photo by Brittany Maxste

Grace is a writer, imaginary, and world-builder curating at the intersection of queerness, resource mobilization, climate & environmental justice, and Black dignity & imagination. She is grounded and guided by Walida Imarisha’s visionary fiction, Christina Sharpe’s wake work, bell hook’s revolutionary love, and tasha’s reminder to take care. She approaches her work with curiosity, limitlessness, and an unflinching orientation toward abundance and collective liberation. 

Grace created and stewards The Lupine Collaborative (TLC), an organization for Black women, transgender, and non-binary climate & environmental writers. The Lupine Collaborative’s mission is to advance environmental and climate justice by abundantly resourcing Black Black women, transgender, and non-binary people to dream, ideate, and build toward a liberatory future. We envision a world where these communities are able to access joy, liberation, and environmental/climate justice in their lifetimes.  Lupine operates with the knowledge that climate & environmental change impact every aspect of our lives so our solutions must be intersectional and bold, and challenge the mainstream paradigms of what it looks like to sustain and support the thriving of Black life on this planet. We understand that the movement for climate & environmental justice explicitly intersects with all justice movements -- including queer and trans justice, economic justice, housing justice, reproductive justice, gender justice, and abolition. TLC resources these communities through writing retreats, grants, and a partnership with Milkweed Editions.

Previously she co-directed People of the Global Majority in the Outdoors, Nature, and Environment, the largest gathering of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color who work in connection to the land. Under Grace’s leadership, the organization’s funding doubled and allowed for field trips, scholarships, arts programming, a leaders council, and strategic planning. She was instrumental in growing PGM ONE from 200 to 800+ BIPOC participants and expanding the team to two co-directors and a Leaders Council of twenty. She established a rapid response Black Joy Fund in 2020 to support the joy, dreams, wellness, and imaginations of Black folks and raising and dispersing $30k in two weeks. 

As a consultant, Grace has informed the grantmaking approach and strategies within the climate & environmental sector. Most notably, she advised on Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s $1.2 million “Building an Inclusive Conservation Movement” strategy and went on to lead their “Diversifying the Conservation Field” inquiry process to determine the foundation’s role in the conservation field. She advised the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation on their $10 million investment in the development and growth of emerging and active environmental justice leaders from throughout California. Grace led The National Wildlife Federation’s Women in Conservation program through a theory of change, advised on The North Face’s Explorer Fund strategy, and successfully led Patagonia’s search for their environmental Justice Program Officer. Additionally, she has consulted with the Network for Energy, Water, and Health in Affordable Buildings, Next 100 Coalition, Earth Island Institute, and the Meridian Institute. 

In 2022, Grace was awarded a fellowship co-funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and Pisces Foundation that allowed her the time, perspective, space, and resources necessary to design the framework for what is now The Lupine Collaborative. 

Currently, Grace is a fellow with Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors where she acts as a thought partner, catalytic organizer, and writer to further their Shifting Systems Initiatives. She serves on the advisory committee for The Peggy and Jack Baskin Foundation and the Institute for Parks, People, and Biodiversity at the University of California at Berkeley. She’s an alum of Storyknife Writers Retreat in Alaska, PhiloXenia Writers Retreat in Morrocco, and is an upcoming resident of Rockland Residency’s inaugural Black artists cohort.