Image credit: Morgan Harper Nichols

June 2024

Dear friends,

Every new season brings change, but summers can bring particularly poignant transitions for many of us (including Marion celebrating her youngest child’s high school graduation and Miwa preparing for a milestone birthday!). We recently joined a group of leaders to share what we’ve learned about leading change. As we reflected on our experiences supporting leaders and organizations in navigating change, we kept coming back to the same key themes:

• Share the why so that stakeholders understand the purpose of the change
• Engage in ongoing, transparent communication, being clear about what you know, acknowledging what you don’t know, and naming next steps
• Lean into relationship and hold space for people to process, understanding that every change brings both loss and opportunity

As the summer begins, we’re reminded that navigating personal change requires the same intention. In what ways are we changing/is our context changing? Why is this change important to us? How do we honor and acknowledge what is lost while also celebrating what will be? How do we navigate (or even embrace!) the messy middle and what we don’t yet know? And how do we lean into relationship and acknowledge the impact of the change on others and ourselves?

 Whatever transitions you’re moving through this summer, we hope you can make space to ground in purpose, accept what is uncertain, move forward with care and celebrate with sparkle whenever possible.

Join us!

Come see us at The Lodge At Woodloch!

Nine years ago before the huge transition of starting her own business, Marion went to The Lodge at Woodloch to restore and reflect. During this visit, she envisioned teaching at Woodloch one day, and now, together, we have made it a reality!

 The two of us and our friend Cat McLaughlin of Rosemary Collaborative are thrilled to be facilitating three Enneagram workshops at The Lodge at Woodloch this August 9th – 11th. We’ve each experienced the Enneagram as a powerful framework for growth and transformation, and received our Enneagram Applications Certification through Enneagram Georgia last year. We have already been building this framework into our coaching and consulting offerings. You can learn more about our Woodloch workshop series here and reach out to us if you’d like to learn more about our Enneagram work.

Midsummer Collective Conversation

We’d love to take another Midsummer’s Pause with you! Please join us for our next Collective Conversation on Wednesday, July 10th from 11 AM – 12 PM ET. We’ll be at the halfway point of both the summer season and the calendar year. So we’ll take a collective pause to reflect on where we are and what we’re loving this summer and to set intentions, whether for the rest of the season or the rest of the year.

Please grab a cup of coffee or tea (iced!) and join us for this informal conversation. We hope to see you there.

Partner Spotlight

Melea Nalli

We’re excited to feature our friend and mentor Melea Nalli, partner consultant and leadership coach at Conscious Revolution. Melea and the Conscious Revolution team partner with visionary leaders across all sectors to co-create a world where thriving is accessible to all. Together, they are advocating for a new paradigm of conscious leadership that upholds human potential, nurtures interconnectedness, and sparks transformative change.

Conscious Revolution offers holistic support that considers how our bodies, hearts and minds are connected to the ways in which we lead ourselves, others and our systems. They provide organizational consulting support, leadership development programs, Soul-Full HR support, executive coaching and immersive experiences for leaders to resource themselves and to build community with each other.

Recommended Resources

We’re excited to dive into these books and resources this summer as we navigate transitions and move through change.

Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg: Nonviolent Communication provides tools to help us deepen our understanding of our own and other’s needs and effectively communicate them- which is especially important during times of transition.

Gratitude

As we welcome another summer, we are deeply thankful for the teachers, mentors and school leaders in our lives, for our friends, family and colleagues who help ground us during times of transitions, and for our incredible community that radiates light all year long.

Keep shining,

Marion and Miwa

Photo by Mike Labrum on Unsplash

December 2023

This week marks the winter solstice, the longest night of the year and also the signal that the days will be ever so slightly longer for the rest of the season. It’s another reminder of the both/and – that the stars can shine the brightest on the coldest, longest night.

As we reflect on our experiences and the experiences of our clients this year, we consistently return to our ability as humans to live in the both/and. We can be distraught by the violence we see shattering communities and moved to action by helpers and healers. We can feel stuck and still reach out. We can take time to talk with our teammates, family, and friends about what brought us joy this year while also acknowledging what was heavy and difficult.

We hope that this season of darkness and light brings all of us opportunities for connection and an appreciation of stars that shine bright.

Join us!

Discover Your Three Word Mantra

Friday, January 19th from 12-1 ET

Whether you’ve joined us before to create your mantra or this will be your first time, the new year provides a wonderful opportunity to set your intentions in community with others.  During this free workshop, we will walk you through guided reflection to create your own three word mantra. We’ve found our own mantras to be powerful tools for centering ourselves and shifting our ways of being, and our clients have too!

Register below to reserve your spot, and invite a friend or colleague to join you!

Connect with Us!

Photo by Frank Leuderalbert on Unsplash

Partner Spotlight

Alicia Reyna

As the founder of Alicia Reyna Consulting LLC, Alicia empowers organizations, managers, and teams to identify their talents and use them as strengths to create meaningful impact in our world. Certified as a Gallup Strengths Coach, a Senior Human Resources Professional (SHRM-SCP), and Mediation for Social Justice, Alicia’s approach centers on helping teams appreciate and understand their differences and be able to use them as their greatest asset to increase productivity, engagement, and wellbeing in ways that create workplaces where adults learn, grow, and thrive. She offers CliftonStrengths team coaching, individual strengths coaching, strengths-based conflict resolution, and courses including: An Introduction to Your Strengths, Managing Others Using Your Strengths, and Leading Change Using Your Strengths. You can reach her at [email protected] and on Linkedin. Click here for testimonials and more information about her business.

A Few of Our Favorite Reads & Listens in 2023!

Favorite Podcast Episode

Relationships are What Rescued Me – Featuring Alli Myatt on How to Make Love with laura brewer. We loved listening to two incredibly thoughtful colleagues in conversation with each other.  Their perspectives on what the universe wants for us, the impact of vulnerability, and releasing the need to control resonated deeply with us.

Favorite New Music Release

Shameless proud mom plug:  Marion’s teen son released his second album on Spotify this fall – he wrote all the songs, played each part, and then mixed them together – all in the attic before he left for college.

Gratitude

Keep shining,

Image Credit: Image Credit: Photo by Oliver on Adobe Stock

November 2023

Celebrating 2 years of partnership

We hope that in the midst of this challenging season all of us are finding time to connect with loved ones and take care of each other. In moments of heartbreak and overwhelm, we lean into connection. And we lean into connection in moments of joy as well.

Last month marked the second anniversary of  Illuminate Collective. We started our work together two Octobers ago believing in abundance. We trusted that sharing the work would create space for more of what we loved – a feeling of team, partnerships with inspiring clients, collaboration with incredible colleagues, and time outside of work to sustain our whole lives. We’re grateful to have made this vision a reality together.

In our third year, we’re excited to continue sharing the work and creating space within our collective. We’re deepening our collaboration with our phenomenal friend and trusted partner Natalie Basham of N.O.V.A. Services LLC. And we’re welcoming the amazing Deborah Raji of Deborah Raji, LLC, who brings operations expertise and a creative lens (check out her photography!) to her part-time work with us. 

We’re grateful for the opportunity to keep learning, growing and celebrating in community with you.

Join us!

Collective Conversation – “Favorite Things” Resource Share

Please join us for our next Collective Conversation on Tuesday, November 14th from 11 AM – 12 PM ET.  

We are excited to host our first “Resource Share” conversation – come with your favorite/recommended resources to share with each other and leave with a great list to dig into. Think books, podcasts, rituals, health and wellness practices, or whatever is resonant for you right now.

Please grab a cup of coffee or tea and join us for this informal conversation. If you are a regular to our conversations, we hope to see you again and invite you to bring a friend! If you are new to us, we look forward to seeing you!

Partner Spotlight

Cat McLaughlin, LPC: Mindfulness Meditation Classes

We are excited to partner with our friend Cat, a Licensed Professional Counselor and Mindfulness Meditation Teacher, to offer an in-person Enneagram workshop in 2024 (stay tuned for announcement of the exciting in-person location!). In the meantime, we want to make you aware of her work and meditation offerings.

Cat practices psychotherapy & mindfulness meditation, joining people in sorting through and organizing their lives. Recognizing that people follow different paths to healing, Cat co-founded Spring Village Center for Therapy & Wellness, a holistic community of healers who blend Eastern and Western practices to help people care for their bodies and minds. In her work with individuals and groups, Cat teaches a stepwise and compassionate approach to meditation, and helps coach clients through feeling emotions in a safe, embodied way. Learn more about Cat and her practice at her website.

Client Spotlight

We have loved working with social impact agency Propper Daley, and are excited to shout them out for creating an amazing staff benefit. They enlisted us to design and facilitate a three-part coaching series for team members celebrating five years of service at the agency. Working with one of our incredible partner coaches at Illuminate Collective, the team member engages in a series of  exercises to reflect on their strengths, leadership and future goals. We celebrate Propper Daley’s commitment to investing in their people in such a meaningful way! 

Reading/Resource Recommendations

In honor of our second anniversary, we’d like to shout out two resources that we reference and recommend often in our work with our clients. 

The 2 X 2 Feedback Form

• We’ve been using this simple, high impact resource for over two decades – first as team leaders and then as coaches and consultants. The 2 X 2 was first introduced to us by Jerry Hauser, the Founding CEO of the Management Center and current President of 2050 Advisors LLC. Our clients love it, and we do, too. While you’re checking out the 2 X 2, we recommend exploring The Management Center’s incredible Resource Library and Management Trainings.

The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker

• This book asks questions and shares guidance to help make whatever gathering you’re hosting or facilitating more meaningful and grounded in purpose.

Gratitude

We’re so grateful that you’re part of our Illuminate community. We look forward to many more celebrations to come.

Keep shining,

Marion and Miwa

Art by Anne Bentley

June 2023

Dear friends,

We love the month of June (our birthday month!) and all the ways it shouts “both/and.” Both/and because June is Gemini season, symbolized by twins given a Gemini’s duality and adaptability. Both/and because the season of summer officially begins, and we embrace longer days and shorter nights. Both/and because of bittersweet transitions as the school year ends and graduations are celebrated. Both/and because of bright sun and soaking rain. Both/and because even after the hardest days, we see fireflies bravely shining their light in the darkness and feel encouraged. 

As we begin the summer season, we are excited to celebrate Juneteenth, Pride, and the International Day of Purpose – see resources below.  We look forward to diving into new partnerships, continuing our learning, and taking time for restoration and reflection. And we are leaving ourselves open to the sun and the rain, because we need them both to grow. We wish you a summer of growth, rest, and continuing to lean into the both/and.

Join us!

Collective Conversations: Midsummer’s Pause

We’d love to take a Midsummer’s Pause with you! Please join us for our next Collective Conversation on Tuesday, July 18th from 11 AM – 12 PM ET.  We’ll be at the halfway point of both the summer season and the calendar year. So we’ll take a collective pause to reflect on where we are and what we’re loving this summer and to set intentions, whether for the rest of the season or the rest of the year.

Please grab a cup of coffee or tea (iced!) and join us for this informal conversation. We hope to see you there.

Partner Spotlight

Jovian Zayne, International Day of Purpose

We are always inspired by our colleague and friend, Jovian Zayne, founder of the International Day of Purpose, and invite you to join us in celebrating the 2023 International Day of Purpose® on Tuesday, June 20th!

Each year, The International Day of Purpose invites us to reflect on our sense of purpose and how we can be more intentional in how we live. This year’s theme “Gather, OnPurpose!” is a call to meaningfully connect with one another – a way for us to confront the epidemic of loneliness and mental health challenges posed by the pandemic.

Visit dayofpurpose.org to download resources from The OnPurpose Movement to curate your meaningful connections and be sure to share your experience by tagging @dayofpurpose and #dayofpurpose.

For more information reach out to [email protected] or visit dayofpurpose.org.

Client Spotlight

Heights Philadelphia

We had an amazing time partnering with Heights Philadelphia this winter and spring. Heights Philadelphia was created in December from the merger of Steppingstone Scholars and Philadelphia Futures. During this time of significant change, Heights Philadelphia was committed to supporting the growth and development of their leaders. 

We designed and facilitated a series of customized trainings for both new and seasoned managers to align on a management purpose and framework and to build skill in foundational management competencies. We loved working side by side with Heights Philadelphia leaders to help develop their new managers into thoughtful, effective people leaders. 

“This training series was engaging, informative, and illuminating. I loved the flow and pacing of the conversation as well as the opportunities for real world application.”

Participant in Heights Manager Training

If you’re seeking support to help grow and develop your managers, please reach out to discuss how we can partner with you!

June Reading Recommendations

Reflections on Juneteenth & Pride

We’re excited to dive into these books and resources this summer as we navigate transitions and move through change.

Our Summer Reading List

Management in a Changing World by Jakada Imani, Monna Wong, and Bex Ahuja

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

Inciting Joy by Ross Gay

Gratitude

In this season we’re thankful for all of the teachers, administrators, coaches and mentors who encourage, challenge, and inspire students every day. Your work is hugely important and deeply appreciated.

Keep shining,

Marion and Miwa

Image Credit: Photo by Kobzev3179 on IStock

December 2022

Dear friends,

We’re grateful that this past year – our first full year as partners at Illuminate Collective – has felt abundant. We are partnering with inspiring, mission-driven clients while also spending meaningful time with family and friends and celebrating important milestones. But we have also been reminded of how challenging it can be to create space and margin for ourselves. The conditioning of our culture can lead all of us to believe that we need to be more productive, say yes to more things, and never stop hustling toward the next finish line. We are challenging ourselves to be intentional about noticing and shifting that programming.

When we feel ourselves being pulled into a swirl of urgency and overwhelm, what helps us most is the power of the pause. Simply pausing to take one deep breath can shift how we’re showing up. In our workshops, we always begin with a “Pause, Notice and Breathe” exercise to help everyone slow down, center in the moment, and pay attention. When we slow down, we can reconnect with the “why” of the work. We can create space for more voices and new ideas. We can get to know each others’ stories. We can respond instead of react. We can imagine something different. We can rest when we need to.

We’ve learned from Black women leaders like Tricia Hersey, who names rest as an act of resistance and a “deep unraveling from white supremacy and capitalism” and Aiko Bethea, who shared in a recent Dare to Lead podcast episode that the opposite of creating space is defaulting to the status quo. We’ve learned from our collective partners who model setting boundaries and creating space for rest and restoration in their practice. We’ve learned from our clients, who have experienced the benefits of slowing down and resisting urgency in their work.

As always, we’re seeking to live in the “both/and.” We can slow down and make a deeper impact. We can slow down and get further than we thought we would. Here’s to taking a pause, making space, and seeing what magic we experience in the coming year.

Join us!

Collective Conversations: New Year Reflections

Friday, January 6th from 3 PM – 4 PM ET – We’d love to welcome in the new year with you! Please join us to ease into 2023 in community and with intention. We’ll reflect on our learning and growth over the past year and share thoughts on stepping into a new season with grace and space.

Please grab a cup of coffee or tea and join us for this informal conversation. We hope to see you there!

White Leaders Working on Antiracism

Registration is now open for the winter cohort of White Leaders Working on Antiracism. This winter we’ll be meeting weekly from January 24th through February 15th from 7 – 8:45 PM ET.

Over two years ago, we partnered with our colleagues at Leading Elephants, with advisory support from Lesley Brown Rawlings of Beloved Community, to create this learning and accountability space for white leaders. Since then, more than 200 people have participated in this series, engaging in the inner work that is foundational to taking informed, antiracist action. If you are a white or white presenting leader seeking a space to reflect, process, and practice, please consider joining us.

Partner Spotlight

Chelsea Kasen-Kells of Meditative Coloring

This month we’re highlighting Chelsea Kasen-Kells, creator of Meditative Coloring. Meditative Coloring is a simple and gentle way to build emotional literacy and tap into your intuition. And, yes! – it’s really as simple as coloring anything you want to color on a blank piece of paper. To learn more about Meditative Coloring you can purchase the Meditative Coloring eBook or join a Virtual Workshop.

In addition to teaching meditation, Chelsea is a brilliant marketing professional and content creator, and we are grateful to have her partnership to help us create this newsletter and dabble with our social media. We are slowing down to participate in our own Meditative Coloring session with Chelsea before the break and will share our reflections soon!

Reading, Listening, Learning: 2022 Favorites

We’re excited to dive into these books and resources this summer as we navigate transitions and move through change.

Favorite Non-Fiction

How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith

Favorite PD Resource

The PD Book: 7 Habits That Transform Professional Development by Elena Aguilar and Lori Cohen

Gratitude

This year we’ve been able to do work we love with partners we care about. And we’ve done it as a team, which was our hope and dream in the fall of 2021. We are so deeply thankful for the relationships we’ve built and the spaces we’ve created with this community. We wish you a wonderful, restful winter break with the people you love.

Keep shining,

Marion and Miwa