We are a worker-owned strategic communications agency.
Our diverse portfolio includes labor unions, nonprofits, coalitions, political or issue-based campaigns, grassroots organizations and small businesses.
We are passionate about working on projects related to social issues such as healthcare, racial justice, voting rights, community-led decision-making, environmental justice, transportation, the arts, and supporting worker cooperatives.
Our Mission
Our Vision
We envision a more equitable world where communities have the agency to create sustainable change and the bridges needed to build deeper connections between them.
Meet our Team
We are skill builders. creative visionaries. producing emergent work. rooted in love and liberation.
Jessica Bahl
OPERATIONS
Member, Board Member
Erin Burrows
OPERATIONS
Caitlin Gianniny
CREATIVE SERVICES
Member
Arianne Graham
Member, Board Member
Katie LeBlanc
CREATIVE SERVICES
Member, Board Member
Melissa
Nelson-Stippich
CREATIVE SERVICES
Amity Paye
Board Member
Erica Rotman
OPERATIONS
Member
Ada Runge
CREATIVE SERVICES
Our Values
Equity
Building + Growing
Transparency
Working Smart
Showing up with Integrity
Embracing Complexity
Equity
We commit to group equity by developing equitable structures instead of individual needs and wants. We prioritize democracy in the workplace, and choose to slow down in the short term to create solid foundations that allow us to grow into the long run.
Building + Growing
At Samara Collective, we believe in the importance of compassion, celebration and accountability. As a worker-cooperative, we have personally witnessed the power of community in creating a stronger foundation, fiscally and culturally, by working together. This is why relationships are at the core of everything we do.
Transparency
Being true to ourselves and our mission is crucial for Samara Collective. We must create a safe environment where everyone can be their authentic selves and voice any challenges we face, both internally and externally. Despite being geographically distributed, we prioritize relationship-building through frequent communication with each other and our clients.
Working Smart
Consistently delivering on our commitments, and looking for strategies and efficiencies that can help to lighten the load for staff and for our clients are core motivations for Samara Collective.
Showing up with Integrity
We show up in the community with humility and respect for ourselves and others. As BlPOC, women, queer, and gender non-conforming folks, we have worked in too many places that made us feel voiceless, unseen, misunderstood, or taken for granted. We won’t ever tell you to smile, that you’re too loud, or that what you feel isn’t real.
Embracing Complexity
Our world is messy, there’s often no singular answer or solution to many of the problems we face. As individuals, we all have so many aspects that make up who we are, and it’s important to make space to hold all of them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Worker co-ops are businesses where employees share ownership. They are based on the idea that the employees who do the work — the members — should also own and democratically govern it with one vote each.
Cooperatives are structured around seven principles deeply rooted in democracy, economic participation, and sustainable growth of both the businesses and communities they serve.
In this shared ownership structure, profits are shared with the people who directly support that business. Because of this, cooperative ownership has the potential to unlock ownership and wealth generation for so many traditionally excluded individuals and communities.
At Samara Collective, we have a broad scope of what we consider values aligned (see Our Values). Ultimately, our worker-owners and board use consensus to determine alignment and assess capacity, but here are some of our guiding principles for accepting client partners:
- Values Alignment – Does the prospective client partner’s mission prioritize justice-seeking work? On behalf of women, people of color, and/or LGBTQIA+ folks? Does the leadership team and staff composition reflect the primary beneficiaries of their work? Is the prospective (individual) client partner a self-identified woman, person of color, or LGBTQIA+?
- Needs and Expertise – Is the client partner clear on the scope of work required, and/or open to collaborating with Samara to define/refine the scope in the interest of shared understanding? Are Samara members’ skills the right ones to tackle this scope of work? Do we have prior experience and training to meet the partner’s needs? Do Samara members have sufficient capacity to complete this scope of work within the designated time frame?
- Commitment to Equity – Is the prospective client partner explicitly engaged in external equity work (as defined by the organization’s mission?) If not, does the client partner represent a marginalized or disenfranchised identity or group? Where is the organization on its journey toward internal equity?
A “samara” is a winged seed. It flies from where it grows out into the world to plant new seeds, echoing our mission and vision as a collective.
Samara’s story began in early 2018 when our founding members sat down to get to know one another. Before getting down to business, we spent months dreaming – sharing our personal, professional and political experiences and aspirations. We discovered our common desire to align our visions for the future with our work in deeper ways. We gathered advice, resources, and encouragement from our community, and Samara Collective was born.
Now our membership and staff have grown and we are in the business of building agency through design, marketing, advertising and training for values-based organizations and people, who have a story to tell.
Ready to elevate your project?
