Jodi is a creative and strategic leader who inspires people and organizations to re-think what’s possible. She brings her strong facilitation skills to groups looking to create brave spaces where people can come together for deep collective listening, understanding, and making small, bold, and powerful shifts that can transform organizations and communities.
Jodi served as the Chief Impact Officer for the Atlanta Jewish Federation from 2017-2021 where she led strategy, innovation, marketing, and grantmaking. Prior to working professionally in the Jewish community, Jodi worked with the City of Atlanta to launch Atlanta City Studio, its first pop-up urban design center incubating new ideas about the design of the City and engaging the community in the process. Previously she was Vice President of Development and Construction at Jamestown, a real estate investment and management company. At Jamestown, Jodi also served as Sustainability Director and started and ran the Jamestown Charitable Foundation.
She received a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Yale College, Master of Arts in Art History from Northwestern University and Master of City and Regional Planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
How do you re-generate?
I love spending time at our cabin in North Georgia with friends and family. Until COVID, we had no internet or cell service (originally by design and then by choice). Offline is such a luxury. We have a small stream on the property and sitting in a rocker on the porch with a book or traipsing in the forest looking for mushrooms are my favorite activities.
What do you hope never changes post-COVID?
I hope we always turn to and embrace those closest to us. I certainly missed being a part of a larger community during the pandemic but the time to turn inward toward those I love was such a gift.
What is your superpower?
Connecting the dots. I like bringing seemingly disparate things together and seeing them blossom.
What’s something interesting about you we wouldn’t otherwise know?
I’m learning to hula hoop! Also, I started growing dahlias in a community garden near my house several years ago and the beauty of the flowers has become a spiritual experience for me. Wonder! Awe!
What is your favorite part of making transformational change in systems, organizations, and people?
My favorite part is working with an organization and watching the participants shift from thinking they are doing this work only for the benefit of the organization to seeing how it transforms them personally as well.
What have you learned about the conditions for success? What promotes failure?
Success is about so much more than what we say and do. It’s about the images in our heads and the feelings in our bodies. Insyte’s methodology encourages us to tap into and access all of these forms of communication. Without this type of deep listening, we really can’t move forward successfully.
What is your guilty pleasure?
Right now it is manjar- a dulce de leche. In a torte, a cake or right out of the jar!!
What’s one thing you’d want people to know about the Insyte Team?
This team really cares. Lots of consultants say that but I have never seen a group of people who are so committed to their client’s success. It is so inspiring to work with a team who goes above and beyond (and then some) in every single engagement.
Best testimonial?
“I’ve modeled many of my actions, crafted emails, and developed experiences with my “Jodi” hat on, thinking about how to make the best possible user experience. You’ve taught met to maintain the importance of both metrics and narrative to fully tell our stories.”
What is the question your life seeks to answer?
Two words: “ What if?”
Favorite place on the planet? Listening to my breath underwater.
