Designing spaces and systems where people grow.
Consulting, facilitation, and community experiences rooted in clarity, integrity, and depth.
Meet Amanda
Founder | Facilitator | Experience Designer
I create spaces where people can gather, think, connect, and make meaning together.
My work lives at the intersection of facilitation, strategy, community building, and creative practice. Whether I'm leading a workshop, designing a retreat, helping an organization navigate change, or supporting a team through a planning process, I'm interested in the same question:
How do we create experiences that help people feel more connected—to themselves, to one another, and to what matters most?
Before founding Soma, I spent more than a decade leading people, culture, and organizational development work inside growing organizations. That background taught me how systems shape human experience, how groups make decisions, and how thoughtful structure can support meaningful outcomes.
Today, I bring that same understanding to a broader body of work that includes gatherings, facilitation, strategic collaboration, and experience design.
I believe beauty matters. Hospitality matters. Conversation matters. The environments we create shape what becomes possible within them.
Credentials & Background
• M.A. in Strategic Leadership
• SHRM-CP Certified Professional
• 10+ years in HR leadership and organizational development
• Executive and leadership facilitation experience across startups, nonprofits, and growing organizations
• Trauma-Informed Facilitation Training
• Experience designing retreats, workshops, leadership experiences, and community programs
Commitments
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Make things simple enough to understand and strong enough to act on.
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Take responsibility for your choices, your energy, and your growth.
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Build in ways you can maintain — without burning out or blowing up.
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Hold the simple truth that we belong to each other.
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Let your values, your desires, and your actions live in the same place.
Where My Work HappensSoma supports growth in multiple settings:
• Inside organizations — through consulting, leadership development, and strategic partnership
• In community — through reflective workshops, book circles, and facilitated gatherings
• With individuals — through thoughtful conversation, guided inquiry, and intentional support
Different formats. Same foundation.
Foundational Reading
This work stands on the shoulders of thinkers, poets, and practitioners that I consider ancestors of my creative practice. These teachers expanded how I understand leadership, embodiment, culture, and power.
I’m sharing a small selection here — books that influenced my thinking and ones I couldn’t stop talking about once I finished them.
Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
A mythic deep-dive into the wild feminine psyche — essential if you’re ready to trust your instincts more than your conditioning.
Love Trilogy by bell hooks
A three-part meditation on love as practice — not just a feeling, but an ethic that reshapes how we partner, lead, and stay in integrity.
Mating in Captivity by Ester Perel
A smart, layered look at desire in long-term love — especially for those who want intimacy without losing autonomy.
Pleasure Activism by adrienne maree brown
An unapologetic argument that pleasure is political — and that joy, embodiment, and justice are not separate conversations.
The Body Is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor
A direct challenge to the cultural shame we carry in our bodies — and an invitation to stop apologizing for taking up space.
Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach
A steadying companion for when your inner critic gets loud — teaching compassion that doesn’t collapse into passivity.
Dare to Lead by Brené Brown
A practical framework for courageous leadership — where vulnerability is strength and accountability is non-negotiable.
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
A reminder that creativity isn’t reserved for the chosen — it belongs to anyone willing to make the work anyway.