I help nonprofit marcom leaders unlock breakthrough
peer influence, team capacity, and mission-fueling results — without burning out
If you're a Marketing Communications leader in the nonprofit sector, you're heading up one of the most demanding, complex, and fastest changing roles there is.
All around you is urgency.
Your team has a vital role to play, yet knowing where to focus your efforts can be the hardest part of the job. You’re leading at a time when “everyone’s a designer or writer,” and opinions on what you should be doing are loud and frequent. And today's funding volatility and political division add fuel to the "everything's urgent" fire.
Your typical small team and modest resources demand resourcefulness. Yet you often feel stuck chasing work and results imposed on you, and your voice — the point of view and strategy smarts that got you the gig — has somehow gone quiet.
While the mission keeps you here, one more big project and you'll be in legit burnout.
But the worst part? While more colleagues seek out your advice, many still reduce your role as the final “make it look and sound good" step.
And (unless you're super lucky) the VP or CEO you report to likely lacks any “been there” marcom expertise you can capitalize on.
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These factors mean the burden of relief ... is on you.
Ready for change?
The social sector can be incredibly rewarding.
But today's social sector marcom teams need a leadership system built just for you.
I've been exactly in your shoes ...
Feeling like I was leading on an island. Struggling to balance "getting the work done" with the need for strategy. Learning how to confidently recommend the "right work" and the "right results" despite imposter syndrome. Trying to stay on top of our constantly changing field. Balancing the right amount of direction for my team while "getting out of their way."
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And here's what I learned the hard way:
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Without realizing it, I was persistently inviting (even reinforcing) a transactional relationship with marcom that checked my strategy smarts at the door and limited me and my team's value to a list of completed tasks, rather than the mission-fueling results that accelerated our org's impact and financial resilience. I was measuring my value in terms of completed activities, rather than the result that really mattered.
And without an advisor who'd been there, I found myself making a lot of mistakes. My growth slowed as a result. Fast forward, and so did my career advancement and earning potential.
There's a blind spot I persistently see among rising marcom leaders in the social sector ...
You under-invest in strengthening your INFLUENCE as a strategic partner and advisor, assuming your job title is enough, or that your execution street smarts are enough.
Unfortunately, the approach that made you so successful as an individual contributor rarely works when you're heading up the entire team. In fact, it could be putting your team's wellbeing, and your career trajectory, at risk.
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It's not because you're a "bad leader." You just haven't learned how to do it yet.
Lead for Influence is a leadership system designed exclusively for nonprofit marcom leaders
This 4-part system shows you how to pivot HOW you lead to achieve breakthrough team focus, reliable team capacity, and
the mission-fueling results your org needs — without burning out.
HERE'S HOW IT WORKS:
Set radical focus.
You’ll set shared agreement on a radical focus for your team, intentionally drawing a line in the sand to invest 80% of your team's time on the “right work, right results” that directly fuel your org’s top goals AND in a manner that earns the allyship of colleagues.
Shape your "bench."
You’ll shape your bench “beyond FTEs” to get the right team, in the right roles, doing the right work, in a manner that keeps your team resilient, your capacity optimized, and your talents/strengths fully leveraged.
Minimize friction.
You’ll address the top marcom operations, systems, tech, and mindset capacity crushers that are adding friction to your workflow and colleague relationships, so you can retain the agency and capacity you’ve worked so hard to earn.
Sharpen results.
You'll sharpen your team's performance-first mindset and strategic influence, operationalize your 'right work, right results' focus, and learn how to stay nimble to shifting audience needs and outside pressures.
Your next move determines everything
You can keep trying to organize your way through it, work your way to the bottom of it, even reprimand your way out. Or you can pivot HOW you lead with a proven leadership system that addresses THE root cause unique to nonprofit marcom teams — so you never stand behind a “marcom order counter” again.
When you implement the LEAD FOR INFLUENCE system, everything changes:
Your workload is finally predictable, and your team's focus is supported across the org
Colleagues persistently benefit from your point of view and expertise
Colleagues seek out your perspective as an essential step in their process
Your team problem solves independently rather than coming to you for everything
Creative gets more innovative as capacity opens up, and those big "firsts" excite you again
Your career accelerates because you're consistently getting results that earn C-Suite attention and trust
Most importantly, you emerge as a leader who:
Doesn't just respond to organizational needs but anticipates them
Doesn't just manage a team but empowers them to persistently work smarter
Doesn't just execute tactics but builds, architects, and designs mission-fueling engines
Doesn’t just create content but engages, nurtures, and converts audiences
You step into the strategic leadership role you were meant for — with the confidence, systems, tools, and colleague respect that make it sustainable.
The longer you wait to pivot HOW you lead, the tougher it'll be to change.
You'll keep getting pulled into the same reactive patterns, watching your team burn out while colleagues lose confidence in what marcom can actually deliver. Bad actors and brand DIYers will still derail your week. You'll find yourself stuck in the same dynamic 2-3 years from now, still putting out fires instead of building the partner-based relationships—and career advancement—you deserve.
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Your organization will continue investing in marketing infrastructure—a new CRM system, website rebuilds, rebranding—without the strategic foundation you could have offered to make these investments pay off. That's not just wasted money; it's a missed opportunity for you to help build the strategic communication systems your organization needs to unleash its impact and value potential.
