Work. Shouldnt. Suck.

In this episode, Tim Cynova and Katrina Donald delve into the complex world of wage transparency and equitable compensation, and explore how organizations can navigate these challenges to create fair and inclusive workplaces.

They explore the need for organizations to list salaries for roles, both internally and externally, as well as the implications wage transparency laws are having across the U.S. The conversation delves into the challenges faced by organizations in creating consistency and fairness in their compensation approaches, particularly when considering factors like internal versus external experience and equity. Tim and Katrina also emphasize the significance of engaging in open and honest conversations about compensation within organizations and the benefits of adopting a holistic approach to compensation.

Episode Highlights:

• The growing urgency for organizations to have transparent salary information
• The impact of new and expanding wage transparency laws
• The challenges organizations face in creating consistency and equity in compensation
• The importance of having open and honest conversations about compensation
• How to consider compensation in a more holistic way, beyond just base compensation
• The benefits of adopting a strict, fixed tier compensation model

Stay tuned for upcoming episodes on executive coaches who center equity and inclusion in their practice, the authors of "The In-Between: A Companion Book For Uncertain Times," and Gen Z in the workplace. Plus, catch season two of "White Men and the Journey Towards Anti-Racism" as well as an episode on values-based collective bargaining processes.

This week, the world lost an amazing light of a human: Diane Ragsdale.

This episode is a previously lost and unreleased conversation that host Tim Cynova recorded with Diane at the Banff Centre in February 2020, a few weeks before the world shut down for the global pandemic... and they promptly forgot they even recorded this conversation together.

Originally intended to be titled, "Investing in Personal and Professional Growth," the conversation explores Diane's thoughts on the role of the arts and artists in society, the role arts management and leadership programs can and should play, and how we can craft our own learning and development plan. It also includes a few clips they thought would eventually be left on the cutting room floor.

Sending love and strength to Diane's family and friends, students and colleagues who are located all over the world.

GUEST BIO:

DIANE RAGSDALE is Director of the MA in Creative Leadership, an online master’s program that welcomed its first cohort in summer 2022 and for which she additionally has an appointment as Faculty and Scholar. After 15 years working years working within and leading cultural institutions and another several years working in philanthropy at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in NYC, she made the shift to academia and along the way became a widely read blogger, frequent speaker and panelist, published author, lecturer, scholar, and advisor to a range of nonprofit institutions, government agencies, and foundations on a wide range of arts and culture topics.

Diane joins MCAD from both Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity, where she served as Faculty and Director of the Cultural Leadership Program, and Yale University where she is adjunct faculty and leads an annual four-week workshop on Aesthetic Values in a Changed Cultural Context. She was previously an assistant professor and program director at The New School in New York, where she successfully built an MA in Arts Management and Entrepreneurship in the School of Performing Arts and launched a new graduate minor in Creative Community Development in collaboration with Parsons School of Design and the Milano School of Policy, Management and Environment. Diane is a doctoral candidate at Erasmus University Rotterdam where she was a lecturer in the Cultural Economics MA program from 2011–15. She continues to work on her dissertation as time permits. 

Her essay “Post-Show” was recently published in the Routledge Companion to Audiences and the Performing Arts (2022); and a teaching case that she developed from her doctoral research on the relationship between the commercial and nonprofit theater in America–currently titled “Margo Jones: bridging divides to craft a new hybrid logic for theater in the US”–will be published in the forthcoming Edward Elgar handbook, Case Studies in Arts Entrepreneurship. 

Diane holds an MFA in Acting & Directing from University of Missouri-Kansas City and a BS in Psychology and BFA in Theater from Tulane University. She was part of Stanford University’s inaugural Executive Program for Nonprofit Arts Leaders, produced in partnership with National Arts Strategies. She holds a certificate in Mediation and Creative Conflict Resolution from the Center for Understanding in Conflict.

HOST:

TIM CYNOVA (he/him) is the CEO of Work Shouldn’t Suck, an HR and org design firm helping organizations dust off their People policies, practices, and offerings to co-create workplaces where everyone can thrive. He is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and a trained mediator, and serves on the faculty of Minneapolis College of Art & Design, the Hollyhock Leadership Institute (Cortes Island, Canada), and The New School (New York City) teaching courses in Strategic HR, Co-Creating Inclusive Workplaces, and Values-Centered Organizational Design. He recently concluded a 12-year tenure leading Fractured Atlas, a $30M, entirely virtual non-profit FinTech company and the largest association of independent artists in the U.S., where he served in both the Chief Operating Officer and Co-CEO roles (part of a four-person, shared, non-hierarchical leadership team), and was deeply involved in its work to become an anti-racist, anti-oppressive organization since they made that commitment in 2013. Earlier in his career, Tim was the Executive Director of The Parsons Dance Company and of High 5 Tickets to the Arts in New York City, had a memorable stint with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, was a one-time classical trombonist, musicologist, and for five years in his youth he delivered newspapers for the Evansville, Indiana Courier-Press. Learn more on LinkedIn.

Why and how do you decolonize an organization's bylaws?

In this episode, host Tim Cynova connects with three leaders from the U.S.-based nonprofit Dance/USA about their recent and ongoing work to decolonize their organization. Joining the discussion are Kellee Edusei, Executive Director of Dance/USA, and Holly Bass and Jim Leija, two members of the Board of Directors who co-lead the process to decolonize their organizational bylaws.

We discussed the what, why, and how of the process Dance/USA engaged in over the past couple of years.

Visit Dance/USA online.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

• The importance of decolonizing organizational structures: The conversation highlights the need to critically examine and reimagine organizational structures that are often rooted in racism and oppression. Decolonizing these structures is essential for fostering inclusivity and equity in the workplace.
• The significance of continuous reflection and learning: The leaders of Dance/USA emphasize the importance of an ongoing process of reflection and learning in the journey of decolonization. This includes acknowledging challenges, celebrating successes, and adapting strategies as necessary.
• Core values as guiding principles: Dance/USA operates based on core values – creativity, connectivity, equity, and integrity – that serve as guiding principles for their work in decolonizing their bylaws and developing inclusive practices.
• Collective responsibility in creating change: The conversation underscores the collective responsibility of individuals and organizations in creating an anti-racist, inclusive, and equitable dance field. This necessitates collaboration, sharing of resources, and actively challenging systemic barriers.

GUEST BIOS:

HOLLY BASS is a multidisciplinary performance and visual artist, writer, and director. Her work explores the unspoken and invisible social codes surrounding gender, class, and race. She was a 2020–2022 Live Feed Resident Artist at New York Live Arts and a 2021–22 Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow. She is the recipient of Dance/USA's Engaging Dance Audiences grant and part of their inaugural class of Dance/USA Fellowships for Artists. She studied modern dance (under Viola Farber) and creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College before earning her Master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Her work has been presented at spaces such as the National Portrait Gallery, the Seattle Art Museum, Art Basel Miami Beach (Project Miami Fair), and the 2022 Venice Biennale as part of Simone Leigh's Loophole of Retreat. Her visual artwork includes photography, installation, video, and performance. A Cave Canem Fellow, she has published poems in numerous journals and anthologies. She is currently the National Director for Turnaround Arts at the Kennedy Center, a program which uses the arts strategically to transform public schools facing severe inequities. 

KELLEE EDUSEI (she/her) is the first BIPOC Executive Director of Dance/USA, a forty-one year old, historically and predominately white led organization. After over a decade of serving in multiple capacities (first as the Office Manager and soon after as the Board Liaison and Director of Member Services), Edusei currently has the privilege of sitting at the helm of Dance/USA during this moment of change. Edusei embodies an ethos of “being in humble service to the dance ecosystem.” Through her leadership, she is committed to cultivating a practice of bringing to life the organization’s stated core values of Creativity, Connectivity, Equity and Integrity. Under her leadership, Edusei is leading Dance/USA in building an environment that embodies equity, centers inclusionary practices, and cultivates a profound sense of belonging for all parts of the dance ecosystem.

In the two and half years that she has served as the Executive Director, Edusei has incorporated a shared leadership structure for Dance/USA’s eighteen peer networks (Councils and Affinity Groups) thereby dismantling a singular leadership structure; embedded the organization’s core value of equity in its most foundational document – its Bylaws – ensuring a singular, equitable pathway to Trusteeship; transitioned its Conference to a biennial cycle with a commitment to offering virtual programming throughout the year; and introduced Impact Groups, a more inclusive framework for collaboration and input from members and leaders from the broader dance ecosystem. These initiatives have flourished all the while ensuring the financial stability of the organization during one of the most economically uncertain times in the last decade. As a commitment to bolster the organization’s financial health, Edusei rolled out a 12 month individual giving campaign, 40 x 40, that celebrated the organization’s 40 years of service. The culmination of the 40 x 40 ended with Dance/USA’s inaugural Day of Giving.

With curiosity and intentionality, Edusei will launch a Strategic Reframing process to examine the connections between being a member based association, operational sustainability, and increased influence within the performing arts sector. In her prior role as Director of Member Services and Board Liaison, Edusei designed the Membership Fellowship, for early career arts administrators to deepen their administrative skills and expand their leadership acumen. She implemented the “Special Membership Package,” recruitment campaign that surpassed set goals and engaged the entire Dance/USA Board and team. Edusei created a new revenue stream by maximizing Dance/USA’s monthly Bulletin. Additionally, she was part of the initial design of Dance/USA’s Dance Business Bootcamp, a program for dance artists working with budgets of less than $200,000. Edusei leveraged her Board experience to develop a website portal for Dance/USA’s Board of Trustees giving them access to one another and Board materials on-demand. In addition, she standardized the on-boarding process for new Trustees.

Edusei is an experienced grants panelist, having served on panels for the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County (MD), Alternate Roots (GA), and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (IL). She currently serves on the Advisory Council for Women of Color in the Arts (WOCA) and on the Board of Directors for the Performing Arts Alliance (both national in scope). She is a former Board member of See Chicago Dance (IL) and Dance Exchange (MD), where she served as the Chair of their Governance Committees. Edusei has connections to Jacob’s Pillow (MA), Bates Dance Festival (ME), and Movement Research’s (NY) dance communities.

Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Edusei was first introduced to dance when her grandmother took her to The Washington Ballet (TWB) where she auditioned for Mary Day. Being accepted into TWB’s School is where Edusei’s love for dance took root and blossomed. After several years of ballet training, Edusei transitioned to contemporary dance, training at Maryland Youth Ballet, Dance Place, and the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange.

As a double-major graduate from The College of Wooster (OH) with degrees in Dance and Black Studies, Edusei studied in New York City and Yaoundé, Cameroon. Though worlds apart, she immersed herself in each city’s eclectic dance and arts communities. As a reflection of these experiences, she devised an evening length performance exclusively of her work – the first of any Dance major at Wooster – as part of her Independent Study thesis, titled Singularly Women/Collectively Woman. The piece focused on the mask dances of the Yoruba, Voltaic, and Mende (three distinct West African ethnic groups).

Edusei considers herself a lifelong learner, and is always seeking opportunities to stretch, grow, learn, reflect and refine. To that end, she is an alumna of Acumen’s 2022 Leadership Accelerator cohort; a 2021 participant of the New Strategies Forum at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business, supported by American Express; artEquity’s 2020 BIPOC Leadership Circle; and an alumna of American Express’ 2014 Leadership Academy. Edusei relocated to Chicago, IL in 2014 with her husband and their children.

JIM LEIJA has served as Deputy Director for Public Experience and Learning at the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) since September 2019. He leads the team that builds UMMA's partnerships across the university and community and that designs and implements educational and public programming. During his tenure at UMMA, Jim has launched innovative public programming, like the Vote2020/22/24 Project with the Ann Arbor City Clerk’s Office and the campus-wide "Arts and Resistance" theme semester, in addition to initiating new partnerships with the Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership Program (Canada) and Monument Lab. Before UMMA, Leija served on the senior executive leadership team of the University Musical Society (UMS) as Vice President, Education & Community Engagement for 8 years (former title Director of Education & Community Engagement). He was instrumental in designing and implementing two major educational and performance residencies with the New York Philharmonic; served as project director for UMS’s two “Engaging Dance Audience” grants (through Dance/USA and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation); launched an arts-academic integration program with the U-M College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation); co-curated UMS’s theater series "No Safety Net" focused on contemporary social issues; and produced a "Day of Action" with Yo-Yo Ma in Flint, Michigan, in 2019. In 2022, Jim was publicly elected to his third four-year term as a trustee of the Ann Arbor District Library. Additionally, he is a trustee of Dance/USA (the national service organization for professional dance) and board member of the Detroit-based InsideOut Literary Arts. Jim holds three degrees from the University of Michigan: a master of fine arts in art and design, bachelor of arts in sociology, and a bachelor of fine arts in musical theatre. As a queer Latinx person, Jim draws great inspiration from BIPOC and queer artists who are forging creative pathways in the arts.

How do we support leaders in the cultural sector?

In this episode, host Tim Cynova has a fun and fascinating conversation with Gail Crider (President & CEO) and Kristina Newman-Scott (Board Chair) of National Arts Strategies (NAS), an organization dedicated to building and supporting a community of arts and culture leaders who drive inspiring change for the future. We dive into the transformative work they've been doing to create more inclusive and innovative spaces and approaches within the sector through their programs and offerings.

Episode Highlights:

• Introduction to our guests from National Arts Strategies and their roles within and outside of NAS.
• The history and mission of NAS, and how they are working to strengthen the arts and culture sector.
• The importance of embracing change and adapting to the ever-evolving landscape of the arts industry.
• The role of technology in creating new opportunities and challenges for arts organizations.
• NAS's commitment to its values, and how they're working to create more inclusive spaces within the arts sector.
• The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the arts industry and how NAS has adapted its programs to support leaders during these challenging times.
• The future of NAS and their vision for the arts and culture sector and what exciting things are in store.

GAIL CRIDER is the granddaughter of Bob and Carrie, farmers who figured things out as they went and nurtured both plants and neighbors; she is the daughter of Carolyn, an educator who built spaces for people of all ages to understand and learn tools to turn learning disabilities into different abilities; she is the sister of Catherine, a psychiatrist who is as dedicated to truth finding as she is to planet nurturing; she is mother to Alex, a recent graduate who plans to run for public office, dismantle harmful and oppressive systems, and link arms with others to heal the world.

Gail is part of a collaborative management team of creative and resourceful individuals at NAS who sit inside a larger and greatly gifted staff and board of agitators and change agents. She facilitates strategy, program design and partnerships, and values alignment. Gail was instrumental in the organization’s transition from the National Arts Stabilization Fund to National Arts Strategies and providing the range of services offered today that support a diverse community of leaders driving inspiring change for the future.

Over the course of her career, Gail has been an entrepreneur, worked with a variety of nonprofit organizations and spent a decade in public and private philanthropy. Prior to NAS, she was as a program officer for a foundation where she worked on inner-city redevelopment and community building in Washington, D.C. Gail has also worked for the Arizona Commission on the Arts, Arena Stage, Shakespeare Theatre, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Key Bank. She co-chaired the Community Development Support Collaborative in Washington, D.C., and has served as a senior fellow for the Center for  High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania, on the audit committee for the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies and on grant panels for the Corporation for National Service (AmeriCorps), the National Endowment for the Arts and the Department of Treasury, CDFI Fund. She holds a B.S. in theater from Lewis and Clark College and continues to learn formally and informally through her work at NAS, including continuing education at Stanford University, Harvard Business School, and University of Michigan – Ross School of Business. She is an ICF trained leadership coach.

KRISTINA NEWMAN-SCOTT is an award-winning, purpose-driven leader with over 20 years of experience in contemporary visual and performing arts, entertainment, and media. She is the inaugural Executive Director for The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at New York Public Radio/WNYC, the company’s multi-platform and live studio space.

Newman-Scott's awards and recognitions include being named one of the City and State New York’s, Telecommunications Power 50 individuals shaping New York’s digital future, an Observer’s NYC Arts Power 50, and a Next City Urban Vanguard. She is a recipient of the Selina Roberts Ottum award from Americans for the Arts and was conferred an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts by the University of New Haven, Lyme Academy of Fine Arts in 2018.

Her past leadership positions include serving as President of BRIC, an art, and media organization in Brooklyn; the Director of Culture for the State of Connecticut; Director of Programs at the Boston Center for the Arts; and Director of Visual Arts at Real Art Ways. Kristina was appointed to the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission in 2020 and currently serves on the Boards of Americans for the Arts, the Brooklyn Arts Council, National Arts Strategies, New Yorkers for Culture and Arts and the New York Arts Education Roundtable.

Kristina was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica and worked as a practicing artist and TV/radio host and producer in her home country before moving to the US in 2005. She currently lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.

In this episode, we explore unlimited paid time off policies: what they are, what they aren't, and items to consider when implementing this type of approach to PTO.

Katrina Donald takes over hosting duties and turns the interviewee's microphone unusually in Tim Cynova's direction as they discuss Paid Time Off and his experience transitioning an organization to an Unlimited Paid vacation day policy.

Katrina Donald based in Treaty 7 Territory, Katrina (she/her) is the principal consultant at ever-so-curious. She believes that listening and sensemaking practices bring us into community, reveal pathways forward, encourage and embolden us, and allow for greater impact. Her approach is relational and developmental; she works in partnership with people and organizations to co-design inclusive, collaborative and continuously emerging evaluation and HR strategies.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Manitoba and a Masters Certificate in Organization Development and Change from the Canadian Organization Development Institute (CODI) and the Schulich Executive and Education Centre (SEEC) at York University. She is a mother, wife, daughter, sister, systems thinker, developmental evaluator, program designer, and a Registered Professional Recruiter (RPR). She’s committed to showing up for her own ongoing learning and to building workplaces that are actively anti-racist, praxis-centered and humble as they work through the prickly bramble of change. Learn more on LinkedIn.

Tim Cynova, SPHR (he/him) is the Principal of Work. Shouldn’t. Suck., an HR and org design consultancy helping to reimagine workplaces where everyone can thrive. He is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and a trained mediator, and has served on the faculty of Minneapolis College of Art & Design, the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity (Banff, Canada) and The New School (New York City) teaching courses in People-Centric Organizational Design, and Strategic HR. In 2021, he concluded a 12-year tenure leading Fractured Atlas, a $30M, entirely virtual non-profit technology company and the largest association of independent artists in the U.S., where he served in both the Chief Operating Officer and Co-CEO roles (part of a four-person, shared, non-hierarchical leadership team), and was deeply involved in its work to become an anti-racist, anti-oppressive organization since they made that commitment in 2013. Earlier in his career, Tim was the Executive Director of The Parsons Dance Company and of High 5 Tickets to the Arts in New York City, had a memorable stint with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, was a one-time classical trombonist, musicologist, and for five years in his youth he delivered newspapers for the Evansville, Indiana Courier-Press. Learn more on LinkedIn.

In this episode, podcast co-hosts Tim Cynova and Lauren Ruffin discuss recent pay transparency law changes that require companies to disclose pay ranges, as well as the laws’ potential to shift power and information sharing in workplaces. They explore the importance of clearly defining job requirements and the benefits of fixed-tier compensation to ensure equal – if not entirely *equitable* – pay. Lauren addresses the issues of location-based pay adjustments and speculates that increased transparency may lead to more organizations unionizing. Tim highlights the ongoing reevaluation of work's value and the need for businesses to adapt to Long COVID by creating more inclusive and equitable environments. They end the episode with a cliffhanger and agree to revisit this topic as the laws’ effects become clearer.

Lauren Ruffin (she/her) is a thinker, designer, & leader interested in building strong, sustainable, anti-racist systems & organizations. She's into exploring how we can leverage new technologies to combat racial and economic injustice. She frequently participates in conversations on circular economies, social impact financing, solidarity movements, and innovative, non-extractive financing mechanisms. Lauren is an Associate Professor of Worldbuilding and Visualizing Futures at Arizona State University and a co-founder of CRUX, an immersive storytelling cooperative that collaborates with Black artists as they create content in virtual reality and augmented reality (XR). Lauren was co-CEO of Fractured Atlas, the largest association of independent artists in the United States. In 2017, she started Artist Campaign School, a new educational program that has trained 74 artists to run for political office to date. Lauren has served on the governing boards of Black Innovation Alliance, Black Girls Code, and Main Street Phoenix Cooperative, and on the advisory boards of ArtUp and Black Girl Ventures. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a degree in Political Science and obtained a J.D. from the Howard University School of Law. Learn more on LinkedIn.

Tim Cynova (he/him) is the Principal of Work Shouldn’t Suck, an HR and org design consultancy helping to reimagine workplaces where everyone can thrive. He is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and a trained mediator, and has served on the faculty of Minneapolis College of Art & Design, the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity (Banff, Canada) and The New School (New York City) teaching courses in People-Centric Organizational Design, and Strategic HR. In 2021, he concluded a 12-year tenure leading Fractured Atlas, a $30M, entirely virtual non-profit technology company and the largest association of independent artists in the U.S., where he served in both the Chief Operating Officer and Co-CEO roles (part of a four-person, shared, non-hierarchical leadership team), and was deeply involved in its work to become an anti-racist, anti-oppressive organization since they made that commitment in 2013. Earlier in his career, Tim was the Executive Director of The Parsons Dance Company and of High 5 Tickets to the Arts in New York City, had a memorable stint with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, was a one-time classical trombonist, musicologist, and for five years in his youth he delivered newspapers for the Evansville, Indiana Courier-Press. Learn more on LinkedIn.

Whether you refer to it as "sunsetting" or "supernova’ing," what’s true is that there are few resources to guide those wanting to intentionally shutdown an organization’s operations. While a multitude of resources exist dedicated to starting and scaling ventures, the same can’t be said when one finds themself on the other end of the organizational life cycle.

In this episode, host Tim Cynova connects with guests who were tasked with leading companies through this final phase. We’ll hear how they came to the decision, how they approached the work, and what resonates for them as they reflect on it all.

This episode include two conversations. The first is with Michelle Preston and Megan Carter who helped lead the transition at SITI Company. The second is with Jamie Bennett who helped lead the transition at ArtPlace America. In all of this, we consider how centering values when closing a company can help us even when we’re not.

MEGAN E. CARTER is a creative producer, strategy consultant, and dramaturg with a track record of sustained success in theatre, interdisciplinary performing arts and live events. Most recently, she led SITI Company, an award-winning theater ensemble, through a comprehensive legacy plan, archive process, and finale season. She is currently a creative consultant with A TODO DAR Productions on rasgos asiaticos, a performance installation by Virginia Grise and Tanya Orellana exploring migration, borders, and family. Megan has developed and produced new and classic works Off-Broadway, as well as internationally at theatres, venues, and festivals like The Fisher Center at Bard, BAM, City Theatre in Pittsburgh, Singapore International Festival of the Arts (SIFA), REDCAT (LA), Teatr Studio (Warsaw), Wuzhen Theatre Festival (Wuzhen, China), Under the Radar Festival, the Huntington Gardens (LA, site-specific), International Divine Comedy Theatre Festival at Małopolska Garden of Arts in (Krakow), the Walt Disney Modular Theater (LA), Classic Stage Company, Cherry Lane Theatre, WP Theater, the World Financial Center (site-specific). At WP Theater, she led the Lab for Directors, Playwrights, and Producers and managed new play development and commissions. Megan served as dramaturg on the American Premiere of Jackie by Elfriede Jelinek and has edited the English translations of a number of Jelinek’s plays, including Rechnitz and The Charges (The Supplicants). She has also edited the SITI Company anthology – SITI COMPANY: THIS IS NOT A HANDBOOK, coming out in 2023. Megan has been on faculty at the Brooklyn College, SITI Company Conservatory and California Institute of the Arts. She is currently on faculty at Primary Stages’ Einhorn School for the Performing Arts (ESPA). Education: MFA in Dramaturgy, Brooklyn College/CUNY; BA in Theatre, Centenary College of Louisiana.

MICHELLE PRESTON began her career in arts administration at the Columbus Symphony Orchestra before coming to New York City where she has worked with Urban Bush Women, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and the School of American Ballet. She began at SITI Company in 2012 as the Deputy Director and served as Executive Director from 2014-2022.  While at SITI, Michelle produced 9 world premieres, 17 domestic and international tours, and 5 New York City seasons. She also led the multi-year strategic planning process that resulted in the SITI Legacy Plan, a comprehensive set of activities meant to celebrate the accomplishments and preserve the legacy of the ensemble before the organized and intentional sunset at the end of 2022.  She is currently the Executive Director of the José Limón Dance Foundation.

She holds an M.F.A. in Performing Arts Management from Brooklyn College and a B.F.A. in Dance Performance from Northern Illinois University. Michelle spent six years as an adjunct faculty member for the Brooklyn College Performing Arts Management MFA program teaching fundraising and 18-months serving as the Interim Program Head.  Additionally, she has guest lectured at Bard College, Columbia University, Columbia University Teachers College, Marymount Manhattan, NYU, Playwrights Horizons Theater School, and St. Lawrence University. She has also served as a panelist for the Brooklyn Arts Council Regrant Program, the TCG Global Connections Grant, the ART/NY Nancy Quinn Fund, and the NAMT Innovation & Exploration Fund.

JAMIE BENNETT [he/him] works at the intersections of nonprofits, philanthropy, and the public sector with arts, culture, and comprehensive community development. Jamie has held leadership roles at ArtPlace America, United States Artists, the National Endowment for the Arts, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Columbia University, and the Agnes Gund Foundation. He worked in fundraising at the New York Philharmonic and Columbia University; and serves in volunteer capacities with the David Rockefeller Fund, the HERE Arts Center, the Make Music Alliance, and The Heritage Center (Itówapi Owápazo) of the Red Cloud Indian School. Jamie has been sober since 2009.

In this episode, we’re exploring uncertainty, transitions, and moving forward in ambiguity – something most of us probably feel like we’re getting pretty used to having lived the past several years amid a global pandemic.

We’ll be exploring how these things show up in organizations, and in one organization in particular – San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. And we’ll discuss how they’re approaching this in their evolving work.

To learn more about their Head of External Relations search, visit: https://www.workshouldntsuck.co/ybca-er.

SARA FENSKE BAHAT is a connector, most at-home when bridging the creative arts, economics, and equitable design to shape our social and political landscape. As Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) CEO, Sara works collaboratively with the YBCA team to advance the organization as a dynamic home for artists, arts and culture, and social justice movement building. Prior to becoming CEO, Sara served as YBCA’s Board Chair. Under her leadership, YBCA navigated COVID-19 pandemic challenges (which resulted in the longest mass closure of cultural venues since World War II), received support from leading innovators for groundbreaking work at the intersection of arts and movement building, and launched the nation’s first dedicated guaranteed income program for artists.

Most recently, Sara served as chair of the California College of the Arts (CCA) MBA in Design Strategy, a groundbreaking, multidisciplinary degree rooted in systems theory, foresight, and innovation.

Sara has a community finance and economic development background. Before becoming an educator, she worked for New York City’s economic development agency and in banking, where she championed local government support for community banks, improved banking and savings products for immigrant households, and multi-state consumer protection settlements.

Raised in a Milwaukee family steeped in advocacy for human, civil, and LGBTQ+ rights, Sara quickly developed a commitment to activism and social justice. A dedicated political fundraiser and mobilizer, she is passionate about driving civic engagement and hosted the Democratic National Committee’s first-ever Zoom fundraiser at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sara is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the London School of Economics. She is a 2022 Presidential Leadership Scholar, exploring the meaning of culture and cohesion in a country increasingly divided across wealth, ideology, and acknowledgment of historic and present inequity.

Sara lives in San Francisco and loves a good dance party.

RENUKA KHER has supported entrepreneurial efforts in under-resourced communities for her entire career. She has spent 16 years in various roles in philanthropy and managed and directed over $150M. Her professional experience spans the public, private, philanthropic and non-profit sectors. She has served on the board of and as an advisor to many of the nation’s leading social change organizations including, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Beyond 12, Year Up, Global Citizen Year and Revolution Foods.

Most recently, she served on the executive team of Tipping Point Community a nonprofit grant-making organization that fights poverty in the Bay Area. During her six year tenure at Tipping Point she helped lead the growth of the organization as its Chief Operating Officer and also founded T Lab, Tipping Point's R+D engine.

Before joining Tipping Point, Renuka served as a Principal at NewSchools Venture Fund whose work is focused on education and prior to that she was a Senior Program Officer at the Robin Hood Foundation where her work included developing and implementing a strategy for a $65 million relief fund, one of the nation's largest, created to respond to the terrorist attacks of September 11th.

Her work has been featured in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, OZY, and Social Startup Success. Renuka received her bachelor's degree in Biology from the University of Michigan, and completed her graduate work at Emory University, where she received a master's in public health from the Rollins School of Public Health. She is an alumnus of the Coro Leadership Program and also holds a certificate in Innovation Leadership from California College of the Arts. She currently lives in Oakland with her husband and two young children.

In this special bonus episode of "White Men & the Journey Towards Anti-Racism," Tim talks with Noah Becker, Kevin Eppler, Colin Lacey, and Shannon Mudd, four members of a peer support circle that's part of the larger racial affinity group White Men for Racial Justice (WMRJ). This group of guys meet regularly to support, challenge, and hold each other accountable as they seek to live into their values and desire to help co-create an anti-racist, equitable, and just world.

After nearly two years of meeting weekly on Zoom, they finally had the opportunity to meet in 3D in Richmond, Virginia for a weekend of immersive learning and community building with 40 other members of WMRJ. This discussion occurs the week after that gathering.

This series was created to be a resource for white men who might be wrestling with questions like, “What’s my role in anti-racism, equity, inclusion, and justice work as a white man with power and privilege?” and “How might my personal commitment to do this work manifest itself in the organization I help lead?”

Are you new to the series? Check out episode 54 where podcast co-hosts Lauren Ruffin and Tim Cynova introduce and frame the conversations. Download the accompanying study guide. And explore the other episodes in this series with guests:

• Raphael Bemporad (Founding Partner) & Bryan Miller (Chief Financial Officer), BBMG
• Ted Castle (Founder & President) & Rooney Castle (Vice President), Rhino Foods
• Ron Carucci, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Navalent
• David Devan, General Director & President, Opera Philadelphia
• Jared Fishman, Founding Executive Director, Justice Innovation Lab
• Jay Coen Gilbert, Co-Founder, B Lab; CEO, Imperative21
• Kit Hughes, Co-Founder and CEO of Look Listen
• Marc Mannella, Independent Consultant, Former CEO KIPP Philadelphia Public Schools
• John Orr, Executive Director, Art-Reach
• David Reuter, Partner, LLR
• Sydney Skybetter, Founder, CRCI; Associate Chair & Senior Lecturer, Theatre Arts & Performance Studies Department, Brown University

• "Sassy Mouths, Unfettered Spirits, and the Neo-Lynching of Korryn Gaines and Sandra Bland: Conceptualizing Post Traumatic Slave Master Syndrome and the Familiar “Policing” of Black Women’s Resistance in Twenty-First-Century America" by Dr. Zoe Spencer and Olivia N. Perlow
• Hidden in Plain Site is a VR exploration of distinct, but easy to overlook sites around Richmond, VA - including the Richmond Slave Trail mentioned during this episode - that tells the story of the Black experience throughout history. Featuring actual examples from various angles and ages, these sites will be brought to impactful life through current appearance augmented with historical imagery.
• America's Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America by Jim Wallis
• "A Stain on An All-American Brand: How Brooks Brothers Once Clothed Slaves" by Dr. Jonathan Michael Square

NOAH BECKER With more than 20 years of experience in the corporate financial and public accounting sectors, Noah is responsible for financial reporting and oversight of all administrative financial matters at LLR. During his career, Noah has helped several companies establish the financial and operational tools to facilitate growth and expansion. He has held senior financial positions at early stage as well as established entities such as ICG Commerce, Five Below and The Franklin Mint. Prior to joining LLR, he served as CFO of Finite Carbon. Previously, he spent eight years in public accounting at Arthur Andersen, most recently as a Senior Manager.

KEVIN EPPLER (he/him), MTS, is a curriculum designer, facilitator, and content creator with Jubilee Partners (Jubilee Justice and Jubilee Gift). Kevin recently became a certified Program Leader with the Groundwater Institute. He is also a Learning Partner at The Opt-In. Prior to his work with Jubilee, Groundwater, and The Opt-In, Kevin spent 20 years in education, as a classroom teacher, dean, department chair, and varsity coach. He has designed and taught courses that examine race, justice, social business, social movements, and religion in both university and secondary school settings. Since 2013, Kevin has been dedicated to designing antiracism curriculum, leading antiracist caucus spaces, and JEDI/ABAR (Anti-bias, antiracism) consulting, after having committed himself to his own learning/unlearning as well as building his racial and cultural competence. Kevin believes he and other white men particularly have an important role to play in dismantling systems of oppression that begins with transformational learning and intentional inner work. Kevin has co-designed and founded a number of white, antiracist, caucus spaces including WMRJ (White Men for Racial Justice) and AWARE, both which were designed to call white folk into community and accountability, to develop our racial awareness, our stamina, literacy, and communication skills, as well as to commit to dismantling racism in ourselves and our spheres of influence. He has helped develop antiracism curriculum and programs in high schools, church communities, non-profit organizations, and for profit businesses. Kevin particularly enjoys designing and leading intensive justice and equity based immersion experiences and has done for both secondary schools and adult communities. 

COLIN LACEY, Chief Product Officer at a Machine Learning technology startup, has a passion for bringing great products and services to market and has done so in IT, clean energy and software domains. From growing up in Ireland, to working in Asia, Europe, and the Americas, he liked to think that he had a pretty good handle on the state of the world but that was completely dispelled following Charlottesville, and the death of George Floyd, driving him to reassess his perspectives on life and race in America. He lives in Austin, TX with his Afro-Latina wife, their two dogs, and (occasionally) their two college-aged kids. 

SHANNON MUDD is an economist who has worked both in and out of academics and has previously lived in Slovakia, Russia and the UK. He currently is in the department of economics and director of Haverford MI3, the Microfinance and Impact Investing Initiative at Haverford College. Mi3 is a member of Investors’ Circle (SVC) and its national network of impact investors and Shannon is an active participant in the Philadelphia Chapter. He and his students manage a small impact investing portfolio of equity investment in early stage social enterprises in partnership with a foundation in HK. He has been living in Phoenixville, PA for 18 years where he and his wife raised two terrific kids and where they are now happily empty nesters. He enjoys cycling, gardening, reading, cooking, training in martial arts, playing guitar and is active in his church leading small group studies and participating in worship music. He participates in POWER Interfaith, an organizing group of largely faith-based congregations actively working toward racial justice, social justice and environmental justice in Pennsylvania.

TIM CYNOVA (he/him) is the Principal of Work. Shouldn’t. Suck., an HR and org design consultancy helping to reimagine workplaces where everyone can thrive. He is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and a trained mediator, and has served on the faculty of Minneapolis College of Art & Design, the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity (Banff, Canada) and The New School (New York City) teaching courses in People-Centric Organizational Design and Strategic HR. In 2021, he concluded a 12-year tenure leading Fractured Atlas, a $30M, entirely virtual non-profit technology company and the largest association of independent artists in the U.S., where he served in both the Chief Operating Officer and Co-CEO roles (part of a four-person, shared, non-hierarchical leadership team), and was deeply involved in its work to become an anti-racist, anti-oppressive organization since they made that commitment in 2013. Earlier in his career, Tim was the Executive Director of The Parsons Dance Company and of High 5 Tickets to the Arts in New York City, had a memorable stint with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, was a one-time classical trombonist, musicologist, and for five years in his youth he delivered newspapers for the Evansville, Indiana Courier-Press.

In episode twelve of the 12-part podcast series, "White Men & the Journey Towards Anti-Racism," Tim interviews Jared Fishman, a civil right lawyer and Founding Executive Director of Justice Innovation Lab, a company building data-driven solutions for a more equitable, effective & fair justice system.

This series was created to be a resource for white men who might be wrestling with questions like, “What’s my role in anti-racism, equity, inclusion, and justice work as a white man with power and privilege?” and “How might my personal commitment to do this work manifest itself in the organization I help lead?”

Are you new to the series? Check out episode 54 where podcast co-hosts Lauren Ruffin and Tim Cynova introduce and frame the conversations. Download the accompanying study guide. And explore the other episodes in this series with guests:

• Raphael Bemporad (Founding Partner) & Bryan Miller (Chief Financial Officer), BBMG
• Ted Castle (Founder & President) & Rooney Castle (Vice President), Rhino Foods
• Ron Carucci, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Navalent
• David Devan, General Director & President, Opera Philadelphia
• Jay Coen Gilbert, Co-Founder, B Lab; CEO, Imperative21
• Kit Hughes, Co-Founder and CEO of Look Listen
• Marc Mannella, Independent Consultant, Former CEO KIPP Philadelphia Public Schools
• John Orr, Executive Director, Art-Reach
• David Reuter, Partner, LLR
• Sydney Skybetter, Founder, CRCI; Associate Chair & Senior Lecturer, Theatre Arts & Performance Studies Department, Brown University

• [Race and the Criminal Justice System] New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
• [Race and the Criminal Justice System] 13th, A Documentary
• [Race and the Criminal Justice System] Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas Blackmon
• [Race and the Criminal Justice System] Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America by Khalil Jibran Muhammad
• [Race and the Criminal Justice System] Punishment without Crime: How Our Massive Misdemeanor System Traps the Innocent and Makes America More Unequal by Alexandra Natapoff (on the impact of low level charges)
• [Race and the Criminal Justice System] Locked In: The True Causes of Mass Incarceration and How to Achieve Real Reform by John Pfaff (on prosecutors role)
• [Data and Justice] Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy by Cathy O’Neil
• [Date and Justice] The Rise of Big Data Policing: Surveillance, Race, and the Future of Law Enforcement by Andrew Guthrie Ferguson
• [Alternatives to the Status Quo] Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair by Danielle Sered
• [Behavioral Science] The Behavioral Code: The Hidden Ways the Law Makes Us Better…or Worse by Benjamin Van Rooij & Adam Fine
• [Behavioral Science] The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haiti
• The Marshal Project’s daily newsletter of the most important criminal justice stories from across the U.S.
• Serial Podcast, Season 3 is another good resource explainer on the Criminal Justice system.

JARED FISHMAN is a former federal prosecutor and the founder and executive director of Justice Innovation Lab, an organization that designs data-informed solutions for a more equitable, effective, and fair justice system.  Justice Innovation Lab uses a collaborative approach to identify and fix inequities in jurisdictions across the United States. Prior to founding Justice Innovation Lab, Jared served for 14 years as a senior civil rights prosecutor at the US Department of Justice, where he led some of the most complex civil rights prosecutions in the country, securing convictions in high-profile cases involving police misconduct, hate crimes and human trafficking.   He began his career as a line prosecutor at the Washington, DC US Attorney’s Office, where he handled domestic violence and sex offense cases. Jared regularly speaks on issues of data-driven criminal justice reform, police accountability, hate crimes, and human trafficking, and has trained international and local police, prosecutors, and judges. His work and analysis have been featured on CNN, CBS, CBC, and in the New York Times and the Washington Post., and he serves as adjunct faculty at Georgetown University and at the George Washington University Law School.

TIM CYNOVA (he/him) is the Principal of Work. Shouldn’t. Suck., an HR and org design consultancy helping to reimagine workplaces where everyone can thrive. He is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and a trained mediator, and has served on the faculty of Minneapolis College of Art & Design, the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity (Banff, Canada) and The New School (New York City) teaching courses in People-Centric Organizational Design and Strategic HR. In 2021, he concluded a 12-year tenure leading Fractured Atlas, a $30M, entirely virtual non-profit technology company and the largest association of independent artists in the U.S., where he served in both the Chief Operating Officer and Co-CEO roles (part of a four-person, shared, non-hierarchical leadership team), and was deeply involved in its work to become an anti-racist, anti-oppressive organization since they made that commitment in 2013. Earlier in his career, Tim was the Executive Director of The Parsons Dance Company and of High 5 Tickets to the Arts in New York City, had a memorable stint with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, was a one-time classical trombonist, musicologist, and for five years in his youth he delivered newspapers for the Evansville, Indiana Courier-Press.