Case Studies
What I build
Coordination workflows, knowledge management systems, and narrative infrastructure that turn what frontline communities and researchers already know into assets funders, policymakers, and alliance partners can act on. These case studies are examples of what that looks like in practice.
- Governance restructuring of a national network
- Co-PI on state-funded breast cancer research
- Full project lifecycle in community development
Case study 01
Governance Restructuring of a National Multi-Stakeholder Network
Context. The Cancer Free Economy Network is a national, cross-sector initiative working to eliminate toxic exposures and advance public health equity. When I was hired, the network was in a transition stage where conversations about sustainability were being had. One of the issues was the network’s programmatic agenda had grown into twelve-plus workgroups with no shared coordination logic. Each workgroup operated with its own leadership, its own timeline, and its own relationship to the network’s strategic direction. The result was duplication, gridlock, inconsistent coordination, and a governance structure that could not scale. The portfolio had grown unwieldy enough that emerging leaders entering the network could not find a clear entry point, and senior leadership could not tell where strategic decisions actually lived.
What I saw. This was not a project management problem, and a better tracker would not have fixed it. It was a question of who was willing to let their workstream be absorbed into something larger. That is a negotiation, not an operation, and it had to be run through governance rather than around it.
What I built. As a voting Network Council member and Co-Program Manager of the Emerging Leaders Cohort, I represented cohort participants and stakeholders in governance conversations and co-negotiated a restructuring agreement with the co-strategic directors. The twelve plus workgroups were consolidated into two functional nodes, Health and Science and Building Power, each with distinct team leads and clear coordination logic.
Dependencies I built. Simultaneously,
- I co-designed and facilitated a year-long Emerging Leaders Cohort for BIPOC leaders across nonprofit, philanthropy, and public health sectors. Designed monthly workshops on systems thinking, coalition building, and strategy. Created a tracking tool for the organizing team and mentees to monitor project progress and adherence to objectives.
- On the operations side, I rebuilt the network’s backend: maintained CRM systems, optimized Google Workspace workflows, coordinated governance calendars, produced documentation and onboarding materials, streamlined grant compliance, and coordinated dues renewal and fundraising systems, all designed to be legible enough to hand to a successor.
What changed. A scattered network became a governable two-node structure. The Emerging Leaders Cohort ran for a full year across multiple time zones without collapsing. I was subsequently promoted to Network Manager and ran operations across both nodes, which meant I inherited the structure I had helped negotiate.
Status. Completed. Onboarded and transferred assets to my successor smoothly using the operational backend I designed and documented. Transitioned out.
Case study 02
Co-Principal Investigator on a Collaborative State-Funded Breast Cancer Research
Context. The California Initiative to Prevent Breast Cancer in Immigrants was a California Breast Cancer Research Program funded, multi-team study investigating why breast cancer risk increased for immigrant women after immigration to the United States. The original principal investigator left partway through this six-figure study. Three research teams, a scientific advisory panel of researchers, educators, advocates and clinicians, and five distinct data streams (mother–daughter dyad interviews, focus groups, home air and water sampling, surveys, and photo-point and observational monitoring) were in motion across Latinx enclaves, Asian enclaves, and occupational exposure. This is the moment most collaborative grants quietly die.
What I saw. Continuity was the deliverable. My job was not to redesign the study but to keep three teams, a panel, community partners, and a state funder aligned enough that the knowledge already being generated would survive the transition and reach the people it was for.
What I built. I took over coordination across the teams and advisory panel and managed grant compliance with the state. While analysis was still running, I co-organized a statewide workshop that brought community organizations from across California into the interpretation of findings, so the differences and similarities in the immigrant experience of breast cancer were articulated with communities rather than about them. From that workshop, I co-authored the public-facing fact sheet, What We’ve Learned About Breast Cancer from the California Immigrant Community, and its Spanish version, written for policymakers, advocates, and immigrant communities at once.
What changed. Immigrants have access to a bilingual resource that’ll improve the quality of our lives. A grant that could have quietly failed during a PI transition was delivered. The bilingual fact sheet influenced state-level policy discussions. The research credential established a bridge between my public health research experience and the environmental health work that followed.
Artifact. Fact sheets [add link]
Status. Completed. Grant report submitted and closed.
Case study 03
Full Project Lifecycle in Community Development
Context. As Vice President of the UN Sustainable Development Goals Oyo State Chapter during my National Youth Service Corps year, I learned from speaking with senior students at a public secondary school in that community that 92% of them, for many reasons, would not be furthering their education.
What I saw. I was twenty, just learning the inequities that existed in my society, and I wanted to do something to address this issue. What I understood, without the vocabulary for it yet, was that a program designed for cultural fit and measured from the start would outlive one designed from goodwill. So I did the market research first, and I built the theory of change and impact assessment framework before recruiting a single student.
What I did. Secondary school leaves one with little to no marketable skill. So I conducted market research to know what type of poverty-reduction programs will equip them with income-generating entrepreneurship skills so I could design a culturally relevant impact project. Built the theory of change and impact assessment framework. Convened 6-plus stakeholders and 15-plus potential partners. Recruited and supervised a team of six. Launched and managed a three-month training program for 50-plus students in hairdressing, catering, cosmetology, and introduction to Microsoft Word. Maintained demographic and socioeconomic data tables. Achieved a 96 percent monthly attendee retention rate and 92 percent operational adherence to the project framework. Authored a comprehensive evaluation report: The Quest for Productivity.
What changed. An unfunded community project became a documented, citable artifact with a complete evaluation. This is the origin point of my documentation practice, which is now the core of my professional value.
Artifact. The full evaluation report: The Quest for Productivity [add link]
Status. Completed.