Meet Andrew.
I am a coach, facilitator, and barber. A bridge-builder by nature and community organizer by training, my work centers on helping people lean into curiosity and lead with integrity.
I grew up as a white Polish American man in a multiracial, working-class family in Detroit and its suburbs—often feeling in-between communities. That experience shaped how I move through the world and showed me how being in community requires collaborating across difference. And how much the systems we're in impact the conditions for connection.
My drive to influence these systems led me to community organizing. From countless one-on-ones in coffee shops to weekly meetings in church basements, I learned that critical connections can outweigh critical mass. My early-career work in grassroots movements helped me understand that lasting change happens when the people most affected are the ones driving it. What we practice on a small scale creates larger patterns.
From there, I deepened my understanding of how we engage with one another inside these systems. I facilitated intergroup dialogues at the University of Maryland, studied leadership and human development at Harvard, and consulted with organizations across the country working to foster more inclusive teams—places where people can expect to feel heard when they say the quiet part out loud. Along the way, I came to see how knowing better doesn't always mean doing better. My coaching and facilitation focuses on exactly this: closing the gap between our values and actions. In other words, I help people do hard things. Together.
Today, I coach leaders across the globe and facilitate the OB 374: Interpersonal Dynamics course at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, helping students develop self-awareness and practical interpersonal skills to cultivate trust and connection. I also cut hair at Dax Lee's Barber & Apothecary in Oakland. Turns out a good conversation and a good haircut are both building blocks of community.
I hold a B.A. in Sociology from Loyola University Chicago and an Ed.M. in Human Development and Psychology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where I was an Equity & Inclusion Fellow. I’m a certified conflict mediator and earned an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) credential with the International Coaching Federation. I'm based in Oakland, CA with my partner, Nimah.
