My work centers agency and accountability in innovation ecosystems.
In our deeply wounded world, I work with folks who are figuring out what is to be done. A PhD trained ethnographer and published author, I have over two decades’ experience designing original curricula, workshops, sprints, and other gatherings and hands-on events. My work supports teams that are keen to make their work more sustainable by getting better at making decisions, holding accountability, developing reciprocal partnerships, and sharpening impact. I have worked in experimental music scenes, academia, agri-tech ventures, small businesses, activist communities, professional and community theatres, non-profits, parenting groups, philanthropy, and open source tech.
I am the co-founder of SILT, a new, shared management commons for independent researchers.
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Open source software faces critical sustainability concerns. While it acts as the “roads and bridges” of our digital infrastructure, much of it is critically under supported, sometimes maintained by a single volunteer. I have developed original curricula to support technologists developing project governance, community engagement, and fundraising, improving overall project sustainability. I have delivered four, six, and twelve month programs across the open source ecosystem, working with 30+ teams since 2021.
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I believe more people can make more decisions about the things that directly affect their lives and the result will be more balance and care. Sessions I design promote agency and a growth mindset, allowing participants to see themselves and the work they do as capable of change. Portfolio available upon request.
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I am an ethnographer with an ear for how individuals understand agency in their social worlds. Research for my PhD centered on the experiences of experimental musicians and their fans in three Arab cities. I have additionally conducted research with farmers, bar owners, fiscal hosts, journalists, artists, and migrant domestic workers. I have also partnered with technologists to deliver UX research geared at scaling tool adoption in global markets.
See a full list of my published work.
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I have edited and co-edited special issues and full-length monographs, commissioned pieces, launched research collectives, and helped colleagues win grants and fellowships. Drawing from a decade of teaching and academic editing, my experience as a researcher, and my skills as a facilitator, I can help you develop your thoughts, proposals into finished, published, (funded) work.
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testimonials
“Now we have the necessary tools to talk about governance and mission/vision, where before we were just following our intuition”
“Rayya possesses a dynamism in writing and editing everything from grant proposals to academic prose and even poetry. She’s the person to brainstorm with; our projects went from idea, to proposal, to funded in months. I’m always proud of our work and eager to work with her again.”
“My approach to growing and scaling projects changed. I adopted a more sustainable approach to working for communities”
“Rayya did a beautiful job synthesizing our chaotic brainstorms and content dumps into coherent flows of ideas and easily legible streams of possible work”
“Discussions around ethics and governance have clearly been moved to the center of conversations within the project team”
“I changed the way I see the project grow in the future, as a comfortably controlled, but more openly governed entity”
“The last thing Rayya reviewed for me was a fellowship proposal I won. I re-read and re-visit it constantly to both guide me and because I’m so titillatingly proud of what I’ve done.”
“Rayya has a gift for moving teams through conflict; she is well-suited to help teams follow what is emergent while holding onto structure”