Imagine a world in which the real definition of the word “competition” is collaboration.  This is a  world where visionary nonprofits are joined at the table by socially responsible corporate, public sector, and academic leaders. These relationships are at the heart of every successful collaboration. Rebecca is the Founder and President of A Foot in the Door Productions - an independent, collaboration-building firm designed to bridge the varying needs of business, government, nonprofits, and academia. A “serial social entrepreneur”, her three businesses (A Foot in Door Productions, Mission First Solutions, and repFIVE) are disruptive innovations providing social value and systemic change in how people do work, develop efficiencies and create sustainability.

With 20 years experience in public relations, fundraising, and collaboration-building Rebecca first rallied her talents in Colorado on behalf of the Huntington’s Disease Society of America, developing many grass-roots campaigns (including annual Hoop-a-thons) to fund Centers of Excellence nationwide.  These campaigns continue to raise awareness and funds today. Her efforts in both the private, academic and nonprofit sectors have exposed her to people and events that have transformed into cultural milestones, and have spurred her to greater and greater collaborative activity. 

Rebecca assembled and instructed production teams tackling one of the world’s largest, and at that time unheard-of, collaborative efforts: recording Holocaust survivor testimonies for Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. Producing nearly 15,000 of the subsequent 65,000 testimonies recorded worldwide, she was also a key participant in the September 11, 1997, opening of the New York Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.  

Rebecca is really proud of her recent contract work as the Interim Executive Director for the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado. Her work focused on a partnership with Progress Now and the Daily Kos to develop and implement the BIG TENT (see video on the BIG TENT DENVER channel on YOU TUBE), a $620,000 Bloggers and New Media Headquarters at the 2008 Democratic Convention in Denver.  The Big Tent became a linchpin for the DNC’s media strategy and has since been chosen for curation at the Smithsonian Institute and the Newseum.

Rebecca consults as a personal publicist for Right Management, creating community connections and collaborations worldwide. She chose to work with Right Management because of its commitment to the health of the local community, and its investment in strengthening community by amplifying the careers and resources of Colorado professionals. She proudly has worked with hundreds of nonprofits and the businesses, agencies and academic institutions which support them - spanning from ARC Thrift and Ballet Nouveau Colorado, to The Gathering Place and The Second Wind Fund. She has found academic institutions to be a unique source of collaborative energy as well. Daniels College of Business and The Women’s College both at the University of Denver have proven to be invaluable partners.

Rebecca spends most of her “free time” working with organizations such as Ashoka (supporting social entrepreneurs), the National Center for Community Collaborations (for which she is the Vice President) the Civic Canopy (where she is a board member) and increasingly, more of her time working with The Pachamama Alliance as a proud facilitator of the “Awakening the Dreamer” symposium. She can also be found in the 2009 edition of ICOSA Magazine (see page 14).