Dana Pedersen

Dana is based in western Massachusetts. After working as a college Public Speaking instructor, a nonprofit community educator, and a consultant in the technology sector, she joined AORTA and is delighted to bring all of these experiences and perspectives to her work as a facilitator.

Her political awakening began as a young adult participating  in living wage campaigns on her college campus in western Wisconsin. Since then, she has been on a trajectory of radical systemic analysis, critique, and imagination. In 2015, she joined the staff of Cooperation Texas to help develop worker-owned cooperatives in Austin, Texas and, through this work, connected with others in the solidarity economy movement. Dana is most interested in workplace democracy, Black self-determination, and building power. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Master’s degree in Communication Studies. This education has shaped her understanding of structural oppression, how discourses create reality, and the importance of developing narratives that liberate us to build a new world.

Dana draws on her own experiences as a queer, Black, Caribbean American woman with roots in the Deep South to understand power and oppression more broadly and discover collective resources for change. As a facilitator, she values humor, creative expression, disruption, contemplation, and systems thinking. Dana’s other interests include dancing Cuban rueda, playing guitar, writing poetry, and stitching handmade journals!