Meet Andrew.

I bring nearly a decade of experience in social justice education and organizational change to my work at Promise54 and in the Interpersonal Dynamics Facilitator Training Program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. A bridge builder by nature and community organizer by training, I partner with individuals and teams to better understand systems of power and oppression and respond more effectively to the impact of these systems on ourselves and others. Meanwhile, you can find me choppin’ it up through haircuts and conversation at Dax Lee’s Barber & Apothecary in Oakland, CA.

Throughout my career, I’ve supported students, community members, and organizational leaders to engage in intra/inter-group dialogue, move constructively through conflict, and cultivate more inclusive cultures. After organizing alongside students and families with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless throughout my four years in undergrad, I started my career as a Community Organizer with MOSES in Detroit, MI. In this role, I conducted hundreds of one-on-ones with community members, faith leaders, and union workers to align local organizing efforts with national campaigns aimed at accountability for charter school authorizers. I then turned my focus toward leadership development and civic education to more directly support folks like me - as a white Polish American man from a multi-racial, working-class family in Detroit and its suburbs - often feeling in between communities and earnestly engaging across social, cultural, and political lines of difference. 

After roles as a Program Coordinator at the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Baltimore, MD and Intergroup Dialogue Facilitator at the University of Maryland, I enrolled in graduate school to deepen my understanding of individual and institutional transformation, with an emphasis on white racial identity development and equitable organizational change. I joined Promise54 - a consulting non-profit focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion - and re-rooted in Oakland, CA where I began partnering with the SEEDS Community Resolution Center as a conflict mediator and coach. Later, I enrolled at Moler Barber College to credentialize years of cutting hair in friends’ homes by earning my barber license. I also started collaborating with organizations like Rollins Consulting and The Town Project to lend my skills and capacity as a co-facilitator, co-mediator, and learning designer. Now - guided by the question “How can we create meaningful connection?” - I’m striving to build belonging from the boardroom to the barbershop.

I hold a B.A. in Sociology from Loyola University Chicago and an Ed.M. in Human Development and Psychology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education where I was an Equity & Inclusion Fellow. I earned an Associated Certified Coach (ACC) credential from the International Coaching Federation in 2022, was selected as a Fellow in the Oakland Chapter of New Leaders Council in 2020, and was awarded the Tina Tchen Ally Award from the Harvard Black Graduation Committee in 2018. I currently live in the Bay Area with my partner, Nimah.