Rachel Douglas’ work as executive director of The Innerwork Center is marked by a focus on personal growth and development. The center, founded in 1994 as Chrysalis, a nonprofit dedicated to exploring and sharing tools for engaging in mindfulness, creative expression and movement, psychology and consciousness, and wise traditions and spirituality, has since undergone a name change to The Innerwork Center, a daunting task that Douglas is proud to support through the use of a consensus model involving all key stakeholders.
Douglas and her team at The Innerwork Center create programs and retreats that offer attendees the chance to learn about meditation, spirituality and other ways to look inward. “I encourage staff to participate in as many of our programs that they find interesting,” she says. “We recognize each other’s full humanity, which I think is important to mention when talking about personal growth. We are all of ourselves, all of the time.”
As Douglas and her team strive to continue to offer resources online for those looking for comfort and peace during the COVID-19 pandemic, she holds firm to her guiding leadership principles. “In short, I believe in collaborative, supportive, nonhierarchical relationships that empower staff and embrace change,” she says. “At heart I am queer and feminist, and that is the lens I bring to leadership. It’s a lens of fluidity, openness and continuous learning with deep care. I bring these principles with me to every place I’ve worked, but my style has only ever been fully embraced at The Innerwork Center.”
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