Advisor Profiles

Froswa’ Booker-Drew

Froswa’ is a Network Weaver who believes relationships are the key to our personal, professional, and organizational growth. She is the President of Soulstice Consultancy, providing belonging and inclusion support, leadership training, community engagement strategies and philanthropic/partnership guidance for institutions. She is the Founder of the R2 Foundation (Restoration and Reconciliation Foundation) providing support for Black-led nonprofits. As the previous National Community Engagement Director for World Vision, she served as a catalyst, partnership broker, and builder of the capacity of local partners in multiple locations across the US to improve and sustain the well-being of children and their families. Froswa’ graduated with a PhD from Antioch University in Leadership and Change with a focus on social capital, diverse women, change management, and relational leadership. She attended the Jean Baker Miller Institute at Wellesley for training in Relational Cultural Theory and has completed facilitator training on Immunity to Change based on the work of Kegan and Lahey of Harvard. She has also completed training through UNICEF on Equity-Based Evaluations. Booker-Drew is currently an adjunct professor at Tulane University in the Master of Public Administration Program teaching the course, Governance, Leadership and Sustainability and is an affiliate faculty member at the Graduate School of Leadership and Change, Antioch University.

  • Personal Intro

    Where you are based/live/work from (including your time zone):

    Dallas-Fort Worth area/Central Time Zone

    An overview of your work (including and beyond Collective Mind):

    My work is rooted in building relationships. I believe that people are the solutions to every problem we face and it is through relationships that transformation can occur. I am a consultant to a number of institutions offering guidance, partnership development and training to build organizational and community capacity. I am a convener and have been a part of the creation of several networks including the South Dallas Employment Project which has more than 140 organizations involved to provide support for those impacted by incarceration.

    An interesting fact about yourself:

    I LOVE MUSIC!!! In my free time, it is enjoyable to relax listening to music from the 80s and 90s!

    Your network experience

    Share a few sentences about how you started working with networks/your network origin story.

    I started working with networks without even realizing that’s what I was doing. I have always been a person that was a connector and facilitator of networks. It wasn’t until I met June Holley and read her work that I realized that this work had a name!!! I started building networks officially through my work at World Vision in working with local partners in cities across the United States by starting Community Engagement Days. These convenings flourished into cohorts of organizations that were focused on serving a focused geography.

    In your view, what are the three most critical assets of a network?

    Relationships, Communication, Culture

    What are a few common network challenges you’ve come across?

    Lack of Energy/Disconnection; Lack of Focus

    What are a few important lessons you’ve learned from working with networks?

    One of the most important things I’ve learned is that a shared language is critical.

    Never make assumptions that everyone is on the same page or in agreement.

    The initial focus can change. Be willing to evolve.

    Your philosophy/approach as an advisor to networks

    A few sentences that describe how you will approach your role as an advisor. What can subscribers expect when working with you?

    My approach as an advisor is to bring out the best in everyone I work with. I will not only provide information as needed but also serve as a catalyst to embrace new ways of thinking and knowing as well to ensure that the network is healthy and thriving.

Sarah Davids

The thread that weaves through Sarah’s varied and continued contribution in this world is people. Growing up in South Africa, it seemed natural to seek out marginalized voices in work spaces and share what she has learned and then continue to upskill herself. Her formal qualifications are a Masters in Public Health, BSc Occupational Therapy, Diploma in Coaching and Organisational and Relationship Systems Coaching series through CRR Global. She integrates relationships, systems, principles and tools in all aspects of her practice drawing on her clients’ reserves of creativity and resilience. She has 23 years of experience working developmentally in the health and welfare sectors, facilitating groups of stakeholders from community and implementation levels to national policymakers. The focus was on both leadership and management as well as programmatic content. She co-founded the disability and rehabilitation network, a platform for people with disabilities and professionals. Whilst this started as an e-mail list hosted by an NGO, it evolved into a WhatsApp group and during the pandemic advocated for the rights of access to food and services. Her most recent work is supporting local food co-operatives, facilitating the strategic direction processes of the food justice coalition, supporting the organizational processes of an umbrella body for rural health, climate change, and psychosocial support and coaching to undergraduate medical students.

  • Personal Intro

    Where you are based/live/work from (including your time zone):

    I reside on the fringe of the inner city of Johannesburg, South Africa. So, no it is not gated, nor pristine, but rather has the vibrancy of the diaspora and all the typical trials and tribulations and gifts associated with it. (SAST — South Africa Standard Time)

    An overview of your work (including and beyond Collective Mind):

    Half of my year is spent facilitating management and leadership training of Masters Students in Public Health for the University of the Western Cape and updating course content. The rest is a mish-mash of emergent needs that spans team and individual engagements, and parenting two young adults (yes, that too is work). Well-being and psychosocial support remain a key approach in a society with disparity, inequality and riddled with all the -isms racism, sexism etc. and increasingly a denial of the effects of the recent pandemic. This stems from my experience in managing a program called Wellness for Effective Leadership under the Health Systems Trust. I coach executives in senior government and academia and increasingly start-up entrepreneurial teams. I partner with colleagues working in the educational sector and work with school systems and their emerging needs. I support a number of NGO’s and NPO’s with organizational and relationship systems challenges across sectors. My communities of practice include CRR Afrika (Centre of Right Relationships) and our Collective Mind cohort.

    An interesting fact about yourself:

    I have withdrawal symptoms if I do not see the ocean periodically, I love reading, swimming, kundalini yoga, and jazz music, especially wind instruments and yes, there is more.


    Your network experience

    Share a few sentences about how you started working with networks/your network origin story.

    Networks have formed part of our upbringing without it being identified as such. From knowledge about the underground political networks to health activism and health workers against apartheid movements through undergraduate years and then being part of the launch of the People’s Health Movement then local community WhatsApp groups and street committees. Then there were sporting networks and more.

    In your view, what are the three most critical assets of a network?

    The people, their willingness to do the work (both the easy and the not-so-easy) and be part of the solution,

    Awareness of the interconnectedness of all systems and necessary structures.

    Common/agreed purpose or goal and still having a unique contribution.

    These are all encompassed in Collective Mind’s Network Diagnostic Framework.

    What are a few common network challenges you’ve come across?

    Power and privilege and powerlessness and apathy

    Re-inventing the wheel faster once the people in the network realize that others have walked the path before them.

    What are a few important lessons you’ve learned from working with networks?

    People require the opportunity to view their reality through different and diverse lenses in order to craft their own reality and meaning.

    Your philosophy/approach as an advisor to networks

    A few sentences that describe how you will approach your role as an advisor. What can subscribers expect when working with you?

    My point of entry when engaging with people is that I respect the privilege of engaging with human potential. Whilst I do not know all the answers, I might know someone who knows more. Not all relationships or people gel and that is OK. We start with your agenda, where you are, and where you want to go.

Tina Puryear

Tina is a Certified Professional Facilitator as well as a freelance trainer, writer, researcher, human rights defender, social justice activist, and collective care advocate. She has 25 years of experience in program management and capacity building with local community organizations as well as national and global NGOs and networks in the human rights and social justice sectors. She has specialist experience designing and facilitating inclusive processes for organizations and networks in strategic planning (including the development of theories of change), participatory research, evaluation and learning methodologies, participatory approaches for collaborative working, and shifting power in decision-making structures. Whilst working as Head of Capacity Building at a torture rehabilitation center for 15 years, she also gained experience in supporting organizations and networks to learn about and develop supportive structures, policies, and practices to foster self and collective care for staff and network members exposed to traumatic or highly stressful situations.

  • Personal Intro

    Where you are based/live/work from (including your time zone):

    London, UK (GMT/BST)

    An overview of your work (including and beyond Collective Mind):

    At my core, I am a facilitator. As a freelance consultant, depending on the need and context, I design and facilitate processes to help groups and networks:

    Connect: build trust, develop more ‘safe-enough’ spaces, deepen connections and strengthen teams.

    Co-learn: share expertise within groups, harvest insights and problem solve together.

    Collaborate: support participation of multiple voices in planning and designing strategies, projects, programmes.

    Consensus: pull together and share perspective between diverse groups of stakeholders and involve more voices for collective decision making.

    Care: reflect together and support each other.

    Most of my career I’ve worked with organizations at the local, national, global levels who support refugees, people seeking asylum, people who have been trafficked, and others forced to migrate. Because of the intersectional nature of this human rights issue, it means I’ve also gained significant experience working with networks, NGOs and government bodies in the health, mental health, social care, education, climate sectors as well as with other more generalist human rights organizations.

    Because of the above, I’ve also learned the importance of bringing a Trauma-informed approach to my work, and developed skills and experience in supporting teams and networks to explore how trauma and vicarious trauma impacts the work and ways they can embed self and collective care.

    An interesting fact about yourself:

    I am obsessed with trees; I have a mindfulness practice, and co-facilitate a weekly mindfulness group; and I love to dance

    Your network experience

    Share a few sentences about how you started working with networks/your network origin story.

    My origin story for networks is also the start of my passion for facilitation. My first job out of university was working as a coordinator for a small youth project at a refugee resettlement organization in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. This role meant I worked directly with the young people from refugee families, and also meant that I was often asked to be (or found myself) an advocate for some of the young people when they were having trouble at school, with the local police, with their housing provider, or with local social services etc. I was too young and naive to realize how radical it was to bring representatives from these varied local bodies together. I witnessed for the first time how impactful and inspiring it can be for different stakeholders or peers to collaborate and problem-solve together. This diverse group learned from each other, and began working as a network to continually improve how they worked with and supported refugee young people in the community. This was in the 1990s and I still marvel at the power and potential of networks.

    In your view, what are the three most critical assets of a network?

    Shared values - these unify, motivate and fuel a network.

    Diverse range of expertise, experience, and perspectives - which enriches and expands the ideas & impact.

    Community - networks are a place of shared action AND shared support.

    What are a few common network challenges you’ve come across?

    Dreams and ambitions sometimes outpacing the actual availability of members to engage

    Different understandings about the purpose of the network or what to expect / what is expected

    Navigating different priorities and/or different perspectives, especially when these are related to differences in power and privilege

    What are a few important lessons you’ve learned from working with networks?

    Allow time. Networks benefit when time is protected to attend to building connections and trust; and time is required to enable networks to work together through challenges and navigate differences - this shouldn’t be skipped over or dealt with superficially. But the result pays back dividends

    Continually check in to see if there is a shared understanding of the aims and purpose of the network and how members feel the network is living its values

    Your philosophy/approach as an advisor to networks

    A few sentences that describe how you will approach your role as an advisor. What can subscribers expect when working with you?

    I’ll bring in a facilitative approach, meaning I won’t direct or instruct you on what would be best for your network. Only your network knows what would be best for your network. Instead, I’ll bring in reflective questions and draw on creative processes to help you dance between big-picture thinking and operational practicalities in order to find patterns, ‘connect the dots’, remove barriers, and strengthen the impact of your work.