"We contracted with Erika Chen early on in my tenure as Interim Executive Director of Friends of Waterfront Seattle [Friends]. The organization had a longstanding commitment to racial equity, but it was not systemically and comprehensively embedded in our organizational practices, policies, and investments. We also needed a clear statement of workplace values and new practices to ensure those values—collaboration and inclusion—shaped our hiring processes, internal culture, and relations with external partners. Finally, the staff needed an advocate, a trusted leader dedicated to overall employee well-being. Friends is a much larger organization than it was when Erika started with us, and now it is far more functional. The workplace culture she has guided and nurtured into being is more collaborative, mission-focused, and fun than any team I have ever led. I am hugely grateful for all Erika had done for Friends and—personally—for all I have learned from her about being a more effective director."