ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENTS

• We are committed to developing the confidence of change-makers to realize their vision by discovering and nurturing their inherent competencies; and for never doing for them what they can do for themselves.​
• We are committed to cultivating leaders’ skills in developing and running their organization or company so they can make a meaningful impact in their sector. 
• We are committed to assisting visionaries in building companies, organizations, movements, and systems that will bring about equity, justice, and solidarity in their communities.
• We are committed to listening to our clients, generating plans that meet their needs, and supporting them throughout their development. 

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MEET THE TEAM

KAYLA GILCHRIST
Co-Founder & Principal​

​Kayla (she/her/ella) has worked as a community organizer, nonprofit leader and development professional since 2013. Previous to co-founding Gloria Rose Consulting, Kayla worked as a Senior Organizer at Community Change in Washington, D.C., with a focus on supporting local partners to build strong grassroots organizations and strive for local, state-wide and national policy change. She served as the founding Executive Director and Lead Organizer of Midlands Organized Response for Equity and Justice (MORE Justice) in Columbia, South Carolina where she worked with the community to win campaigns to decriminalize those with mental illness and push for safe housing for all, and as the Major Gifts Officer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in Washington, DC, as part of a team that raised more than $23 million dollars in 2020. She is a graduate of the James E. Clyburn Political Fellowship, and completed the Anne Braden Anti-Racist Organizing Fellowship in 2022 in addition to participating in Catalyst Project's Anti-Racist Facilitator Training in 2023. Kayla received her undergraduate degrees from St. Louis University in Madrid, Spain and the American University in Cairo, Egypt. She completed her graduate work at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California and there earned a MA in Spanish Translation and Interpretation and a MA in International Policy, with a focus on Conflict Resolution and Community Development. Kayla lives in Washington, D.C. with her partner.

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LEAH WOODWARD WILEY
Co-Founder​​

For the past 15 years, Leah (she/her/hers) has led on the local and national level for the DART Network, a nonprofit committed to achieving justice throughout the “Bible Belt” of the South, Midwest, and Plains through engagement of local religious communities. From 2005 - 2011, she worked arm-in-arm with laity and clergy at FAST to build serious local people power that won the community things like over 1,500 homes affordable to those most vulnerable, and $19 million in county-based housing funds. In 2011, Leah was hired as the Training Director on DART’s national staff. For nine-and-a-half years, this role allowed her to shape and refine the skills of organizing staff and volunteers in the 25 local DART affiliates through national and regional leadership workshops and conferences. Leah also shepherded DART’s capital campaign, raising over $400,000 through grants and major gifts. She is currently the Executive Director and Lead Organizer for the Capital Area Justice Ministry (CAJM) in Tallahassee, FL. Leah earned her undergraduate degree from Florida A&M University and graduated from the University of Florida with a MA in documentary filmmaking. She lives in Tallahassee, FL with her husband and son.

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We come from a tradition of strong women who value independence and collective care.

Gloria, Leah's mom.
Rose, Kayla's great-grandmother.

Our name honors the fact that women, especially women of color, are the foundation of a community, but rarely named publicly as leaders. Both of us have grown into the people that we are because of the incredible examples of leadership laid out by women that came before us. We continue to live into that legacy by building the capacity of people and communities across the nation to pour into their own communities and take action to make the kind of meaningful local, state-wide or national change that benefits all those negatively impacted by the status-quo. 

This tradition of powerful, community-centric women is what we seek to embody, and honor, through this work.