Thanks for visiting! I’m Danielle, a proud Chicago native currently based in the Washington DC area, and the driving force behind Liberated Development.
Before founding LD in 2019, I spent nearly two decades at the forefront of equitable leadership and organizational development in national nonprofits and universities. My work is fueled by a passion for transforming leadership paradigms and team dynamics.
My areas of expertise include DEI, inclusive leadership, human-centered strategic planning and communication, leadership coaching, and organizational culture and change management. These areas are not merely buzzwords—they are the essence of my approach to helping organizations achieve substantial shifts, redefine leadership structures, and tap into historically overlooked internal talent.
At the core of my work is a commitment to transforming organizational cultures and managing change by focusing on the human aspects often neglected. I have guided numerous organizations in overhauling their leadership practices to prioritize equity and inclusion, thereby fostering healthier cultures, actualizing missions more effectively, and unleashing the potential of untapped talent.
I am dedicated to unlocking the potential within each organization, ensuring that every member has the opportunity to lead and thrive.
I am grateful to live out part of my life's work through Liberated Development, a company whose success is made possible by the collective effort of a remarkable group of experts who share this journey with me. Their expertise and brilliance have amplified my impact far beyond what I could achieve alone. Learn more about them!
Liberated Development has been a labor of love and community, which you can read more about in the following features and spotlights:
Educational Background:
Masters-Level Studies
- Executive Nonprofit Management: Specializing in strategic leadership and organizational development.
- Leadership Development & Ethics: Focused on cultivating ethical leadership and practical skills for social impact.
Bachelor’s-Level Studies
- Strategic Communications: Emphasizing effective communication techniques and strategies for social change.
Training & Development:
Listed in alphabetical order
- Building Learning Communities (Carson-Dellosa)
- Certified Dream Manager Coach (Floyd Consulting)
- Change Implementation: Organizational Development Process Consulting (Institute for Organizational Development)
- Coaching for Transformation (Leadership that Works)
- Innovative Strategies for Facilitating Adult Learning (DePaul University School of New Learning)
- Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence Leadership Training (Google’s SIYLI)
- Onboarding: Leadership Transition (American Society for Training & Development)
- Succession Planning & the Development of High Potentials (BIZ Library)
- The Nexus Race Equity Fellowship (The Equity Lab)
- ToP Facilitation Methods (The Institute of Cultural Affairs)
- Undoing Racism (People’s Institution for Survival and Beyond)
Philanthropy Organization
Working with Liberated Development provided concrete strategies and tools to embody inclusion in everyday leadership. Danielle provided trainings that allowed us to learn together, create space for one another's perspectives, and integrate a plan into our organization.
Leadership & Facilitation Client
Danielle is a master at instructional design and facilitation. She effortlessly balanced the need for leaders to think introspectively about their own mindsets while also prioritizing the needs of the larger organization.
Recruting Executive
Danielle's accessible wisdom about leadership in a liberatory context is incredibly meaningful. Her facilitation allowed us to do the necessary reflection to see where we were—celebrating the wins and understanding our opportunities for growth.
Philanthropy Executive
Liberated Development's work with our team has made an immeasurable difference, navigating the interplay between organizational culture and individual experience. It's not an overstatement to say working with Danielle and team has been deeply transformative.
Leadership Cohort Participant
Liberated Development is a critical voice in the leadership development space. Learning to share power has led toward better policy and practice work in our state. I highly recommend LD...your work, and more importantly you personally, will be better for it!
Strategic Partner
Danielle designs and leads incredible experiences for teams and organizations that help them reimagine their challenges and unlock solutions while simultaneously meeting their individual needs as humans.
Philanthropy Research Leader
Conversations build on each other, we have space for exploration and questioning, and Danielle designs exercises that push us to think about how to take action.
Coaching Client
You're always pushing me to dive deeper, think harder and be better. Thank you for all that you do to support my growth.
Strategic Planning Client
Danielle was a wise advisor. She constantly thinks about how to improve organizational processes... and was an important voice in shaping our team climate.
Short Term Coaching Client
Danielle helped me clarify what type of training or professional development experience would be helpful for me to pursue in the next phase of my career journey. She is authentic, kind, and was easy to quickly build rapport with. I would highly recommend connecting with Danielle for both short and long term support!
Coaching Client
Danielle is amazingly skilled at building relationships and trust with professionals across all skill levels. Danielle provided excellent coaching on career/major choice, resume preparation, interview skills and professional development.
Strategic Planning Client
Danielle demonstrated the ability to work with a wide variety of stakeholders, understand their needs, identify potential partnerships, and develop new avenues for collaboration and organizational growth. She operates in complex environments with wise judgment and an orientation toward problem-solving and future strategy.
Strategic Planning Client
Danielle forges collaborations based on shared interest and stewards partnerships with sophistication and with an eye for the unique circumstances at play in each case, Through planning, relationship building and strategic thinking.
Strategic Planning Client
Danielle led through complicated processes, to plan and forecast with precision and foresight, all while maintaining flexibility and having a clear sense of the big picture. She constantly thinks about how to improve organizational processes such as hiring and forecasting. She was an important voice in shaping our team climate.
Facilitation Client
Danielle was able to step in and lead a training on mentorship and effective ways to maintain mentor/mentee relationships on a very short notice. The session was an absolute hit. Danielle was a great presenter and was able to connect with the audience, very well. She was later recruited as a mentor within our program. I am very appreciative of everything she's done for our organization.
Long-term Facilitation & Strategic Advising Client
Her contribution to this project was absolutely paramount to its success. Danielle excelled at adapting the professional development course to her audience and environment. In addition, I could count on Danielle to help with project planning and managing many of the details that went into this large scale implementation.
Strategic Planning & Facilitation Client
I really appreciate the way you lead this work-- it's not just about what not to do, it's about what to do. You take risks, you model and ask people to model vulnerability, you bring people in. So much of the work you've led was an invitation.