Welcome to Our Hive
In a world of individuals, we ask “what if” to move away from “what is” and, in so doing, we collectively create regenerative change.
What we do
Through our work, we aim to create a more equitable and sustainable business model that benefits our workers, our partners, and our society.
We co-create a culture that advances justice, holistic well-being and redistribution of wealth and access to opportunities.
Our work is grounded in our commitments to racial and disability justice and to collective liberation, informed by our lived experiences as Black, Latin@s, immigrant, single mothers, and working class men and women.
Our current hive has consultants based in the US and Mexico, and we are open to serving clients around the world.
Connect People
•
Solve Problems
•
Ask Inspiring Questions
•
Connect People • Solve Problems • Ask Inspiring Questions •
Colmena is a radical consulting cooperative for change-makers with systematically marginalized identities and social justice values, seeking to create change through new models of work.
Our Offerings
We are committed to making our work accessible to organizations of all sizes, needs and budgets through sliding-scale rates.
Our offerings are wide-ranging, reflecting our collective skills and expertise including strategic planning, organizational change management, participatory evaluation and research, communities of practice, philanthropic and fundraising strategy, project management, advising and more.
Have a project? Need help?
How Do We Do It?
Our hive is composed of bees (consultants), who believe that a new way of working is possible.
We harvest inspiration from the nature that surrounds us, steering away from capitalism and redesigning our ways of working. A hive is a structure that protects its members, and defends them actively as well.
Through the belief that everything is interconnected we find a new way of ensuring supportive, healthy and generative economic models.
We provide a unifying platform. We bring together professionals from diverse backgrounds yet similar values, where their unique skills are not only recognized but also celebrated. Everyone is heightened to achieve their personal as well as professional goals.
As a consulting cooperative, we offer our members a sense of community. Every bee in the hive participates in the profits, oversight and management of Colmena through the use of democratic practices.
We look out for each other and help every member in all aspects of their work such as contract management, business insurance, justice-based pricing, amongst other things.
Interested in being a bee in our hive?
Meet the Team
-
Adriana Loson-Ceballos
FOUNDING CO-OWNER, COLMENA CONSULTING
PhD
She/Her/HersDr. Adriana Loson-Ceballos is a co-founder of Colmena-Consulting, an all-woman & majority Black & Latina worker-owned cooperative of consultants working toward collective liberation. Adriana is a critical evaluation, research, and fundraising consultant supporting a cultural shift in how resources, particularly philanthropic ones, are moved. To challenge who is considered a “philanthropist” and who’s philanthropy is counted, and to increase funding for community philanthropy infrastructure; Adriana has researched, evaluated, designed learning opportunities, and fundraised for giving circles in the US and around the world. Adriana embeds critical theories and participatory methods in her consulting in order to build knowledge that drives forward justice-based and data-informed decision making for those moving resources, taking care of their communities, or driving systemic and cultural change in their work. Adriana volunteers by serving on two global philanthropy boards. Born in Mexico, raised in Chula Vista California, Adriana resides on the US-Mexico border.
-
Melissa Sines
PARTNER, COLMENA CONSULTING
OWNER, JEANIUS LAB, LLCShe/Her/Hers
I am a Partner at Colmena Consulting, a co-op for consultants, coaches, and change-makers with systematically marginalized identities and social justice values, seeking to create change through new models of work. I am also the owner of Jeanius Lab, LLC, a strategic consulting firm offering services through the collective at Colmena.
I am a network strategist, capacity builder, learning design specialist, and technologist on a mission to re-engineer the philanthropic, nonprofit, and public sectors through my consulting and to align my business and livelihood with the solidarity economy.
I have extensive experience holding space for developing emergent and adaptive strategies for the leaders within networks and organizations that are courageously working to shift power and resources to the global majority. I work with partner organizations to support collaborative “big thinking” efforts with multiple stakeholders and solutions within a complex system. I am an organizer at heart, helping to organize networks and people around equitable strategy, operations, learning, and technology.
-
Kristina Williams
FOUNDING CO-OWNER, COLMENA CONSULTING
OWNER, KEWL CONSULTING, LLCShe/Her/Hers
I am an Economic Development Consultant. My experience includes nonprofit organizational development, program planning and implementation, community organizing and engagement, and resource development. I've worked across the country on efforts ranging from commercial revitalization to equitable economic and community development. My interest in advancing racial equity and the liberation of communities stems from my time organizing with communities and small businesses in Baltimore City by facilitating strategic programming and civic education. Additionally, I am Level 2 certified in wine and spirits and have a business supporting small restaurants by developing a bar program.
