Meet Christine.

Hi! I’m Christine. I'm a former educator turned dialogue practitioner and leadership development consultant, with 15+ years in teaching, facilitation, and leadership development — including seven years living, teaching, and leading overseas in multicultural communities. I'm also a wife, dog mom, doctoral student, and lifelong learner. When I'm not working or researching, you'll find me running trails, lifting, skiing, or climbing in the mountains of Montana.

I believe the most important work happens through dialogue: the kind of authentic conversation that helps people build trust, navigate complexity, and move toward shared meaning and innovative action.

My path here started with a question, not an answer. I began my PhD at Gonzaga fascinated by team dynamics and workplace culture, but early on, I found myself drawn to a different, bigger question: why are we so polarized, and what can we do about it? I started digging into what polarization actually is, where it comes from, how it relates to conflict and change, and what it means for our organizations, communities, and democracy. 

The research kept pointing to the same answer. Rather than turning away from each other in isolation, we have to turn toward each other and talk. That may sound oversimplified and a bit "Pollyanna," but it's unusual in today's society. We've normalized our inability to think together to the point that it barely registers as a problem. Yet we can't face today's complex challenges without learning to think differently and re-engage in public life at work, at home, and in our communities. That practice begins with dialogue.

By dialogue, I don't mean discussion or debate. I mean the practice of listening without resistance: exploring underlying assumptions, surfacing deeper questions, and building wider understanding together. Done well, dialogue opens up possibilities that debate never will. It creates real, collective momentum forward.

This shift in my research became a shift in my work. Today, I offer internal and group-to-group dialogue facilitation and leadership development training for international organizations and communities. I work with teams and organizations navigating change, conflict, or cultural tension — those moments when people have stopped talking to each other, and started talking past each other.

My background shapes how I show up in this work. As a practitioner, I've designed curriculum for adult leadership programs, university systems, local governments, and K–12 environments. As a scholar, I connect theory and practice, grounding sessions in evidence rather than intuition alone — designed for deeper reflection and real application, and shaped by global awareness, adaptability, and a genuine commitment to cross-cultural dialogue and collaboration.

It is my hope that dialogue becomes the norm, not the exception.