Laura Kemp
Advisor, Impact + MEL
What inspires me
Telling people’s stories in a way that influences meaningful change.
In Demand Skills
Quantitative and qualitative analysis, creating mixed-method project evaluation approaches, Spanish translation, and creating spaces for people to feel seen and heard.
Memorable Moment @ Frontier
Having the opportunity to develop a series of workshops for the staff of a federal agency that led to the staff adopting a more human-centered approach in their grant distribution process.
Adage
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Bio
Laura is a community development professional who is passionate about using the power of data to elevate the voice of local communities in the program design process. As she started out her career in the non-profit sector, she quickly noticed that while non-profit organizations have a huge potential to do good in the world, they also have the potential to cause unintended harm in their interventions. With this realization, she dedicated her education and career to learning how to deliver the most impact while eliminating unintended consequences and wasted resources in such interventions.
Laura has fundraising experience, through grant writing on behalf of a grassroots organization that provides school lunches to children in southern Honduras, as well as experience in fund distribution, by facilitating the allocation of over half a million dollars to organizations and schools in the north Atlanta area. In combination, these experiences have given her unique insight into the relationship between donor and recipient. Additionally, she has experience using mixed-methods approaches to develop program recommendations for initiatives in Central America, Western Asia, and domestically in the Atlanta area. These experiences cover a range of topics, from domestic and international refugee resettlement with a gendered focus to connecting female specialty coffee farmers with market resources to improve their livelihoods. Laura holds a B.S. in Sociology from the University of North Georgia and an M.A. in Development Practice from Emory University. She is fluent in Spanish and enjoys spending her free time learning more languages, rock climbing, and cooking.
Frontier uses this assessment to identify our unique strengths and maximize our teamliness - how we collaborate effectively as cross-functional teams. We often pair colleagues with opposite strengths to turbocharge our creativity and impact.
Over 90% of Fortune 500 companies have used the CliftonStrengths assessment to improve their workplace and meaningfully engage their employees.
Laura’s Clifton Strengths
Learner
People who are especially talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.
Harmony
People who are especially talented in the Harmony theme look for consensus. They don’t enjoy conflict; rather, they seek areas of agreement.
Includer
People who are especially talented in the Includer theme are accepting of others. They show awareness of those who feel left out and make an effort to include them.
Connectedness
People who are especially talented in the Connectedness theme have faith in the links between all things. They believe there are few coincidences and that almost every event has a reason.
Arranger
People who are especially talented in the Arranger theme can organize, but they also have flexibility that complements this ability. They like to figure out how all of the pieces and resources can be arranged for maximum productivity.