Nikki Silvestri is, first and foremost, a mother of two, wife, and sci-fi nerd. Nikki is also a serial non-profit executive director and entrepreneur (currently the CEO and founder of Soil and Shadow), a board member of Greenpeace USA, and an international keynote speaker.
Nikki’s unique approach to inclusion, leadership, and organizational development takes cues from nature, building models of “social fertility” to weave them into a Joy and Impact™ framework. Her work also encourages a rigorous and shame-free approach to acknowledging our societal shadows and blind spots, especially when attempting to balance the triple bottom line (ecology, economy, and equity) in times of uncertainty, climate/health feedback loops, and increasing volatility.
Nikki’s wide-ranging career has taken her from presentations at the White House and negotiations with the Environmental Protection Agency to intimate workshops with local businesses and small retail organizing. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including ELLE Magazine’s Gold Award and OxFam America’s Act Local, Think Global Award, and she was named one of The Root’s 100 Most Influential African Americans.
Community, interconnectedness and transformation are at the heart of JEI. Which speaks to you most? Why?
Community speaks to me the most right now because you experience interconnectedness and transformation through community. Community is the foundation for the other two to happen. Building communities of practice is a huge focus for Soil and Shadow right now, but it’s communities of deep practice, and it’s the deep practice part that creates interconnectedness and transformation. Everyone has different definitions of deep practice, and I’m excited to explore JEI’s.
What are a few things about you that would surprise other people?
- I sang on stage with the Beach Boys when I was seven years old at a concert because I knew the lyrics to Barbara Ann because I was obsessed with Surf Ninjas in the early nineties.
- Also, I’m a hardcore Sci-Fi and fantasy fan. I have the entire Dune series on my bookshelf in order, along with all of The Vampire Chronicles from Anne Rice. I get to take a lot of inspiration from that into my work.
What movements for a just economy, past or present, inspire you?
I have a master’s degree in African American studies, and I studied the Black nationalist movements of the 1970s quite a bit. I appreciated the way that different Black nationalist entities approached things. The Move organization in Philadelphia approached things differently than Maulana Karenga’s organization, who approached things differently than the Black Panther party. Everybody had a different vibe and that is very interesting to me. It’s one of the things about creating a just economy that I appreciate—that we’re all different in how we think about it.
