Meet Dara & Nicole

Dara Burwell, Founder & Co-President

For as long as I can remember, I have been deeply committed to the fair and equitable treatment of people. Being a queer, mixed race woman has provided me with a lifetime of observations on how power, privilege, and oppression work as well as their tremendous, multilayered impact. I want to provide people with the tools they need to re-envision their organizations, interpersonal relationships, and society at large. I want to help people build powerful and transformative alliances.

I have formally worked as an anti-oppression and equity consultant for thirteen (13) years, and have guided trainings, discussion groups, and other anti-oppression focused activities for nineteen (19) years. I have designed and conducted several hundred workshops for thousands of participants, provided individual and group coaching, facilitated caucuses/discussion groups, taught oppression-related classes, and devised curricula. My work has encompassed both continuing and short-term projects, and is customized to suit each client. I am continuously engaged in my own development and expansion. There will always be a tremendous amount for me to learn, and I want my impact on the world to be as intentional and conscientious as possible. I invite you to join me on this journey, and I look forward to supporting you in your anti-oppression and equity work.

Nicole Hurt, Co-President

I have over 25 years of social justice experience working alongside others to build a world in which we can all bring our full selves into being and be recognized by one another as we are. My activism has been most rooted in solidarity/coalition work, with an emphasis on immigrant rights, economic justice, and anti-racist organizing (in both LGBTQ and broader communities). I have worked in collaboration with professional colleagues, a range of activist groups across the country, and community members to lead campaigns for health care reform, police accountability, and equal language access in voting, to name a few.

Originally from Greeley, I left Colorado to attend Oberlin College in 1994.  After graduating with a degree in African American Studies and Women’s Studies in 1998, I spent the next several years living in Ohio, Washington D.C., and Michigan before returning to Greeley in 2005.  I served as the Colorado Progressive Coalition’s (CPC) Northern CO Director from 2008 to March 2012, and worked together with folks in my home community to build grassroots power and lasting change.  I also led CPC’s Northern Colorado electoral field program for 2 years.  In March 2012, I left CPC and moved to Denver to pursue Transformative Organizing, Coaching, and Anti-Oppression training/consulting work full time.  And since 2014, I have participated in the Denver Transformative Justice Collective as a co-founder and member.