OUR PRACTICE
IN PRACTICAL TERMS
Illustration: Cielo Morales
In a moment of so much chaos, urgency, and fear...conventional strategic planning just ain’t gonna cut it!
Saying yes to everything until everyone is depleted isn’t strategy, it’s survival mode. Fear-driven decisions & plans built for a certainty that no longer exists won’t meet this moment.
We’re doing strategy in real time. Not for a fancy planning document. For clarity.
This isn’t over-thinking or pretending we can plan five years ahead. It’s deep reflection and radical visioning: so we can be braver, more focused and more TRUE to who we say we are!
Together, we’re asking the tough questions:
Are we who we say we are right now—not on paper, but in how we’re actually showing up?
What are we being asked to protect, center, and truly let go of?
What does success really mean in this moment—what does it feel like for our community?
How do we organize our people & energy so we’re acting from purpose, not panic?
This work is different.
It slows things down just enough to tell the truth.
It creates focus without fear.
This is Real-Time Courageous Strategy rooted in love, not scarcity. It’s like radical self-love work... but for entire organizations that are serious about justice.
If your organization is tired of survival mode. If you're craving clarity and focused energy, reach out. This moment is asking us to be honest and brave.
SHIREE TENG:
BIO + CURRENT PROJECTS
Shiree Teng is a community organizer, storyteller, and healer who believes that love and courage will lead the way towards our collective liberation. An immigrant kid who grew up organizing, she has never stopped.
Her journey began at 17 in Los Angeles, standing alongside working-class parents fighting for bilingual, affordable childcare. By 22, she was on the front lines in New York’s Lower East Side, organizing with Chinese restaurant and garment workers for fair wages and basic rights. Later, in Watsonville, California, she stood with Latino cannery workers in a town dominated by powerful growers. Each chapter has only deepend her love and commitment to the community.
Shiree circa 1982 in New York Chinatown during the garment workers walkout.
Grounded in radical love, Shiree challenges the burnout culture pervasive in the nonprofit sector. She is a truth-teller and healer who names what others are afraid to say, while giving leaders tools to reimagine the work together. With deep insights into race, class, gender, and power dynamics– she brings a rare lived understanding to her work, inspiring countless leaders to own their power and tell their stories. For over 35 years, Shiree has worked as a consultant to foundations, nonprofits, and grassroots collectives—leading strategy, measuring impact, and centering the voices of those most impacted by racism and oppression.
Today, Shiree is a Love practitioner, author, and elder. She has published the inspiring "Measuring Love" series, inviting leaders to place love at the heart of their journey toward justice. Aligned with the natural seasons, Shiree makes space for both harvest and hibernation, spaciously guiding leaders back to themselves and each other. Shiree is a sought after speaker, coach, and facilitator for those ready for transformation. Follow her on LinkedIn for weekly inspiration on the beautiful and oh-so-messy path to our collective freedom.
To see a select list of clients visit Shiree’s Clients & Colleagues page.
In Service of Our Beloved Community
For eight years, Shiree chaired the board of Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. Shiree has also served on the boards of National Equity Project, Rockwood Leadership Institute, APEN and Forward Together. Today, Shiree chairs the boards of Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ) in Oakland’s Fruitvale community and Ella Baker Center Action (C4).
From 2015 to 2018, Shiree was a member of and then Chair of the Oakland Unified School District's Measures A, B and J Facilities Bond Oversight Committee, responsible for providing citizenship oversight of $437M bond funds to upgrade school facilities. Many lessons learned there!
Shiree with her parents, circa 1961 in Hong Kong.
Dennis and Shiree with sons Maceo and Rumi.
Beloved pups Captain Woody and Mila.
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Shiree is fluent in three Chinese dialects. Having lived and worked in Watsonville and Salinas with cannery and farmworkers, Shiree has a functional understanding of Spanish. She holds degrees in Social Welfare and Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. She lives in the Fruitvale District in Oakland with her partner, Dennis, sons Rumi and Maceo, and dogs Captain Woody and Mila.
WHAT’S IT LIKE TO WORK WITH SHIREE
Here are a few things Shiree's been told by her coach of 15 years, Eileen Blumenthal, that working with her has these elements…
Not Business as Usual
The California Endowment / Spread and Scale partners gathering: Salinas, Kern, San Diego and Sacramento, April 2018
Working with Shiree is not business as usual–only thing predictable is impact and results.
Shiree leads with passion and professionalism. Clients have to be up for going deep and being real.
She’s motivated by a profound longing for a more just world – this is not just an intellectual or academic process – it’s about systemic change and transformation.
She engenders hope and possibility.
Shiree’s energy is contagious. It’s clear she loves what she does and subsequently, she engenders trust and positivity.
Truth-Telling
National Indian Health Board retreat, Fall 2014
Shiree’s a truth teller – she cuts through whatever is there and get to the heart of the matter; don’t indulge counter-productive or small minded stuff.
Great at finding commonality – common interests and common ground.
She sees the big picture and can operate at multiple altitudes at once.
She creates deep insight, solves problems and – most importantly – builds individual and organizational capacity.
She’s a force to be reckoned with. Ups the *game* for everyone and builds strength and clarity regardless of the process.
Not Afraid of the Muck
Her style is very intuitive – picks up, and addresses sub-text – unspoken dynamics; reveals what’s really going on by being authentic and inspiring authenticity.
She’s an inspired facilitator – builds trust, confidence and engagement at the outset and throughout. She makes it easy and fun for people to participate.
Shiree has deep skills and insights as an evaluator.
She’s skilled at synthesis – weaving together ideas and interests with a great blend of boldness and tact.
She’s not afraid of the muck – no glossing over or covering up.
She is effective in addressing complex dynamics – issues of power, privilege, differences.
Really seasoned and experienced and skillful, but not jaded or cynical.
Extraordinary Reputation
Rockwood Year-long Alumni retreat, Summer 2014
She enjoys an extraordinary reputation among clients – the most senior decision-makers and line staff folks on the ground.
She’s an influencer with astute judgment –judicious about offering an opinion; when she does, people listen and take note.
Shiree has great agility and fluidity -- equally comfortable gathering information, creating/managing processes, strategizing, building consensus; can dance or flex with whatever comes up.
She cares deeply and engages all out.
She’s naturally strategic but with a great deal of heart; smart and compassionate; unusual blend of hard and soft skills – organized, disciplined, AND compassionate.
Her rich life experiences inform her work.
DENNIS SMITH:
legal | finance | facilities
Dennis Smith, Esq.
Dennis partners with Shiree to support organizations with legal and financial analysis and advising.
FINANCE
"You can tell a lot about an organization by looking at its financial reports."
Dennis has experience managing federal, state and local public and private contracts and grants, from $50,000 to $10M. He's able to give an unbiased assessment of organizational strengths and developmental areas through careful analysis of its financial reports. Dennis advises on financial regulatory compliance and financial systems.
LEGAL
Dennis received a Juris Doctorate from University of San Francisco after graduating from UC Berkeley with a BA in Legal Studies. Dennis brings over 20 years of legal expertise to help visionary leaders form legal entities and 501(c)(3) organizations, help draft and negotiate contracts, and advise on legal risk management issues.
FACILITIES
Increasingly, social-benefit / non-profit organizations own or consider buying our own buildings as assets. Dennis has successfully helped three Oakland-based social sector organizations buy and renovate their buildings. Dennis has also advised, planned and overseen the development of single family, low income housing throughout Oakland. It's not easy, but an important endeavor to own our futures. And, it can be done!
Contact Dennis if you have facilities dreams and needs.
RUMI SMITH:
Digital Storyteller
Rumi partners with Shiree to produce digital stories that capture the heart and spirit of leaders, teams and their organizations on their journeys for justice. He is also a Communications Specialist with StoryCenter, an innovative participatory media organization committed to the power of personal narratives for equity, wellness and social action.
Rumi was born and raised in Oakland, now living in Atalanta after graduating with a Communications and Mass Media degree from Clark Atlanta University, an HBCU.
MABEL TENG:
Advocacy | Policy-Making
Mabel is partnering with sister Shiree to support grassroots community-based organizations with strategy clarity and executive coaching. Leveraging her many years as an elected official, Mabel is a powerful partner helping organizations situate themselves in the broader ecosystem and succeed.
Advocate and Policy Maker
In over three decades of public service, Mabel has been a frontline advocate for the equality of women, workers, LGBTQ and a wide array of social and economic justice issues. Mabel’s public service career spanned from 1990 to 2005 as she won four competitive citywide races, unseating well-funded incumbents with teams of dedicated volunteers and an inspiring message for change. She served on the San Francisco City College Board of Trustees, SF Board of Supervisors and as County Assessor-Recorder.
Trail Blazer
In 1984, Mabel introduced Jesse Jackson at the Democratic National Convention held in San Francisco as the first API woman ever to do so on a national platform and subsequently co-chaired the 1988 Jackson for President Campaign in California. She was deeply involved in and organized the Justice for Vincent Chin committee.
In 1994, Mabel became the first Asian woman elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, opening the door to a new generation of API’s aspiring to political office and progressive politics for social change. Mabel’s tenure as a lawmaker was marked by her innovative effort to connect communities of color to advocacy and public policy. Her advocacy legacy includes the creation of the nation's first Immigrant Rights Commission and the author of the Equal Access to Services Act, mandating language access to city departments. She co-authored and passed legislation to create the Cultural Equity Grants program of the San Francisco Arts Commission, and pioneered the use of surplus city funds to save arts and music programs in public schools.
As San Francisco’s Assessor-Recorder, Mabel’s proudest moment was officiating the marriage of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon on Feb 12, 2005. Her team worked closely with then Mayor Newsom to facilitate the City’s same-sex marriage program, marrying 3,998 couples.
Today, Mabel serves as the Executive Director of the Chinese Culture Center, a leader in shifting the dominant narrative of Asian Americans through art interventions.
Mabel’s consulting areas are in effective advocacy, policy-making and legislative change, voter education and engagement, and making community voices heard in the legislative process.
