I’m a cooperative culture pioneer, community and anti-oppression activist, and purveyor of words.
"Intelligent and wise, with an impressive breadth of experience and a depth of compassion and clarity, Yana is an absolute pleasure to know. She is able, somehow, to be simultaneously impassioned about her work and stance while also being non-judgmental of others' choices. A natural and intuitive teacher, those who collaborate with her learn as much from being in her presence and observing her as they do from the specific and often detailed information that she shares. She is an inspiration and would enhance any experience of which she was a part."
Elizabeth Perrachione, Owner and Principal, Fire Owl Consulting
BIO
A mentor once told me that I would someday be very good at the work he was teaching me… if only I would pick it and focus on it. The bad news (for him) and good news (for the world) is that I’ve never been very good at narrow focusing.
My work has three distinct parts to it: 1) I’ve been a nonprofit leader since 1991, 2) I’ve lived and worked in residential intentional communities since 1996, and 3) I’ve been a writer since 2nd grade when my teacher went a little nuts over a very silly poem I wrote and I got the message that I was good at words.
My life has been a very organic journey through these different worlds and different ways of engaging. That works great for my ADHD brain, and what I lack in resume consistency I more than make up for in breadth of knowledge and creative engagement. I’ve been able to connect the dots between sectors and cultural paradigms, and the pattern recognition and ability to observe and translate for people that I’ve honed as a writer all add up to being an effective consultant, coach, trainer and documenter of cooperative culture and equity work in many forms.
It also means I have three resumes. Feel free to explore whatever is more relevant for your organizational needs!
Some Career highlights
1991 take on first nonprofit Directorship with Project Grow Community Gardens.
1996 move to first intentional community and start integrating social and ecological work, learning consensus and facilitating meetings.
2003 start writing for Communities magazine.
2005 launch consulting and training practice, working with nonprofits and facilitating controversial public meetings.
2006 complete 2-year Integrative Facilitation training and became a teacher and partner in future trainings.
2007-2008 serve as the lead teacher and co-organizer for one of the first Ecovillage Design Education courses in the US. Do it again in 2013.
2009-2023 serve on oversight team and/or Board of Directors, Foundation for Intentional Community.
2011-2013 serve on Board of Directors, Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage.
2013 pioneer Executive Director role for Center for Sustainable and Cooperative Culture at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, strengthening focus on sustainability education and impact.
2013 TEDx talk, Sustainable is Possible! (And it doesn't suck...) at Carleton College, followed by an extensive national speaking tour in 2015-2016 on local community responses to climate disruption.
2014 participate in year-long anti-racism study group, deepening long-standing commitment to social justice.
2016-2017 serve as Executive Director of Commonomics USA, supporting strategic planning and deeper justice thinking, and facilitating formation of a public banking and climate divestment coalition.
2017 publish Together Resilient: Building Community in the Age of Climate Disruption, which wins the 2017 Communal Studies Association Book of the Year Award.
2018 work part time for Showing Up for Racial Justice doing local chapter support.
2018 co-found the Solidarity Collective in Laramie WY, supporting left and queer organizing, and become a host of the Solidarity House podcast.
2019 taught first online education course of the Foundation for Intentional Community, on starting communities.
2019 serve as lead facilitator for public community forums on police violence.
2019 finalist, Wyoming Climate Champion, individual category.
2020 place 2nd of 6 in the Democratic primary in Wyoming running for that state’s US Senate seat on climate, social and economic justice platform.
2020 awarded the Communal Studies Association Paper of the Year Award with co-authors Drs. Zach Rubin and Don Willis for our work on success and satisfaction in intentional communities.
2020 publish The Cooperative Culture Handbook with Karen Gimnig.
2022-2024 serve as Executive Director of North Coast Food Web, growing the org and deepening equity focus.
2023 publish Building Belonging: Your Guide to Starting a Residential Intentional Community.
2024 graduate from Third Sector Company’s interim executive nonprofit leadership academy.
2025 return to full time freelancing and teaching with my consulting and training work, and re-dedicate to writing as a main focus of my time.