Who Is Leading This Walk?

Photo by Chion Wolf

My name is Abby Anderson. Through The Justice Walk, I focus on supporting leaders and organizations committed to implementing equity and belonging practices into their work and lives. The Justice Walk grew out of my desire to provide a resource I needed during the early years of my own journey to understand and infuse equity into my leadership.

For over a decade, I was executive director of an organization with a mission to end the criminalization of children. Years into my time leading an organization focused on issues that primarily impact black and brown people, I realized that my whiteness, and not being a directly-impacted person, caused knowledge gaps in my leadership, sometimes resulting in me perpetuating inequity. That humbling discovery led to lots of personal work. It also contributed to an organization-wide effort to examine internal policies and practices and co-create an evolved, youth/adult partnership model that centers and supports the expertise of directly-impacted youth as it pursues its mission.

I stepped away from that organization to make space for leaders more appropriate for its transformed model. I founded The Justice Walk with a commitment to use my on-going personal and professional equity and belonging growth experiences to walk with and encourage others to center those elements in their leadership. Through coaching and consulting, I support leaders at all levels, with a particular focus on my white peers learning to de-center their and the culture’s whiteness. My role is to walk alongside my partners, providing space dedicated to processing, incorporating, and implementing equity and belonging leadership tools in themselves and their organizations.