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FOR LEADERS IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL, FOOD SYSTEM, & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SECTORS

Ritual, Rigor, and Rest

As leaders in the social impact sector, we are witnessing a catastrophic collapse. We created this gathering for women and gender-expansive folks to come together to grieve this loss, learn (or relearn) what to do next, and resource ourselves for the work ahead.  

The world is changing really fast.

Technology is evolving at breakneck speed. The future of work is shifting in ways that are entangled with that technological acceleration. The climate is unraveling. Our socio-political systems, infrastructure, and safety nets are in flux (sometimes collapsing outright).

We are living through profoundly unstable times. People are scared. People are sad.

The movements we’ve poured ourselves into, like environmental justice, food sovereignty, and human rights, are in a new chapter of active struggle. We're witnessing the systems we helped build shift or even fall apart, while simultaneously learning to stay present with the grief without being consumed by it. There’s a need to metabolize the loss.

Unfortunately, the coping strategies we used to default to, like pushing through and compartmentalizing, just aren’t working anymore. We’re feeling the call to root more deeply, build more resilient containers, and relate to your energy in a new way.

If you find yourself nodding your head 'yes' as you read this, and you are interested in connecting with other leaders who get it, Ritual, Rigor, and Rest was created just for you.

 

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"Whether I needed to use strong language, scream, or simply speak my truth unapologetically, the space was there for me to unleash emotions I had long suppressed. As leaders, we’re often expected to remain poised, confident, and composed at all times, and in doing so, we neglect ourselves. We carry emotions and burdens that aren’t ours to keep. Letting go of that weight was profoundly healing. It allowed me to hear, process, and release things I didn’t even realize I was holding onto. This has been nothing short of life-changing, and I will carry this transformation with me always."

Wintor McNeel, Site Director | College Track

How It Works

We will meet once a month, via Zoom or in person, for a facilitated session that blends storytelling, embodied practice, inquiry, and integration.

Ritual

Ritual is a gateway to increasing our capacity to hold what we cannot hold, and we need that capacity now more than ever.
 
We begin with grounding practices and shared presence. Together, we name what’s been lost, what’s being born, and what’s asking for our attention.

Rigor

We need to design our social impact work to respond to this rapid change, leveraging behavioral science and technology in new ways.
 
You'll be guided through a topic or framework drawn from behavioral science, systems thinking, and social impact work—always with real-life application in mind.

Rest

When we rest collectively, we accelerate the rejuvenating impact of rest. We're going to be tapping into that together.
 
We'll close each gathering with integration and somatic restoration. Expect meditation, visualization, or a practice to help shift your nervous system from urgency to ease.
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You don't have to hold it all alone.

Climate systems are unraveling. AI is accelerating. Safety nets are fraying. The future of work is being rewritten in real time.

And many of us are asking: How do I keep going?

Especially when we’re carrying so much.

— We’re raising millions for climate, equity, and justice, while still trying to make it home in time to tuck the kids in.

— We’re toggling between keynote speeches and late-night caregiving, expected to embody clarity and compassion in equal measure.

— We’re reading through pages of research on war, reproductive rights, and planetary crisis, while navigating high-stakes decisions about budgets, staffing, and impact.

— We’re holding space for our teams and our communities while feeling stretched thin inside our own lives.

It’s a lot. And still, we lead.

But we don’t have to hold it all alone. 

We can gather and be witnessed, supported, and resourced, right now, just as we are.

This Is What's Waiting For You

We are here to help you develop language for what you're carrying. The kind of language that rises from your body after you have been witnessed in your grief.

You will have a deeper relationship with the parts of you that already know how to survive great change, and a clearer sense of the sacred truths that do not shift even when everything else does.

You will walk away with practical systems and practices to help you hold yourself in a world that is increasingly unstable.

Some of these will be simple: ways to organize your time, ways to make decisions when you are tired, ways to use technology as an intuitive partner.

Others will be deeper, longer tending work that you can continue long after the series ends.

You will also leave with a more nuanced relationship to rest.

You will have practiced ways to recognize the difference between rest and dissociation, and you will have experienced the power of resting in community.

You will leave having practiced remembering: remembering your own resilience and remembering the sacred intelligence of living systems. 

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Meet your guide.

My name is Nikki Silvestri. I’m a mother of two, a wife, a sci-fi nerd, and someone who has spent the last two decades walking alongside movements for climate justice, food sovereignty, and economic transformation.

I’ve led organizations, advised policymakers, coached executive teams, and spent just as much time listening to community members around kitchen tables.

Through it all, I’ve tried to weave together the wisdom of living systems with the strategy needed to navigate deeply human, often disorienting change.

I created Ritual, Rigor, and Rest to hold what’s hard and tender, to spark what’s wise and true, and to help us stay grounded through these times of great unraveling.

While this circle is not the solution, it’s a place to remember that you are not alone.

A place to remember you are allowed to pause.

And that the world needs your leadership, but not at the expense of your well-being.

I look forward to gathering with you. 

Margot Duane Closed Eyes 2015 Woven

"Your loving witness, rigorous companionship, and the profound care in your work have been transformative. Through challenging mediations and loving feedback, we’ve built a more hospitable container in my organization, addressing conflicts with dignity and accountability. I am renewed by our conversations about labor, covenant, and resource, feeling the merit of your practice deeply. Thank you for everything."

brontë velez, Founder | bakiné