Photo Credit: Rae D’Umay
“With spring comes hope and renewal - a rapid emergence of life force and growth.
There is a Co.Creation which takes place between earth and human heart. Where the unseen becomes visible and real - forming a new truth.
This is a type of embodied Hope Work.” / Rae D’Umay /
What is your “Hope Work” at hand?
Mission
My passion is People. Meteoric business success is about People.
Regardless of how you measure success in any organization, you simply can’t move that needle without collectively harnessing the wisdom at hand. Focusing on the energies residing within the “co-”: co.create, co.nnection, co.alition; Rae of Hope Co.llective LLC helps break the cycles of business-as-usual - where “best hopes” become a lived reality.
I offer my passions for driving human-centered innovation; designing magnetizing employee experiences; and facilitating organizational transformation in service of people. Witnessing the synergistic outcomes after unleashing innate abilities; uncovering limiting patterns; building co.nections and trust - based upon people’s strengths; and fueling inner co.alition fires is my ultimate measure of success.
Rae of Hope Co.llective helps you strategize and evolve winning people strategies, enmeshed with the strategic plan.
ROHC has your people needs covered - from virtual classes covering the foundations of Meetings that Matter to ongoing People Strategy Roadmapping consulting. Check out channels: Activate and Ignite for current service offerings.
ROHC offers a variety of ways to help nourish and sustain your thriving business and people needs.
Background
I have personally experienced a full spectrum of how organizations function at their core - from “profits-at-all-costs” to the emerging “net-positive” models. The rising global consciousness demanding heart be brought back into work is a clear indicator that the harmful co.llective impacts of “profits-at-all-costs” is reaching the point of untenability.
I have learned the value and have seen the impacts to the overall vitality of employees and organizations when they both are intentionally human-centered. There is no separating “human” from “business” or “work”. They have an unbreakable symbiotic relationship, and it is the environments where this truth has been held as sacred that I’ve experienced nearly alchemic transformations. I am a true believer that embedding human-centered design at the absolute core is vital to: employee engagement; innovation; culture; and, a thriving future.
My varied professional and personal experiences, along with my formal educational accomplishments, have culminated into 3 clear unique traits that, when combined act as a force multiplier - creativity, human dynamics, and a sharply honed business acumen. Through all my experiences I’ve learned that although every organization is unique, there are some very powerful strategies that can be applied in almost any organization to proceed toward a thriving future. Rae of Hope Co.llective is here to share these strategies with YOU!
At this point you might be asking yourself: “that all sounds heartwarming and idealistic - but what do you do?” Recently I asked someone whom I admire how she would sum up what it is that I “do”. She responded with this:
“You help people get clarity.
You help people get done in one day what would normally take a week.
You help people get connected.”
On the surface, this most likely seems far too simple to be an authentic answer. Yet, the most brilliant solutions to complex challenges lies within simplification!
Over the past 20+ years I’ve had the good fortune to work with thousands of talented individuals, hundreds of teams, and all types of organizations - and time & time again the simplest interventions, identified as having the greatest leverage strength, have yielded outcomes greater than what any single person could have imagined, let alone implemented.
[Click on my 15 min presentation: Pattern Disruptions and Transformations:Sponsored by the Letters A&I, to learn about a real example of this simplification process. I share the story about a quick service restaurant’s, that ended up with $1.5M in annual sales, and more importantly, one incredible human-centered transformation]
This is where HOPE comes into the equation:
“The work at hand is hope-work…Faith is the belief that certain outcomes will happen and hope the belief that certain outcomes can happen. Hope is the belief that our tomorrows can be better than our todays. Hope is not magic; hope is work...Hope can be a driving force.
Hope is the precursor to strategy. It powers our vision of what roles we must play in bringing about a desired goal, and it amplifies our efforts. I am not surrendering to a blind faith that things will just get better….Hope is not magic. Hope is work.” -DeRay McKesson, On Hope
If you as an individual contributor, a team/department head, or executive are seeking human-centered solutions:
from gaining skills for activating participatory meetings to undertaking a transformational People Strategy Mapping Journey,
Rae of Hope Co.llective is here to simplify your “Hope Work” and help you turn it into reality .
“Rae is extremely organized, detail oriented, and generates activation. She is artistically creative which she applies to her project work, storytelling, and to positively influence her colleagues.
Rae loves a good problem to (de)solve and is energized working in teams and groups.
Rae is deep listener, excellent questioner, and enjoys the discovery work that leads to designing organizational transformation solutions.”
/ Microsoft exec /
Experience
“Hope Work” was my truth from the age of 3 - it sustained me through these often formidable formative years and has fortified my resilience through many additional formidable experiences. It’s woven into the fabric of my being - so much so, that’s why I choose it for my last name, Umay [which means hope] and it inspires Rae of Hope Co.llective.
I came from humble beginnings, finding solace and hope in books, discovered learning was a key to establishing agency in life, and began paying my own way in life at age 12 (and have been working ever since). I worked extremely hard in school and became the first to graduate from university in my family. I left the place I was raised, traveled to a place I had never seen and where I knew no one, to attend university. I worked many community service jobs and paid my way through all 4 years. When I entered the ‘professional’ world it was with a vague sense that I wanted to help make the world of work experience better, as I always was drawn to teaching-type roles. (You can hear some of my story in this podcast or read more About Rae)
I eventually was hired into my first training specialist role, and have been forging a path in the realm of improving employee experience and embedding human-centered design [heart] into business processes, culture, and structures ever since.
I’ve spent 20+ year of my professional career bringing an intrapreneurial spirit for building capacity and unleashing engagement in diverse and global organizational populations. I have been blessed to work with people from about 75% of the world’s countries; with experiences in government, non-profit, small business, publicly traded, multinational corporations, and privately owned organizations. These have spanned industries such as: medical/retirement communities, airport operations, hospitality & travel, tech call center, food service & quick service restaurants, public health, and youth programming.
Throughout my wide-ranging career (from launching a one-of-a-kind mobile computer lab providing technology access and skills to marginalized youth throughout King County, Washington; to leading OD and Change Management efforts for a global travel organization re-imagining employee-focused programs) I’ve honed my expertise and mastery in: Business; Employee Experience/EX; Learning and Development; Coaching; and Facilitation practices.
I will never forget my ‘humble’ roots and work experiences. It’s one of the advantages I hold when navigating teams through the people-side of change linking it to complex strategic organizational initiatives. From this basis, I easily see best possible future state opportunities; draw this vision out in any team or group; and help them unlock the path to living that visionary outcome.
I look forward to Rae of Hope Collective LLC helping YOU unlock your next great outcomes!
Formal Education
Rae holds a Masters in Organizational and Leadership Development; took graduate-level courses in Industrial/Organizational Psychology; holds multiple certificates in Learning & Development; and holds a Bachelors in Fine Arts.
Methodologies
Rae draws from a multitude of academic methodologies to facilitate organizational transformation:
Appreciative Inquiry; Visual Meetings/Graphic Facilitation; Design Thinking; Human Centered Design; Adaptive Leadership; Whole Systems Thinking; Change Management; Theory U; Emotional Intelligence [EQ]; Liberating Structures; Org Psychology; Emergence [Quantum Physics], and Neurology.