care about.

➞ Served on two policy committees for the Biden-Harris campaign. Co-created a series of Day One and Day 100 policy proposals that helps the government better leverage technology, innovation, data, and evidence to make it work better for the American people.

➞ Facilitated design sprints for World Bank to reimagine climate change policy for the Glasgow UN Climate Change conference

SOCIAL IMPACT ENTREPRENEUR

I specialize in building and sustaining cultures of impact with a social good mission. I have challenged the status quo at 12+ organizations and can both set and implement the vision. I:

➞ Pioneered Booz Allen Hamilton’s Innovation Blueprint, Playbook and Ecosystem, which defined innovation in the context of consulting, made innovation accessible to all, and created virtual and in-person places to incubate ideas.

➞ Managed a project to build 50 homes in four months through AmeriCorps* NCCC, partnering with entrepreneurs and nonprofit organizations to solve the problem of landfill overflow and lack of housing after Hurricane Katrina.

➞ Is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and Manufacturing and a StartingBloc Social Entrepreneurship Fellow committed to an equitable & thriving world & planet.

STORYTELLER

Amy is the author of Empathy for Change: How to Build a More Understanding World, a guide to create positive, compassionate change where we work, live and play. I:

➞ Incorporate stories from dozens of experts in leading change with empathy and her experience building cultures and movements of change for more than a decade.

➞ Teach the art of storytelling, the ultimate form of creating empathy across many sectors.

➞ Embrace storytelling in her writing, movement design, and documentary filmmaking, and tells compelling stories to deepen our connection to one another.

VALUES

COMPASSION

I lead with empathy and equity; I seek to understand before I am understood. I set empathy into action, leading to compassion.

COOPERATION

I take action through shared understanding and common benefit. We go further, together, and realize we are more alike than we are different.

CURIOSITY

I am curious about the world and question our place in it. I listen and act with intention.

ACTION

Through awareness and understanding I take participatory action, and evolve with feedback. I build communities over networks & seek spaces where we see each other as whole humans.

COURAGE

I do the hard things because that’s how we change for the better. I have the courage to be disliked because I serve a higher purpose.

FEARLESSNESS

I do what’s right, despite the odds being against us. With cooperation I determine what’s right and pursue it relentlessly.