Hi, I’m Maureen.

• I help people find their voice and start using it to change the world–or at least a corner of it.
• I’m obsessed with the Internet–especially how it connects people.
• I’m really good at translating technical concepts into normal-person language. (In other words, I can tell you what your IT guy means and what to do about it.)
• I believe every person can help make the world a little (or a lot) more awesome.
• I really like to use parentheses when I write (even when a comma would do).
• I love people and their stories.  This makes me a really good listener.
• I also love to brainstorm, which means when you are done telling me about what’s broken, I’ll usually have an idea that might fix it.
• I’m a crier.  Sentimental commercials and injured animals are a sure path to the water-works.
• I love “geeky” pastimes.  Science fiction and fantasy, boardgaming, internet memes–if the stereotypical lover of a hobby has no fashion sense, you can bet I dig it.
• I’m totally clueless about current popular culture.
• I believe every meeting can be improved through effective use of a flip chart.
• If Sonia Simone were open to having disciples (which I’m pretty sure she’s not), I’d be one. (Sonia’s much more well known for her work at Copyblogger now but I just love her old site, so I’m going to continue to link to it.)

Looking for more traditional qualifications?

I am currently the Program Director of the National Robotics League (NRL), a program of the National Tooling and Machining Association(NTMA).

Prior to working at NTMA, I focused on providing on-line communications consulting and freelance project management support to nonprofits and micro-business at Low Hanging Fruit Communications; was the Workforce Development Program Manager for the Dayton Region’s Manufacturing Association; and managed the day-to-day details of the Orchestra Forum, a project of the A.W. Mellon Foundation, in her role as Program Manager for the Institute for Cultural Policy and Practice.

I hold a bachelors degree in Speech Communication from the University of Nebraska at Kearney and an MFA in Arts Administration from Virginia Tech.

You can check out my resume on Linkedin.

How I work

If you are looking for someone who has all the answers and is ready to tell you what to do, I’m not your girl.

If, however, you are looking for a partner, someone to ask you the right questions, and help you explore your options by providing a map of the potential treasures and pitfalls along each path, I can help you.

Thanks to my work as a facilitator in a co-housing community (where all major decisions are made by consensus) and my experience with appreciative inquiry (thanks to John and Judy) I approach consulting much differently than most. I know your situation is unique–not because you are facing unusual challenges, but because you are facing them with a unique set of people, experiences, viewpoints, and goals.

Rather than telling you what you should do to get more people to listen, I will bring my experience with a wide range of tools and techniques and work with you as a partner to explore what is possible. We will start with small experiments to test the waters and move on from there with the ideas that show promise. I will encourage you to stretch–but will never insist I know best.  I can best serve you by helping you find your own best solutions.