Weaving Everyday Insights into Meaningful Change

We collaborate with organizations, partnerships, and communities to transform everyday insights into collective wisdom and shape strategies to bring a more just and positive world into being.

Our Offerings

Our Offerings

Our Offerings

Let's Meet

Let's Meet

Let's Meet

Optimistic Anthropology
Optimistic Anthropology
Optimistic Anthropology

At Optimistic Anthropology, we collaborate with organizations, partnerships, and communities to transform individuals’ every day insights into a group’s collective wisdom.  We help you envision the more just and positive world you’re trying to create, and co-develop and try out strategies to help bring that vision into being.

Our Offerings

As anthropologists, facilitators, emergent learners, and systems changemakers with experience working in multiple sectors, here are the ways we can work together:

Developing Emergent Learning Cultures & Strategies

Developing Emergent Learning Cultures & Strategies.

In a busy and rapidly changing world, individuals and groups are always learning. Yet they often struggle to share, make meaning of, and integrate insights so they generate collective wisdom and more effective strategies. We partner with teams to build cultures of curiosity and real-time learning that navigate complexity for meaningful social change.

Starting with your existing strengths, we help evolve your team's mindsets, skillsets, and heartsets. Together, we co-create processes that enable everyone to adapt strategy as conditions change—unlocking your group's full potential for creating a more just and equitable world.

Developing Emergent Learning Cultures & Strategies.

Developing Emergent Learning Cultures & Strategies

In a busy and rapidly changing world, individuals and groups are always learning. Yet they often struggle to share, make meaning of, and integrate insights so they generate collective wisdom and more effective strategies. We partner with teams to build cultures of curiosity and real-time learning that navigate complexity for meaningful social change.

Starting with your existing strengths, we help evolve your team's mindsets, skillsets, and heartsets. Together, we co-create processes that enable everyone to adapt strategy as conditions change—unlocking your group's full potential for creating a more just and equitable world.

Developing Emergent Learning Cultures & Strategies.

Developing Emergent Learning Cultures & Strategies

In a busy and rapidly changing world, individuals and groups are always learning. Yet they often struggle to share, make meaning of, and integrate insights so they generate collective wisdom and more effective strategies. We partner with teams to build cultures of curiosity and real-time learning that navigate complexity for meaningful social change.

Starting with your existing strengths, we help evolve your team's mindsets, skillsets, and heartsets. Together, we co-create processes that enable everyone to adapt strategy as conditions change—unlocking your group's full potential for creating a more just and equitable world.

Designing & Facilitating Learning Experiences

Designing & Facilitating Learning Experiences

For people, communities, and organizations to thrive, they need intentional learning spaces that expand understanding and illuminate new possibilities for change. We create generative workshops, learning communities, and leadership programs that build meaningful connections among participants.

Our carefully designed experiences can help deepen understanding of dynamic issues, communities, and systems—helping diverse groups develop the collective wisdom needed to navigate change together.

Designing & Facilitating Learning Experiences

Designing & Facilitating Learning Experiences

For people, communities, and organizations to thrive, they need intentional learning spaces that expand understanding and illuminate new possibilities for change. We create generative workshops, learning communities, and leadership programs that build meaningful connections among participants.

Our carefully designed experiences can help deepen understanding of dynamic issues, communities, and systems—helping diverse groups develop the collective wisdom needed to navigate change together.

Designing & Facilitating Learning Experiences

Designing & Facilitating Learning Experiences

For people, communities, and organizations to thrive, they need intentional learning spaces that expand understanding and illuminate new possibilities for change. We create generative workshops, learning communities, and leadership programs that build meaningful connections among participants.

Our carefully designed experiences can help deepen understanding of dynamic issues, communities, and systems—helping diverse groups develop the collective wisdom needed to navigate change together.

Dialoguing as an Independent Learning Partner

Dialoguing as an Independent Learning Partner

Leaders and small teams often need a trusted outside perspective to enhance their work. As your Independent Learning Partner, we serve as a thoughtful sounding board, asking powerful questions that clarify thinking, unlock new possibilities, and illuminate paths forward.

Our collaborative dialogue helps you transform everyday insights into actionable wisdom for navigating complexity.

Dialoguing as an Independent Learning Partner

Dialoguing as an Independent Learning Partner

Leaders and small teams often need a trusted outside perspective to enhance their work. As your Independent Learning Partner, we serve as a thoughtful sounding board, asking powerful questions that clarify thinking, unlock new possibilities, and illuminate paths forward.

Our collaborative dialogue helps you transform everyday insights into actionable wisdom for navigating complexity.

Dialoguing as an Independent Learning Partner

Dialoguing as an Independent Learning Partner

Leaders and small teams often need a trusted outside perspective to enhance their work. As your Independent Learning Partner, we serve as a thoughtful sounding board, asking powerful questions that clarify thinking, unlock new possibilities, and illuminate paths forward.

Our collaborative dialogue helps you transform everyday insights into actionable wisdom for navigating complexity.

Delivering Workshops & Webinars

Delivering Workshops & Webinars

Organizations tackling complex social challenges require engaging and accessible entry points to powerful frameworks and methodologies that can transform their approach. Without structured opportunities to explore and apply concepts like Emergent Learning, teams often remain stuck in conventional thinking patterns that limit their impact.

We offer a suite of engaging workshops, webinars, and series on specialized topics including Emergent Learning, Theory of Change for Systems Transformation, and Multi-Sector Partnerships for Social Change. Each offering can be thoughtfully tailored to your specific audience and learning goals, creating opportunities for collective discovery and practical application.

Delivering Workshops & Webinars

Delivering Workshops & Webinars

Organizations tackling complex social challenges require engaging and accessible entry points to powerful frameworks and methodologies that can transform their approach. Without structured opportunities to explore and apply concepts like Emergent Learning, teams often remain stuck in conventional thinking patterns that limit their impact.

We offer a suite of engaging workshops, webinars, and series on specialized topics including Emergent Learning, Theory of Change for Systems Transformation, and Multi-Sector Partnerships for Social Change. Each offering can be thoughtfully tailored to your specific audience and learning goals, creating opportunities for collective discovery and practical application.

Delivering Workshops & Webinars

Delivering Workshops & Webinars

Organizations tackling complex social challenges require engaging and accessible entry points to powerful frameworks and methodologies that can transform their approach. Without structured opportunities to explore and apply concepts like Emergent Learning, teams often remain stuck in conventional thinking patterns that limit their impact.

We offer a suite of engaging workshops, webinars, and series on specialized topics including Emergent Learning, Theory of Change for Systems Transformation, and Multi-Sector Partnerships for Social Change. Each offering can be thoughtfully tailored to your specific audience and learning goals, creating opportunities for collective discovery and practical application.

Want to explore working together?

Email Us

Let's Meet

Want to explore working together?

Email Us

Let's Meet

Want to explore working together?

Email Us

Let's Meet

About Our Founder

Hi, I’m Alison Gold — Chief Optimistic Anthropologist, travel-enthusiast, amateur baker, and someone who believes that systems can change when we learn together. I founded Optimistic Anthropology in 2017 to bring my work and educational background -- as an anthropologist, emergent learner, systems-changemaker, and community-weaver --  to organizations and collaborations wanting to partner with a consultant who will co-create and facilitate processes and strategies to enable the creation of a more just and positive world. 

Over the years, I’ve worked across philanthropy, government, and nonprofits in the U.S.  And now my consulting practice (and life) enables me to work internationally, too. This gives me the chance to learn about and explore connections across seemingly disparate areas of social change—from nuclear threat reduction to health inequity, genocide prevention to urban poverty. I consistently see common threads across these fields of work that I believe can help changemakers better understand how systems and institutions and communities came to face the challenges they do, and how people can collaborate and learn together to bring a different world into being.

Learn More about Optimistic Anthropology

Learn More about Optimistic Anthropology

Learn More about Optimistic Anthropology

Alison Kate Gold, Optimistic Anthropologist
Alison Kate Gold, Optimistic Anthropologist
Alison Kate Gold, Optimistic Anthropologist

A Little Birdie Told Us…

Read what some of our clients, collaborators, and colleagues have to say about working with Optimistic Anthropology and our founder.  To make this section a bit more fun, we've illustrated the testimonials with photos of birds. Alison took all these snaps during her travels.

Lilac-breasted Roller
"I can't imagine where we would be without her! Her joyful energy, insightful questions, and her wisdom have helped us move our program forward in a way I couldn't have imagined."

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Jyothi Marbin MD

Director, UC Berkeley UCSF Joint Medical Program and Former Director PLUS program, UCSF

Lilac-breasted Roller
"I can't imagine where we would be without her! Her joyful energy, insightful questions, and her wisdom have helped us move our program forward in a way I couldn't have imagined."

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New paragraphs


Jyothi Marbin MD

Director, UC Berkeley UCSF Joint Medical Program and Former Director PLUS program, UCSF

Lilac-breasted Roller
"I can't imagine where we would be without her! Her joyful energy, insightful questions, and her wisdom have helped us move our program forward in a way I couldn't have imagined."

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New paragraphs


Jyothi Marbin MD

Director, UC Berkeley UCSF Joint Medical Program and Former Director PLUS program, UCSF

Indian Peafowl / Peacock
"Curiosity takes you places that certainty almost never can."

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Katherine Gajewski

Partner, City Scale

Indian Peafowl / Peacock
"Curiosity takes you places that certainty almost never can."

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Katherine Gajewski

Partner, City Scale

Indian Peafowl / Peacock
"Curiosity takes you places that certainty almost never can."

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New paragraphs


Katherine Gajewski

Partner, City Scale

Atlantic Puffin
"They came with humility, curiosity, and blew us away with brilliance."

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Shaina Ross

Senior Program Manager, Black Business Accelerator, Amazon and Former Program Director, U.S. Soccer Foundation

Atlantic Puffin
"They came with humility, curiosity, and blew us away with brilliance."

Default content

New paragraphs


Shaina Ross

Senior Program Manager, Black Business Accelerator, Amazon and Former Program Director, U.S. Soccer Foundation

Atlantic Puffin
"They came with humility, curiosity, and blew us away with brilliance."

Default content

New paragraphs


Shaina Ross

Senior Program Manager, Black Business Accelerator, Amazon and Former Program Director, U.S. Soccer Foundation

Read All Testimonials

Read All Testimonials

Read All Testimonials

Subscribe to Optimistic Anthropology Newsletter

Sign up for a periodic field report from Optimistic Anthropology—featuring fresh blog posts, events worth your time, new additions to our resource collection, updates on what we're up to, and an occasional photo of our office mascot, Dimi the wonderdog!

Shaping knowledge, process, and culture for a more positive future.

Let's Meet

All photos are by Alison Gold, unless noted otherwise. Content on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License. For permissions, visit https://www.optimisticanthro.com/contact-us.

Made by

Subscribe to Optimistic Anthropology Newsletter

Sign up for a periodic field report from Optimistic Anthropology—featuring fresh blog posts, events worth your time, new additions to our resource collection, updates on what we're up to, and an occasional photo of our office mascot, Dimi the wonderdog!

Shaping knowledge, process, and culture for a more positive future.

Let's Meet

All photos are by Alison Gold, unless noted otherwise. Content on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License. For permissions, visit https://www.optimisticanthro.com/contact-us.

Made by

Subscribe to Optimistic Anthropology Newsletter

Sign up for a periodic field report from Optimistic Anthropology—featuring fresh blog posts, events worth your time, new additions to our resource collection, updates on what we're up to, and an occasional photo of our office mascot, Dimi the wonderdog!

Shaping knowledge, process, and culture for a more positive future.

Let's Meet

All photos are by Alison Gold, unless noted otherwise. Content on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License. For permissions, visit https://www.optimisticanthro.com/contact-us.

Made by