As a life-long music lover, Rachel Weinstein was reading a newsletter from musician Steve Seskin, who talked about an emerging organization focused on respectful, two-sided engagement between and among Americans who were becoming increasingly polarized (fun fact: she once met David Bowie, as a winning prize in a Boston radio contest!). This newsletter was how she heard about Braver Angels, and just a short time later she contacted Braver Angels President, David Blankenhorn, to see how she could be part of this movement and how she could help.
Like much of the leadership at Braver Angels, Rachel began her relationship and work with us as a volunteer. Over time, she went from part-time and “interested” to fully engaged as Chief Operating Officer, where she helped to design and build the systems that continue to drive the Braver Angels non-profit infrastructure (fundraising and finance). Today her focus has become much more multi-faceted across a variety of functions related to scaling the grassroots movement. Her mix of right- and left-brain experiences, skills and training – the “mish mash” of her personal interests and professional career as she calls it – make her a unique asset to the movement.
She began adulthood as a computer science major, graduating Harvard and then going to work at Amazon as a software developer. Later she plied those same skills in the non-profit world as a technical consultant in East Africa where she wrote software, conducted analysis, and supported health interventions for thousands of children in Kenya. Working with children spoke to her, and she later helped to raise millions of dollars for Children’s Rights in New York City, where she also worked with FEGS Health & Human Services, a social services non-profit serving New York City residents.
Rachel has lived on four continents and speaks imperfect but enthusiastic French, Hebrew, Swahili, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese (in addition to English, of course). As part of being a life-long learner herself, she has worked in technology and fundraising in both the private and non-profit sectors. Originally from Hartford, Connecticut, she grew up in a very Blue family. Her grandmother was a dedicated advocate in the movements for women’s and minority rights, and if anyone in her family circle had “announced they were a Republican, it would have been a shock.”
She recalls walking through her Blue neighborhood one day and seeing yard signs that read something like, “In Our America Love Wins…” followed by a series of progressive slogans. These signs had always felt positive to her, but she wondered how they felt to someone from the other side, politically. “When I asked my Red friend what the sign brought up for her, she said she believed that the people who posted those signs thought Republicans were bad people. It hadn’t even occurred to her that the sign might have intended to make people feel safe, included and loved.” Rachel realized just how much the starting point of people’s perspectives can differ.
As with many topics that define our society and how we relate to each other, it’s complicated. She felt a real need to explore and understand this complexity and the lines that exist – real or perceived – among and between people. “I worry that, when we give off the message that people on the other side are ‘bad’ or ‘evil,’ rather than them hearing or understanding others’ points of view, they instead feel attacked, and it shuts them down and drives them further into their own siloed viewpoints.” She discovered that “…this really matters, and it’s rare that, when you look hard enough, you don’t at least see, if not understand, what’s driving another person’s point of view… that’s a really important starting point for meaningful dialogue.” Braver Angels appealed to her with its connection to Martin Luther King’s philosophy of nonviolence, which teaches to treat all people with love – in spite of their viewpoints.
Today Rachel focuses on several strategic priorities at Braver Angels, like increasing the strength and impact of the organization’s grassroots volunteers in over 90 local chapters across the country. She also continues to develop the movement’s infrastructure in ways that put “power and agency in the hands of our greatest leaders – our volunteers.” She hopes to build a movement “where citizens can express their best selves and, in Lincoln’s words, the better angels of their nature.”
One thing she points out as especially exciting about her work is all the creativity and enthusiasm individual Braver Angels chapters bring to the table. “I think we need to take what has worked and put it into a manual or playbook of sorts, so people don’t have to reinvent the wheel.” She points out that the civil rights movement worked hard to develop structured training programs for its activists, which contributed to its success. “Braver Angels has to find a balance between giving people the freedom to be completely creative at the local level and providing them with training and support to be as effective as possible in their local communities. Living in that balance is part of what makes this organization unique.”
For now, there is a long list of things and tasks to get to, indeed. She comments that, “Though we are well past the crawl-phase of the movement, there is so much demand for what we are doing… and, just like in a start-up, we are resource-strapped – people, time and money.” Fortunately, Rachel has ‘been there and done that’ when it comes to boot strapping an organization from the ground up, noting that “I don’t look at it as ‘having to do too much’ but really more like, ‘I get to do so much’. I joke that I am a plumber here – wherever the water is supposed to come from and where it is supposed to go – I get to work with other great folks to make it flow.”
2 thoughts on “Leader Spotlight: Rachel Weinstein”
Great read. Thank you.
The talent contained within “Braver Angels” is TRULY amazing! So diverse and interesting.
So glad to have Rachel as a Fellow Member and Worker to help make Braver Angels the best that it can be❣️ Thank you for your dedication, Rachel. 🙏🏻