Nonprofit Executive Leader · Builder · Catalyst

My work isn’t a strategy or a decision. It is my entire rhythm and purpose.

Every day I wake up centered. Ready to make things better.

Nonprofit Executive Leader

25+ Years Public Media · Decades of Youth & Family Board Leadership

For 30 years I’ve run toward the hardest organizational challenges in public media and nonprofit governance. I’ve built what was missing, funded what mattered, and led from the room when the stakes were highest. Now I’m ready to bring all of it — directly to the organizations fighting hardest for the people who need it most.

If you’re in a hard room, let’s talk

01 / The Work

I build what is missing. I translate what is broken. I lead from the room.

I Build.

I step into complex environments and when I see real opportunity to advance the mission, I dig in. I don’t come in with all the answers. I come in with the ability to reveal what’s possible — and the experience to build it. Teams, coalitions, narratives, and the internal confidence organizations need to sustain real growth.

I Translate.

What an organization does and what the world understands about it are rarely the same thing. I close that gap. I learned communications directly from award-winning journalists — as a colleague, not a student. That changes how I pitch, tell stories, and command a room.

I Lead from the Room.

I am not an outside advisor who leaves a report and walks away. I am a deeply invested partner to boards, CFOs, CDOs, and civic leaders at moments of real consequence. I step directly into the rooms where big decisions get made — and I lead from the front.

02 / The Origin

I have never once taken the easy road.

Growing up Black in rural New Hampshire taught me something no MBA program could. How to read a room quickly. How to survive the longest odds. How to hold on to what makes you unique and powerful — even when it feels like you’ve come to a dead end.

When the world tried to convince me I wasn’t going to make it, my family, my ancestors, and my own heart told me otherwise.

I worked. I listened. I sat with leaders early and often. And I started to see what others couldn’t, or wouldn’t — to name what everyone else in the room was afraid to name. To look ahead to the next five years when everyone else was stuck talking about that quarter.

Quickly, I became the person my boss called into the room when they needed someone to take on the hard part: see it clearly, then say out loud what should happen next. Even when it was unpopular.

I have spent 30 years walking into those rooms. The hard ones. The ones that were not built for me. And I have made them work. For good.

Donna Hardwick at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum — a department rebuilt, a team restored

03 / Community Leadership

I show up because I remember what it felt like when someone showed up for me.

Since 2001 I have served in board and leadership roles at the intersection of youth, family, and equity. This is not philanthropy as an afterthought. It is a through line — the same instinct that drives my professional work, applied to the communities that need it most.

I learned what it means to show up from a woman who opened her door every single day and loved me with everything she had. That is where this work began. That is why I keep showing up.

Client, Boston While Black’s Family Reunion, 2023

HopeWell Inc.

Current board trustee. Serving on HopeWell’s ad hoc development committee, helping bring in prospective donors and hosting fundraisers in support of residential, family, and community-based services for children and families across Massachusetts.

Silver Lining Mentoring

From the earliest days of AFC Mentoring through its evolution into Silver Lining, I have been a consistent champion: board member, mentor to youth at risk, marathon runner, and dedicated fundraiser from 2001 to 2007.

Foster Kids of Merrimack Valley

Board leadership supporting foster youth and families navigating government systems and policy — advocating for children who too often fall through the cracks.

Boston Jaycees & More

Civic leadership in support of the Ten Outstanding Young Leaders program. Also: St. Monica’s Catholic Community fundraising committee and active Brooklyn New School community supporter.

04 / The Range

I have never stayed in one lane.

The sectors have changed. The platforms have changed. The organizations have gotten harder and more complex. My commitment never has. That is not a pivot. That is my purpose.

Public Media & PBS · Documentary Film · Children’s Educational Media · High-Tech Advertising & PR · Live Sports & Music Events · Cultural & Arts Organizations · Healthcare · Real Estate · Hospitality · Foundations · Podcasting · Youth & Family Organizations · Strategic Communications

With director Sam Pollard at Sundance Film Festival

With director Sam Pollard — Sundance Film Festival

I have worked with PBS, Discovery Channel, CBS, Telemundo, KCET, HITN, Twin Cities Public Television, Black Public Media, WNED Buffalo, WETA, Unity Productions Foundation, Mt. Auburn Hospital, Boston Center for Adult Education, JAM’N 94.5, Simon Property Group, and many others across public media, culture, healthcare, and community sectors.

When a Boston hip hop radio station wanted national press and nobody could figure out how to get it, I drew on my network from the TV side and landed MTV News. That is what happens when you learn communications from journalists instead of PR playbooks.

Through a Dog’s Eyes — PBS Documentary

Thoroughbred — PBS Documentary

05 / On Fundraising

I have seen fundraising from every seat in the room.

In a moment when AI is fundamentally reshaping how organizations find, cultivate, and retain donors, the leaders who will thrive are the ones who understand the full arc of development — from relationship to close — and aren’t afraid to build new systems around it. I bring both.

I have sat on boards and written the check. Strategized alongside CDOs and CEOs. Brought in corporate partners and major donors. Launched development strategies for organizations that had never had one. Managed $3.5M in federal and corporate grants. Watched what works, and what quietly doesn’t, for 30 years.

“There is something genuinely exciting about listening to what someone values and being able to tell an organizational story that lands in a major gift or a transformative partnership. That gets my heart going.”

What makes me an uncommon development leader is the vantage point. I have seen this work from every seat in the room: the board member, the fundraiser, the CMO, the founder, the advisor.

Emmy Awards — ITVS

06 / The Proof

Here is what this looks like in practice.

American Public Television

Where the pattern started. I was already in the senior leadership room at 31. I inherited a team in the wrong roles, listened, and rebuilt it around people’s actual strengths. I launched Create TV and the World Channel — developing the branding, rollout, and national launch strategy from the ground up. I developed the national fundraising materials that helped PBS stations pledge APT programming, work that became critical to the financial sustainability of the entire public media ecosystem.

Public Radio Exchange (PRX)

I broke the deadlock. Then I built the brand. When PRX and PRI merged, the boards couldn’t agree on a name. I came in, conducted a full analysis and surveys, recommended PRX with The Magician as the organizing archetype, and got two contentious boards aligned. Then I built the marketing function from scratch, grew weekly audiences by 3 million, increased donors by 50%, and co-led the Google Podcasts Creator Program — tripling application goals with 1,200 submissions from podcasters across Africa, Europe, Latin America, and Australia.

Tribeca Film Festival — Ear Hustle co-hosts Nigel & Earlonne, Radiotopia/PRX

Ear Hustle Live Recording at Tribeca Film Festival, PRX

On Air Fest, NYC — PRX/Radiotopia

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

I rebuilt what had broken. A department that had lost institutional trust. No systems, no KPIs, $500K in agency spend that didn’t need to be outsourced. I rebuilt the team from one to seven, brought work back in-house, led a full website rebuild, introduced the museum’s first enterprise KPI framework, co-led the DEAI Staff Working Group, managed crisis communications, and drove 75,000 new visitors — expanding market share by 36% over two years.

On and On Marketing & Communications

I bet on good. And on myself. After years at a high-profile PR agency, I knew that world wasn’t mine. So I opened On and On, and within four weeks had four new clients. Over more than a decade, I generated over $2.3M in revenue, maintained 80% client retention, and worked with clients ranging from independent documentary filmmakers to NGO partnerships with the American Red Cross, Save the Children, WWF, and Feeding America.

Mack and Moxy at the White House Easter Egg Roll 2016

Client, Mack & Moxy — White House Easter Egg Roll, 2016

07 / Who I Am

I always show up as myself.

I cut through the layers and get to the real conversations: the heart of the mission, what is actually possible, and what needs to happen next. That directness — combined with 30 years inside some of the most complex organizations in public media and the nonprofit sector — is what makes me an uncommon leader.

I have been the founder, the CMO, the director, the advisor, and the person in the room when the hard decision got made. I understand boards, budgets, donors, audiences, and the humans who hold organizations together when things get hard.

I don’t walk in to change things for the sake of change. I walk in because once I listen — really listen — something comes into focus that wasn’t visible before. That clarity, and the courage to name it, is what I bring.

Organizational Leadership & Culture Building · Board Partnership & Governance · Strategic Vision · Financial Stewardship · Coalition Building · Crisis Leadership · Fundraising & Development · Brand Transformation · Audience Development · Digital Strategy

I am ready for the biggest room yet.

Elevation Hours

In a time like no other for Black women in the U.S. workforce, I have made a decision: this time is not going to be wasted.

Black women are the only workforce cohort that has not gained jobs in the current economy. The numbers are striking and the impact is real. In response, I launched Elevation Hours: free, private 30-minute calls for Black women who are out of work or building something new.

I am offering 5 hours a week. I will look at your resume, help you think through your next move, strategize about building something of your own, or simply be the person on the other end of the line who gets it — without explanation.

True elevation comes from reciprocity. When we lift another woman, we lift ourselves. We protect each other. We rise together.

If you are a Black woman navigating this moment, reach out

“I’ve never once regretted walking into a hard room.”

— Donna Hardwick