ABOUT

What I do

I’m Toni (she/ hers), a queer attorney, retired college athlete, and organizer who began my community organizing journey on campus during my undergraduate time at Stanford University. By day I am a children’s mental health and special education attorney and by night a public narrative and community organizing coach. I currently stay connected to the game by giving basketball lessons to youth and young adults.

My coaching career technically started back in middle school, where I gave private and group soccer and basketball lessons. I haven’t looked back since, continuing my coaching career on the basketball court, in the classroom, and in the professional sphere.

A little more history about me:

I played basketball at Stanford, competing in two Final Fours before unfortunately medically retiring my junior season due to concussions. That difficult choice allowed me the space and freedom to dive deeper into community organizing for LGBTQ athletes in the Bay area: I founded Stanford’s first LGBTQ and allied athlete student group, co-wrote and co-produced Stanford’s You Can Play Video, organized panels and trainings for athletes and coaches, and co-created an LGBTQ inclusion week between Stanford and Cal athletes. I graduated from Stanford with dual degrees in Human Biology and Sociology, with Honors in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, where I focused on homophobia in women’s college basketball recruiting.

I stayed another year on “the Farm” to earn a Master’s Degree in Sociology, focusing on educational advocacy. While finishing my degree, I worked at a non-profit running school-based health and leadership programming for elementary school children with a range of disabilities and mental health challenges as well as elementary school girls with limited access to sports participation.

I began work as a D&I consultant for athletic departments in college, creating my first diversity inclusion course for college athletes while a student at Stanford. This course continued beyond my graduation and has since transformed into a yearly campus-wide athlete storytelling event. Since then, I have worked with high school, college, and graduate students - both athletes and non-athletes - in the art of public narrative (a framework for leadership and storytelling).

My campus activism and work on the playground inspired my path to law school, and I switched coasts following graduation to pursue a law degree at Northeastern University and a Master’s in Education in Human Development and Psychology, Child Advocacy from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.

I currently work as a children’s mental health and special education attorney, working every day to make sure students feel safe at school and have access to the mental health resources they need in their community to be successful. 

Beyond my day job, I have been a teacher and trainer of public narrative and community organizing since 2018, working closely with Marshall Ganz. I have coached hundreds of students, professionals, and entrepreneurs in crafting their personal stories of why they do the work they do and learning how to share the diverse experiences that have made them who they are today.

Most recently, I have served as the program director and lead lecturer for Stanford’s Leadership, Organizing, Action (LOA) Program . This included the development of a fall fellowship program to train Stanford student’s in the craft of public narrative and community organizing, as well as a course to support students in developing leadership skills necessary to design and implement campaigns for social change. In addition to the LOA Program, I am looking forward to returning to Stanford to teach an updated leadership, identity, and storytelling course for student-athletes this fall.

As a consultant, I bring my ten-plus years of coaching experience spanning athletics, lawyering, and organizing to the table. If you are looking to ground your professional work or advocacy in your personal values, bring your authentic self to your personal or professional life, and prioritize uplifting and building power within your community, then I look forward to working with you!

There’s a lot of work to be done—let’s start now.