A COLIBRI TRANSITION

Colibri nest image courtesy by Nancy Marshall

Dear Colibrí Community,

I hope the sun is shining on you this week after all of the rain we’ve been having. I am reaching out to you to share some news. After five rewarding, loving, challenging, reflective, synergetic, and wonderful years since Mirella and I started Colibrí, I have decided to step away (or, as Mirella has been saying to cheer me on, “soar from the nest”). So many thanks to Mirella and Lina for being brilliant, fierce, inspirational humans, and for being my family. And to our collaborators and clients for the opportunity to grow together.

When I look back, the word that most represents my time building and being part of Colibrí is “transition”. When we started Colibrí, we quickly realized that we were being called to help organizations move through transitions from a place of equity and liberation. While we were doing this professionally, our team was also experiencing ongoing personal changes and all of us were going through major societal shifts. 

To me, transition is a state of being that gives us the power and grace to move from one place to another. Sometimes we are choosing it and moving with intention, taking actions that make us feel all superhero-ish. Other times, it can feel like transition is happening to us, and that we are being pulled and stretched, unsure of why. Alice Walker speaks to those parts where we can’t yet see what is to come: “Those long periods when something inside ourselves seems to be waiting…eventually become the periods we wait for, for it is in those periods that we realize that we are being prepared for the next phase of our life”. This patient waiting is beautiful, and honestly, really hard, especially given all the uncertainty and pain in the world right now. It takes bravery and community to feel into all that is co-existing in our bodies and in our environment.

What I love most about transitions, whether moving through them myself, or helping others navigate them, is that they catalyze an articulation of self. We find ourselves in an upward spiral of listening and reflecting, taking an action, and growing and learning from that action. Somewhere inside of this spiral, we discover and determine who we are becoming as a result of the change. Though coming into our next individual self is powerful, we can truly only transition in collaboration. We are always interacting with other people and with the circumstances and flow of the world around us. Our ideas and desires for our lives are not only made stronger by others, but will hopefully benefit others as we pursue them. 

Though I won’t be working with Colibrí full time, I will continue to be part of the network. I’m looking for what’s next in my career path and look forward to transitioning in collaboration with all of you. You’ve taught me so much, and I’m humbled to call you my people.

Sending thanks and a hug,
Maddie

*Okie, last thing: Did you know that “Female hummingbirds build their nests 10 to 90 feet high, generally in trees or shrubs (with a few exceptions). Hummingbirds build velvety, compact cups with spongy floors and elastic sides that stretch as the young grow. They weave together twigs, plant fibers, and bits of leaves, and use spider silk as threads to bind their nests together and anchor them to the foundation.”(birds and blooms)... I love how this demonstrates the interconnectedness (and stretchiness!) required of transitions. And I mean, c’mon, spider silk?! How incredible is that?

Las Colibrís

Colibrí collaborators; Lina on the left, Maddie at center and Mirella on the right. At Oakland’s Fairyland for the Roger’s Family Foundation Night of Celebration and Appreciation.