Today we’d like to introduce you to Sam Novak.
Hi Sam, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Creating a sense of community has always been central to me and my work. I have spent my career at the intersection of social, environmental, and economic justice in Baltimore and beyond. I’ve noticed the same patterns and challenges showing up no matter the scale or sector, cause, or community. Years ago, this realization inspired me to learn more deeply about the processes and structures of co-creating sustainable, transformative change.
I met Kasey Armstrong, my now friend and co-founding partner while studying living-systems thinking in the Graduate Programs for Leadership and Change at Antioch University’s Center for Creative Change in Seattle. Years later, after moving back to Baltimore, I was feeling disconnected from my established community of living systems thinkers. I invited alumni of our program from all over the country to build virtual community and explore opportunities for collaboration and support. Having shared academic backgrounds and similar professional experiences, Kasey tuned in from Massachusetts.
Over time the virtual group slowly dissipated, but our bond and desire to work together grew stronger. We entered into a joyful, experimental partnership while I got rooted into the Baltimore landscape. I began participating in Impact Bootcamps with the Social Innovation Lab and working at Impact Hub Baltimore while Kasey and I piloted systems-thinking workshops, designed community-building efforts with local small businesses, and facilitated adaptive leadership retreats. In December 2021, we made the decision to take the leap, and in February 2022, we officially founded Loam.
We just celebrated our first official birthday this year, and we could not have gotten to where we are today without the love, time, and wisdom of an incredible community of folks that supported us through the first year of dreaming, designing, and building Loam. A special thank you to the Social Innovation Lab, Impact Hub Baltimore, Innovation Works Baltimore, Discover Charm City, LIFT Economy, Green Infrastructure Leadership Exchange, Nimble Roots Coaching, Erin Seel Coaching, Marketing for Hippies, Common Defense, Small Plot and Willowood Deathcare.
Today, we are honored to be supporting humans and organizations who are doing the sacred work of changemaking to bring about better, more beautiful futures. Through the lens of relational change, Kasey and I wield our learning journeys and experiences as facilitators, reflective practitioners, and collaboration designers to build community and deepen relationships as Loam.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
For the most part, yes, it’s been a smooth road. We have an amazing community of clients, collaborators, coaches, mentors, and friends. But no matter how supported you are by community or committed you are to a cause, this work is hard.
Kasey and I cumulatively have decades of experience in the field of social change, but this is our first adventure into building our own organization, and social entrepreneurship comes with challenges. We are consistently dancing with the tension between money-making and radical, equitable change while trying to hold both of those goals with a sense of curiosity and care. We have plenty of learning edges and gaps in knowledge, so we regularly invest our time, money, and energy into values-aligned business development and skill-building. And our partnership is essentially like a marriage–we envision our future, create shared goals, make decisions, and work through conflict. Being in relationship is fundamental to our work, so we are transparent about the joys and struggles of growing together.
We’ve been impressed with Loam, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We envision a world where social change leaders are cultivating community at every scale. We believe centering reverent relationship to each other and Earth is a pathway to a thriving and liberated future. Loam empowers leaders and leaderful teams to practice relational change through education, coaching, and culture craft.
We want your readers to know– we won’t lie to you. We don’t sell quick fixes, magic bullets, or superficial outcomes. Relational change requires attention, spaciousness, and time.
We believe learning gets at the heart of what it means to be human. We design all of our courses and curriculum through an equity lens and invite whole-person learning centered in praxis: the overlapping and ongoing process of reflection, theory, and action.
We believe leadership is a practice, not a position. We know large-scale-systems change happens when all scales- including the individual- are aligned. We coach folks to see their own lives as the front lines and most fertile grounds to practice being in reverent relationship.
Lastly, we believe change-making is a sacred act that takes time, courage, and commitment. We know your teams, organizations, and partners are brilliant and wildly capable of co-creating change. We craft culture in long-term relationships and measure your success in terms of greater collaboration, care, resilience, and results.
This year we’ll be developing and expanding our offerings! Check out our website, follow us on socials, sign up for our newsletter, shoot us an email, or join us for a free community hike to connect with nature and each other. Whether in a peer-learning workshop, one-on-one coaching session, or team-building retreat, Loam approaches education, coaching, and culture craft with joy, creativity, courage, reflection, and radical love. We look forward to learning, practicing, and leading social change with beautiful, powerful folks like you!
Are there any books, apps, podcasts, or blogs that help you do your best?
YES! We love a good resource guide at Loam. Below is a reading list that is fundamental to our work. It’s also a window into the theories and thinkers that have inspired my worldview and influenced my behavior:
– “Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds” by Adrienne Maree brown.
– “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants” by Robin Wall Kimmerer
– “Thinking in Systems, A Primer” by Donella Meadows
-“The Body is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love” by Sonya Renee Taylor
– “The Hidden Connections: A Science for Sustainable Living” by Fritjof Capra
– “Belonging: A Culture of Place” by Bell Hooks
– “Small Arcs of Larger Circles: Framing Through Other Patterns” by Nora Bateson
– “Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life” by Marshall B. Rosenberg
– “Community: The Structure of Belonging” by Peter Block
– “Joyful Militancy: Building Thriving Resistance in Toxic Times” by Nick Montgomery and Carla Bergman
– “Turn This World Inside Out: The Emergence of Nurturance Culture” by Nora Samaran
Here are some other resources and practices that support me in a daily, intentional engagement with these big ideas:
-Plum Village app (free app that provides access to digital mindfulness, meditations, and resources)
– “Habits of a Systems Thinker” by Water Center for Systems Thinking (digital card deck)
– “The Nap Ministry’s Rest Deck: 50 Practices to Resist Grind Culture” by Tricia Hersey (physical card deck)
-“Journal of Radical Permission: A Daily Guide for Following Your Soul’s Calling” by Adrienne Maree Brown and Sonya Renee Taylor (guided journaling book)
-Spending time outdoors
-Yoga and Qigong
Contact Info:
- Website: www.growwithloam.com
- Instagram: @growwithloam
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/loam-whole-systems/
