About the Founder
A note from the founder
As a child I discovered how it feels to suffer injustice. That sparked my interest in social justice—instead of reading fiction and fables, I chose to read about oppression, poverty and triumphs over adversity. To this day the desire to change inflexible, impersonal systems defines who I am and what I do. Why accept the status quo when with imagination and grit you can improve it? Why ignore disparities in education, employment, health, housing and the criminal justice system that create and sustain a permanent underclass?
I know what it takes–audacity, creativity, conviction, tenacity and alliances–to replace systems that perpetuate injustice with those that foster opportunity.
I founded Achieving Change Together to share my knowledge and imagination with social change agents whose initiatives promise hope and justice for all.
Barbara Rady Kazdan
The author of creative nonfiction, in her encore career Barbara draws inspiration for her work from personal experience and reflections about contemporary life. Writing in a conversational, sometimes whimsical, always candid voice, her work offers readers practical suggestions and empathetic insights drawn from her life experience.
Barbara began writing nonfiction when invited to contribute essays to two anthologies: Contagious Optimism and 10 Habits of Highly Optimistic People. She studies the craft at the Writer's Center in Bethesda, Maryland and in a memoir group of accomplished writers led by Sara Taber, author, literary coach and teacher.
As Director, Ashoka-US, the flagship program of a global organization of leading social entrepreneurs, she identified and guided candidates to lifetime election as Ashoka Fellows and created a robust learning community to support their success. Prior to Ashoka, Barbara co-founded Interprofessional Fostering of Ophthalmic Care for Underserved Sectors (InFOCUS), where she developed "vision stations" offering affordable eye care in poor communities in the U.S. and abroad.
The founding executive director of the Houston READ Commission, she led this mayoral literacy agency to national prominence for pioneering comprehensive adult literacy programs at technology-assisted learning centers. Prior to that position, as a volunteer leader, she organized an award winning literacy awareness campaign, established a 10-city demonstration project that became a national initiative, and helped shape public policy on the Governor's and Mayor's literacy task forces in Texas and Houston.
Barbara earned a BA in English Literature from the University of Michigan and completed the Management Program at the Jones Graduate School of Administration, Rice University. She is a national board member of Humane Farm Animal Care.
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