Name and Pronouns: K. Lew (she/her)
Cohort Year: 2018-2019
Where do you live? Los Angeles, CA
What are you doing now?
I’ve been keeping busy with plenty of quality family time and exploring new ways to rest. In my free time, I’ve been practicing throwing new pottery pieces, looking for enlightening reads on restorative justice and the social lives of cats, and nursing a number of fully unrealized hobbies.
Professionally, I’m working as a Program Manager at a boutique consulting firm in Los Angeles. I see the end-to-end operations of our talent development programs for mid-career level women and other gender minorities across Fortune 500 companies. I facilitate training sessions, provide ad hoc one-on-one career coaching, and oversee the staffing and delivery of our program engagements. A crucial aspect to my work is building a program that can sensitively speak to DEI-related issues in the workplace and leading conversations on bias and discrmination. All in all, it’s been gratifying to develop new skills as a working professional and create impact in the places that I can.
How has Life Together impacted your life?
LT provided a space for me to lean on new spiritual formations and community-centered practices. It was a unique and remarkable year for me to live in an intentional community with housemates, unpack formative life experiences together, and to adopt new frameworks for more whole communication and collaboration. I often bring up New England apple picking, silent retreats, and cooking communal meals to my friends and family when I think about my time at LT.
The details of the earlier days of orientation stick out to me - particularly, the thoughtful frameworks that were provided around resonance and holding space. It’s a powerful thing for a group of people to get behind the same vocabulary to not only name and undo systems of oppression, but also lean into creating and imagining systems that can better serve individuals and our communities.
Moreover, though I did not fully recognize at the time, it was empowering to be a part of an organization where fellows can have so much input in shaping their time together from curriculum to activities. I look back and still think about how remarkable it is that the program is designed to invite a profound level of experimentation and honesty from the fellows. Coming away from my year as a LT fellow, I am more grounded in my authenticity, more informed about how to address what I can and I cannot control, and decisive about curating wellness in my life.