About Us

Alex Jacques

Alex Jacques (he/him) is a strategic planning and social impact leadership consultant with expertise in organizational transformation, stakeholder engagement, and cross-sector collaboration. As Chief of Staff at ThirdWay Solutions, Alex has worked closely with CEOs and executive teams at major charter networks, including KIPP Texas, Bright Star Schools, and Wonderful College Prep Academies, facilitating strategic planning, leadership alignment, and implementation.

Previously, as Deputy Executive Director at Educators for Excellence - MN, Alex led policy, communications, and community engagement teams to advance strategic plans focused on equitable school funding, teacher diversity, and student discipline reform. Earlier in his career, as a 6-12 educator and equity leader, Alex designed and facilitated professional learning and strategic planning aimed at closing opportunity gaps, increasing access to culturally responsive curriculum, and eliminating racial disparities in discipline.

Currently, Alex is leading strategic planning for Child Care Aware MN, a $20M

statewide nonprofit, and the Council on LGBTQIA2S+ Minnesotans, helping both organizations strengthen governance, decision-making, and long-term sustainability. With a background in education, policy, and juvenile justice reform, Alex specializes in designing actionable, community-driven strategies that translate vision into measurable impact. His expertise makes him uniquely positioned to support Explore Schools in developing a clear, engaging, and sustainable strategic plan.

Callie Chamberlain

Callie Chamberlain (she/her) is a cross-sector leader with experience connecting social mission to revenue opportunities. She has been recognized with fellowships and industry awards as a result of her innovative equity work. Callie brings over a decade of experience leading strategic planning, facilitating meaningful experiences for culturally rich communities, and narrative change storytelling. Clients include the United Nations system, HEARST Media Corporation, Memorial-Sloan Kettering, African Research Group of Oncology, the President of Egypt, and the Union for the Mediterranean.

Her work in the education space includes mentoring through the AVID program, funding and piloting innovative wraparound services with UnitedHealth Group,

advising Great Minnesota Schools on how to politically engage community members to advance a shared vision for education, and ending the school to prison pipeline in Clark County School District.

Based in Brooklyn, Callie is a trauma-informed practicing birth and death doula, folding insights into her organizational change work. She is also a Commissioner for Gender Equity, as appointed by Mayor Eric Adams.

Cat Polivoda-Grae

Cat’s consulting portfolio reflects her expertise in small business strategy, facilitation, and project management. She consults with TideTurn.Co and ThirdWay Solutions, contributing to internal strategy and capacity-building projects that support changemakers across sectors. As an Associate at Dendros Group, her current focus is Elevate Hennepin, where she provides no-cost business advising to small business owners throughout Hennepin County.

Her previous roles include leading business development at Pollen Midwest through narrative-focused projects, teaching and student support in higher education, and co-producing the podcast Matter of Fat. She is also a national trainer for New Leaders Council. Cat holds a BA from Hamline University, an MS in Training and Development from East Texas A&M University, and certificates in Business Strategy from Cornell University and Organization Development from the University of Minnesota.

Cat is most at home turning bold ideas into action by translating complex concepts into clear steps and creating collaborative, justice-centered environments where people can do their best work.

select clients:

Cat Polivoda-Grae (she/her) (pronounced pah-lah-VOE-duh gray) is a strategic consultant, capacity builder, and small business owner who brings more than a decade of values-driven leadership and a deep commitment to equity, connection, and collective liberation. She offers practical support to mission-focused people and organizations through bold ideas, systems thinking, and relationship-centered leadership.

With experience in higher education, entrepreneurship, and the nonprofit sector, Cat is most deeply shaped by her work as a small business owner. Since 2014, she has built and led Cake Plus-Size Resale, a beloved, justice-centered resale shop rooted in fat liberation, sustainable fashion, and community care. Through that work, she developed a passion for advocacy, operations, mentorship, and people management that extends beyond retail. She is also an inclusive leader, community builder, and plus-size fashion expert with a deep understanding of plus-size customer and community needs. As part of her broader commitment to equitable business ecosystems, she developed curriculum, handbook, and a training series for Minnesota’s reuse-sector entrepreneurs through Reuse Minnesota.

📍 Saint Paul, Minnesota exists on the occupied and unceded territory of the Dakota people who have been stewards of this land, along with the Anishinabe people, from time immemorial. We recognize the nearby, sovereign tribal nations of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Shakopee Mdewakanton, Prairie Island, and the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. We also acknowledge that our metro region has the third largest indigenous population in the occupied United States of America.

It’s important for us to name the lasting impacts of colonization, trauma, and systems of oppression that began with European settler arrival in the 17th century. Land acknowledgements do not exist in a past tense, or historical context. Colonialism is a current, ongoing process. We hope you will consider the history that has brought us to reside on stolen land and to seek to understand our place within that history. Wherever you live, we encourage you to find out whose land you’re occupying and consider ways to redistribute wealth and resources.