Who am I? There are many parts of me writing this.

The ‘formal’ role and perspective I’m writing from is as a Co-Host, Community Catalyst and, now, Member of the Reimagine Peace Community.

Our journey began in 2020 with a six-month-long “imaginaries” process—exploring personal stories and experiences of the system as it is today, unpacking what’s broken, and embracing creativity to imagine possible alternative futures. In 2022, we came together and launched as the Reimagine Peace Community, with the intention of deepening bonds of hope and solidarity—and transforming those dreams into reality, one experiment at a time.

We’re five years in. We’re only just beginning.

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What’s a Community Catalyst?

Our belief was that in (re)imagining systems, we must also reimagine the roles we play in supporting that imagination. We need non-business-as-usual roles to build non-business-as-usual systems. These were roles we invented to support a different way of being and leading—roles open to emergence.

In co-hosting the Reimagine Space, our goal was to create a generative, imaginative space for those on the frontlines of peacebuilding—a space that from the outset committed to a transfer of leadership to the collective. Each Co-Host held a specific role: Adriana as Imagination Catalyst, and myself as Community Catalyst.

We thought the Community Catalyst might be someone who:

• Creates the conditions for a culture centered on relationships (Field Note 1)
• Enhances the individual and collective potential of the community (Field note 2)‍
• Supports the community to establish the right structures for collaboration (field note 3), and‍
• Works with Community to deepen funder relationships (field note 4)

My other ‘roles’

We are more than the formal roles we inhabit. We carry our lived experiences, biases, worldviews and positionalities—some well known to us, some still to be discovered. So, what other ‘roles’ am I bringing that shape how I see and do this work?

• I am a nomad. I find belonging in the shared struggles of our humanity—across differences, across borders. I believe the seeds of our shared futures begin there.
• I am a system navigator. I know how our dominant systems work from the inside. I’ve been made to feel like I belong there. I work to become ever more aware of the unearned privileges this bestows—and I try to use creativity to open access to that power for others, to help create the systems we dream of. I have blindspots.
• I believe in relationship. Everything we create emerges through relationship. Our ability to reimagine systems depends on how deeply and complexly we can relate.
• I am a sherpa. I draw energy from supporting others to connect to their vision.
• I’m a disrupter. I seek to create, to invent.

Ultimately, I show up in this journal as an explorer.

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The path

“Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar.” – Antonio Machado
(Walker, there is no path; the path is made by walking.)

There is no map.
There is no path.

These are notes from the path, as it is being made. What I’ve learned, what I’ve unlearned, what I still don’t know.

I share them in the hope that others walking their own paths might find in them some understanding, perhaps some inspiration—or simply a sense of connection and renewed purpose. A reminder that there are other wanderers out there too.

With love and solidarity—

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To the Reimagine Community, its many sponsors, co-conspirers, and inspirers.

And to all the explorers out there.

We need you now.
We need each other.

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