A headshot of Seth smiling in front of a brick wall. Wearing a dark green button down shirt with sleeves rolled up.

Hi there! My name is Seth (he/him), and I live in Swissvale, PA just outside of Pittsburgh. (Dionde:gâ in the Seneca language)

I am a community organizer, life and leadership coach, and trainer with a passion for empowering social change leaders to do bold, visionary work in a resilient way that sustains them for the long haul. 

I got my start in organizing as a volunteer (2008) and later as a staff organizer (2013) in the climate justice movement. I trained to be a life & leadership coach so I could help the volunteer teams I led to be more effective, and I started coaching full-time in 2017 as a founding member of Radical Support Collective.

As I’ve worked with over 100 leaders across the country, I’ve learned that movements for climate action, racial justice, ecosystem restoration, and building a regenerative economy rely on people working well together at the neighborhood level to be successful. I believe that changing systems and building a future of abundance and joy starts locally in our everyday interactions. So I have made it my mission as a coach to help community leaders build the internal, interpersonal, and organizational “soft skills” that are key to working well with neighbors, producing meaningful results, and staying in it for the long haul.

As an organizer, my mission is to cultivate abundance, skills for taking care of one another, and a sense of belonging in my own community  – starting with the street I live on. I’m currently coaching and training neighborhood bike and pedestrian advocacy groups across Pittsburgh as the Advocacy Manager at BikePGH, and I’m also working with my own neighbors to transform vacant & forgotten-about lots into community assets.

When I’m Not Doing All That, You Can Find Me…

  • Biking & hiking around Western PA,

  • Adventuring around Pittsburgh with my partner Tori and our dog Riker,

  • Begging my neighbors to take veggies from my garden, or

  • Binge-watching Star Trek.

A picture of Seth and his partner smiling, both wearing blue shirts.

My clients describe my coaching style as compassionate, playful, and focusing with an insight-filled toolbox!

Other Work That Has Shaped Who I Am As A Coach:

  • Grassroots climate organizing: I organized professionally with Sierra Club in Baltimore over 4 years to retire 4 coal plants, incentivize renewable energy, and stop trash incineration.

  • Progressive political campaigning: I am an elected member of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee, and I have been a field organizer or volunteer for several progressive candidates.

  • Outdoor leadership: I love taking people to beautiful places, and I coordinated Sierra Club’s outings program in Western PA for two years where I trained outings leaders and led adventures across the region.

  • Mutual Aid: I helped start Pittsburgh Mutual Aid where I developed their volunteer coordination system and website during the first wave of the COVID pandemic.

My Credentials:

  • Professional Certified Coach (PCC), accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), with over 1,000 hours coaching changemakers since 2015.

  • Licensed Trainer & Certified Coach by the Academy for Coaching Excellence

  • Certificate in Organizational Coaching by the Academy for Coaching Excellence

  • Certified DEI / J.E.D.I. Practitioner by Holistic Underground (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion)

My Identities & Commitment to Racial Justice

I’m a white, cis-hetero, middle-class, college-educated, able-bodied & neurotypical dude in my early 30’s. My ancestors were from Western Europe, primarily the British Isles, and I grew up Quaker (Religious Society of Friends) – though I identify as spiritual, not religious.

I am dedicated to using the privileges that shape my life in service of the leadership I want to see in the world, including that of:

  • BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Color)

  • Women and LGBTQ+ folks (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, two-spirit, queer, nonbinary, intersex, asexual, etc)

  • People from immigrant and refugee communities

  • People from socioeconomically disadvantaged communities

  • People with disabilities

  • Neurodivergent people

I strive to be a student and practitioner of anti-racism and decolonization as part of my ongoing journey to wake up to my own social conditioning. I’m currently a part of an active multi-racial community of practice of Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion (JEDI) facilitators and practitioners through Holistic Underground. We are a source of accountability and support for one another to practice JEDI principles as we engage in our work.