I co-founded co-LAB Collective with Monica Dennis and Maura Bairley to support leaders building a more welcoming, inclusive, and just society. These leaders face unrelenting pressures in increasingly hostile conditions. Their communities are vulnerable, resources are being cut, and the cycle of exhaustion and burnout is intensifying precisely when strategic, adaptive leadership matters most.

Leaders told us they desperately need space to restore if they're to sustain their work, lives, and health. In 2024, we launched Radical Sabbatical—a five-day sanctuary for senior-level leaders carrying significant responsibility. We handle all logistics and programming so leaders running on fumes can simply sign up and arrive. Rest becomes accessible when arranging a break is itself a barrier.

We've sponsored two successful years with personal resources. Over 100 leaders applied for 15 pilot spots. The need far exceeds what we can fund alone. While participants contribute what they can, many need scholarships given their financial precariousness.

That's where you come in. I know you share the desire for a loving, just, peaceful world and feel distressed by current conditions. It's hard to know how to make a real difference. Supporting Radical Sabbatical directly sustains frontline changemakers and invests in community care. The $10,000 (and any amount above that raised) from this GoFundMe appeal will be used to offer scholarships to our waiting list.

January 2026 scholarship applicants include leaders:

Past participants report:

"The difference in my leadership is palpable. My team says I seem more present, decisive, and somehow both more gentle and more powerful."

"I arrived completely depleted. I left remembering who I am and why I do this work."

Since returning, I've implemented boundaries that seemed impossible before. My board was surprisingly receptive when I approached with confidence about what I need to sustain."

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR DONORS CONSIDERING SPONSORING RADICAL SABBATICAL

The $10,000 (and any amount above that raised) from this GoFundMe appeal will be used to offer partial scholarships to our waiting list.

For accessibility, Radical Sabbatical is offered on a $5,000-$7,500 sliding scale to individuals. Most applicants have requested full or partial support. Registration covers the full 6 day experience inclusive of lodging and most meals, transportation from airport to site, on-site wellness and cultural offerings (a highlight has been local Puerto Rican bomba musicians leading an evening of drumming and dance to support the "release" theme) , facilitated group programming, and 1:1 leadership coaching.

Comparable full-scale leadership programs have a true cost of $10,000 per participant when actual program development and management costs are factored in. co-LAB has donated our principals' time to launch Radical Sabbatical and appreciate organizations and donors able to register beyond the $7,500 amount to support continued program R&D and the true costs.