Vermont change makers grow team and expand capacity at Vermont business that bridges healing and social justice
Plainfield, VT – Rae Carter, founder and Saudia LaMont, founding advisor of EmpowR Transformation announce five Vermont change makers to support business growth in communication, facilitation, organizational culture consulting, and educational programming.
The new team members join Rae and Saudia, creating the EmpowR Transformation Web of Change Makers. The group’s intention is to strengthen EmpowR’s services to bridge organizational change with mental health for effective relationship, community, and culture building work.
“We believe this approach is foundational for people and organizations to build the capacity and humanity to navigate the complexity of equity-based transformational change,” shares Saudia LaMont who has been a facilitator and advisor with EmpowR Transformation since 2021. She is a racial equity consultant who owns 3 Op’s Consulting (Optimism/Options/Opportunities) as well as being a Vermont Legislator representing the Lamoille/Washington District.
“We take a hybrid approach to being a business whose work is in service to advancing transformative justice movement building. We are thrilled to bring such incredible talent to our new Web of Change Makers as we emerge into incubating a collective operational framework,” offers Rae Carter who founded EmpowR Transformation in 2019 following a career in social impact communications and a life altering cancer diagnosis.
Joining the EmpowR Transformation Web of Change Makers are:
Anna Howes Gebhardt as a facilitator and practitioner. She is a Burlington-based educator, activist, and owner of Anna Howes–Personal Transformation and Whole Family Healing.
Dr. Elliot Ruggles as an advisor and practitioner. They are a Grand Isle-based sexuality professional and clinical social worker specializing in recovery from and prevention of sexual and gender-based harm at the University of Vermont.
Mia Moore as a collaborator and facilitator. She is a Montpelier-based owner and principal of Mia Moore Consulting–working with managers and executives in equity-centered team leadership.
Mitch Pauley as a facilitator. He is a Plainfield-based special education educator, emotional health specialist, and equity advocate.
Shanda Williams as an advisor and collaborator. She is a Montpelier-based small business visionary, equity advocate, reparations activist, BIPOC community advocate, and owner of SD Communications & Marketing Consulting Group LLC.
EmpowR Transformation specializes in working with individuals, groups and teams to:
- build skills in interpersonal and group communication
- evolve and manage conflict
- facilitate and moderate challenging conversations
- improve communal care and radical empathy practices
- integrate trauma-informed and somatic approaches
- shift away from dominant culture norms and generate more welcoming spaces
- strengthen capacity for experiencing discomfort and provide a container to build emotional intelligence
- work with emergent strategy and expand learning and unlearning to include multiple intelligences and ways of knowing beyond intellectualized frameworks.
These approaches enhance effectiveness for many groups and organizations who are addressing racial, gender, economic, and ability belonging and equity work for systems change and cultural transformation.
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EmpowR Transformation inspires people, communities, organizations, and institutions to navigate the complexities of change. We hold space to embody and integrate the values of transformative justice to support shifting perspectives, patterns, and behaviors to cocreate a just and liberated world. Communication facilitation, organizational change consulting, personal healing support, equity coaching, educational programs, community events, and nature-based retreats are offered to support capacity building for collective liberation. Working at the intersection of social change, trauma responsiveness, and building a culture of belonging, EmpowR Transformation is a woman owned business, a web of change makers, and a community of evolving humans committed to building new ways of being in relationship with ourselves, each other, and the Earth. EmpowR is based at Grandmother Cherry Sanctuary in Plainfield, Vermont. Learn more at EmpowR-Transformation.com.
