Who I Am
Julia Wittig Silvasy
I believe big visions need solid foundations. I've partnered with organizations as they grow fast, raise a lot of money, and come out the other side still feeling like themselves. What I've learned is that systems only work if they actually serve the people using them.
I come into every partnership wanting to understand your situation first. I ask questions, I look at real data, and then we build from there together.
Equity isn't something I check a box on. It's how I think about strategy, period, whether I'm advising a CEO or working alongside a team as it figures out how it wants to solve a challenge. I want to support you in reaching your goals without burning out or losing sight of what you believe in. Joy and doing right by people stay part of the process the whole way through, not something we get to later.
My Path Here
A Track Record of Service
My mom introduced me to the value of supporting our community through service and volunteering, and that's really where all of this started for me. Before starting Thriving Together, I spent 15 plus years across nonprofits, the private sector, and education. I was a classroom teacher, then worked in leadership development, fundraising, human resources, and as a chief of staff. Most recently I was a Chief Strategy Officer, where I partnered with an organization to grow its budget, more than double its staff, and move into a brand new building, all while holding onto the culture that made the growth worth having.
I've also worked internationally: building a science curriculum and training teachers in Tanzania, and supporting one of the first telemedicine programs connecting communities in Tanzania and Kenya to healthcare.
Different settings, same goal: working alongside people and communities so they can thrive.
What I Believe
The Principles That Guide the Work
People First
Systems should serve people, never the other way around.
Equity and Integrity in Action
Equity shapes every decision I make.
Systems Serve a Purpose
Systems are tools of equity and sustainability when they're built and used well. They're where we codify our values and practices, and they get rid of single points of failure, the kind where all the real knowledge lives inside just one or two people. Systems have also been used to create and hold up inequity and exclusion, so building them well is a chance to do something different. Working with me, you'll always get tactical systems and processes built to serve your mission and your people, not procedures for procedures' sake.
Everything Is Data
I look at what's actually happening, not what we assume.
Find Joy
Joy and rest aren't a reward you get after the work is done. They're part of what makes the work sustainable in the first place.
Liberation Is the Goal
At the root of this work is freeing people and organizations to do their best work.
A Trauma-Informed Foundation
I'm trained in the Sanctuary Model, a trauma-informed approach to running organizations, and I carry that with me into everything I do, whether I'm advising a board, coaching a leader, or building out a strategic plan.
A Note on How I Think About This Work
A lot of my approach is grounded in writers and thinkers I go back to again and again: Priya Parker's The Art of Gathering shapes how I think about facilitation and bringing people together well. Edgar Villanueva's Decolonizing Wealth shapes how I think about philanthropy and power. And I'm grounded in feminist and liberatory thinkers like bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Angela Davis, adrienne maree brown, Roxane Gay, Clint Smith, Bettina Love, and Gholdy Muhammad.
Joy, to me, isn't a reward for finishing the hard work. It's part of what makes the hard work sustainable.