Celebrating 10 Years
… and causing a little trouble ;)
Image features a sunflower-inspired design with text reading "10 Years of Impact" in the center. The center image appears against a teal background with a white outline drawing of a cityscape and stars.
Big news, my friend! This year ASCC turns 10 years old! We are officially double digits! 🎊
We’re a tween, y’all! And you know what that means… We will be causing a little bit of trouble, pushing boundaries, and approaching the world with a carefully curated blend of spunk and disgust (ew, capitalism! 🤮).
I’m pretty excited, and so so proud. And as you can expect, I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting. The moment has me returning to my roots: back to when I started this business as a way to more fully live my purpose, way back to my college days in community organizing, and way way back to my admiration for the Civil Right movement as a budding activist in elementary school. I’ve been on this journey for a long time and it only gets deeper, more nuanced, and more impactful.
Over the last decade I’ve grown from a freelancing “solopreneur” to team lead and emerging CEO. Living into my values of building community, honoring complexity, embracing leadership, and perpetually learning, I now work with teams of consultants with lived experience in the communities we work with, a wealth of professional expertise, and dedication to movement work and healing justice. ASCC has officially grown into the “we” I put on the website from day one.
I’ve leaned further and further into developing a business rooted in values. Rejecting hustle culture for a business structure dedicated to care, embracing seasonal rhythms, and thoughtful community-focused work. I’m learning that it is in fact possible to steward a business with a type b personality.
ASCC continues to grow every year, with rigorous dedication to sustainably supporting our clients, their communities, and ourselves. We have grown from a capsule “dream project” to serving communities throughout the US and beyond, expanding our offerings from a strict evaluation focus to holistic organizational support, collaborations with colleagues, and an amazing well-rounded team. I’m slowly watching this business blossom into a community garden, providing the necessary tending and nurturing along the way.
It certainly hasn’t been without challenges, or should we call them “learning experiences,” or maybe “valleys.” The “feast or famine” life of an independent consultant, urgent and demanding client needs, the growing pains of a growing team, a global pandemic, -gestures- all of this. The only way I’ve made it here is by pushing boundaries, causing a little trouble, and digging my heels in (compassionately) when it’s really mattered.
Committing to a values-aligned business feels like a small act of resistance, made up of many more tiny acts of resistance. It doesn’t ever feel like enough, but when I consider the amount of real estate that this work takes up in my time, energy, and attention, it feels profound and expansive. It may be impossible to truly turn capitalism against itself, but I do believe those tiny acts of resistance can make a difference at least for now.
As I think about a decade of self-employed freelancerprenurship these are the accomplishments that make me most proud. At some point I will compile a cute little “by the numbers” graphic for the visually and and quantitatively inclined. But those of you who have been following me for a while won’t be surprised that this is where the heart of my celebration lies.
In honor of tweendom, and in response to a world built against us, we’re following legacies of activists, leaders, and rule-breakers. We’re saying no to what doesn’t make sense and working to build the world we want to know. Some will call it trouble and I don’t really have a problem with that.
As we face a world that keeps letting us down I’m building one that’s holding me up. And I hope it can do the same for some of you too.
Always in solidarity,
Alli
P.S. For similar content and more inspo, consider revisiting my History in the Making blog post from March last year.
ID: A photo collage of troublemakers and other inspiration for the times. Individual image descriptions, photo credit, and accompanying links included below.
Photo collage image descriptions and accompanying links
Marsha P. Johnson holding a sign reading “Power to the People” from an Instagram post attributed to @thereclaimed. ID: Johnson leans in the corner of a wall with brick and a window with bars on one side and concrete on the other. She holds a lit cigarette in her left hand and the sign, lowered near her abdomen, in her right.
Rosa Parks, one of my lifelong idols, being fingerprinted in 1956. ID: A person dressed in a police uniform holds Parks’ left index finger to prepare it for finger printing. Parks is wearing glasses and a blazer with her hair tied back in a crown braid.
Sacheen Littlefeather at the 1973 Oscars. Littlefeather, positioned in front of a large Oscar statue, holds a piece of paper wearing traditional regalia.
A vintage piece of artwork from my personal collection that features a sunflower and the words “War is not healthy for children and other living things.”
White text on teal background reads, “It’s not just activism, it’s our life work,” attributed to Reyes DeVore, which I heard in summer 2022 and it has since become a bit of a mantra for me.
A photo of my small and mighty balcony garden, with bonus cat. ID: A black cat sits on a small table surrounded by vines and flowering plants.