Hello to the wider Experience Integral Community!

After becoming fast friends with Anouk through several Integral, trans-disciplinary events we both attended, we realized how well our passions and visions were aligned, and also how well our styles compliment each other. When we found out we shared the same birthday, there was really nothing left to wonder about, and we started planning the future together! What truly excites me about working with Experience Integral is the chance to bring intuitive, embodied approaches together with integrative and critical big-pictures through work which is fueled by the intention to increase well-being for all life. After all, what else is there? There is nothing more exciting to me than collaborating with others who have vision, love, and tremendous integrity.

For me personally, a lot of my creative inspiration centers on questions of how to address problems of resilience and adaptive well-being. In a nutshell, I simply love 'design' - to design and create, and to question what intentions inspire the design of systems and realities which shape our daily lives. 'For whom and for what are we designing?' is an inquiry I return to every day. I believe that the questions faced by ours and future generations are questions of design - how we design our systems and ourselves to produce health and well being at all scales of complexity. In this inquiry, I am drawn to integrative perspectives and the emerging field of metastudies, in particular, metatheory and metamethodology. For me, the value of integrative approaches lies in developing languages and methods for trans-disciplinarity, which is essential for designing resilience across sectors, disciplines and cultures. I would like to apply the insights of meta-studies in building networks which increase resilience and creative adaption. I love to look at problems as possibilities in disguise, and  to approach with a permaculture paradigm to design that uses the energy of what is already right here in front of us to increase health and well-being.

As for the nitty gritty, my background includes a BA from New York University in English Literature, with minors in Political Science and Creative Writing. After graduating Magna Cum Laude in 2003, I worked for two years in the US Americorps program, which is a domestic version of the peace corps. My work was in an alternative high school for at risk youth, developing and leading community service programs, and teaching wilderness and arts education. For two years following I lived in Ecuador and Argentina, teaching english and working at a small bilingual magazine while pursuing my Masters degree in Integral Theory through an online program at JFK University in California. During my MA, I received an Integral Research grant from JFK University and the Integral Research Center to explore perspectives on and theories of change for sustainability. My research interest in this project is in exploring layers of meaning-making around sustainability, and the implicit and explicit theories of change within the perspectives of individuals working to support greater sustainability. In July 2010, I co-presented a jointly-written paper at the biennial Integral Theory Conference (Integral Metatheory: Practicing the Science of Inclusion)  which won honourable mention in the theory category and has subsequently been included for publication in a forthcoming anthology of conference papers published by SUNY press. I am also collaborating on a chapter for another SUNY anthology on essential critiques of Integral Theory.

My loves include being outdoors, co-creating with my vegetable garden, running, being anywhere by the sea, painting and ceramics, poetry, cooking, and living and working in intentional communities.

Back to the Experience Integral core team page.