Hi, I'm Rebecca Grey.
I'm the founder of The Recovering Human. I spent two decades inside some of the largest companies in America, building the strategies meant to make them better places to work and better neighbors to the world. Now I help people recover the humanity those systems have cost us, and build something better together.
The work: at three levels
The system we live in was created by people, and together we can create something better. To truly recover our humanity, we have to work on three levels. Each one needs the others.
Building individual capacity and agency
You can't change anything from survival mode. This is where we name what's happening to us, get grounded, and get back the ability to choose instead of react, alongside people who understand.
Improving conditions in existing systems
Most of us still live and work inside the systems we're critiquing. The people with power inside them can make conditions better right now, if they choose to.
Imagining and building new systems
Improving what exists isn't enough on its own. We also have to think past it, learning from the activists and thinkers who came before us, and build what comes next together.
What I hold to
Anti-racist, feminist, class conscious, and willing to challenge the status quo. No exceptions. I don't expect perfection, from anyone, including myself. I do expect a true commitment to progress.
It's not you. Burnout, exhaustion, and disillusionment aren't personal failings. They're what the system was built to produce.
The individual and the collective can't be separated. Healing is where the work starts, not where it ends.
Life over profit. People are not resources or consumers, and any system that treats us that way needs to change.
Solidarity, not charity. We build things together, rather than waiting for the people who benefit from the system to decide how to help.
Background
Where I've worked: ABC, Kohl's, Victoria's Secret, and Advantage Solutions, plus brand work with Disney.
Training and credentials:
Certified coach, trained in person-centered theory, reflective inquiry, and positive psychology
Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI)
Former journalist
What I built
Again and again, I was hired to build something that didn't exist yet.
Kohl's: the company's first social impact and ESG strategy
Victoria's Secret: its first DEI strategy, in partnership with the Chief Diversity Officer; its first ESG strategy and report; and the cross-functional effort behind its first adaptive product line, with Runway of Dreams
Advantage Solutions: its first integrated strategy bringing DEI, sustainability, and community engagement together, replacing efforts that had run in silos
Along the way, work I led earned a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, and DEI ranked among the three highest-rated areas in a company-wide engagement survey. I also became the person leaders called when a sociopolitical crisis hit.
I've worked in organizations of up to 140,000 people, advised the C-suite on high-stakes decisions, and presented to boards and human capital committees.
What I offer
Every offer serves at least one of the three levels. Start wherever you are.
The Open Room
Building capacity and agency + imagining and building new systems
A community for anyone disillusioned with our economic, social, and political systems. Bi-weekly sharing and listening meetings on Zoom, plus quarterly workshops on skills for change. Anonymous and confidential.
$20/month
Executive AI Advisory
Building capacity and agency + improving existing systems
For people-first executives deciding how AI changes their workforce, and who it affects inside and outside of work. Get grounded, see the system clearly, and decide and act, inside and beyond your company.
$4,000/month, 3-month minimum
Crisis Advisory
Improving existing systems
When a sociopolitical crisis hits: what to say, what to do, and how to support your people and partners. Rapid Response or Crisis Readiness to prepare for the next one.
From $1,500
Speaking and Workshops
All three levels
For groups whose people are carrying the weight of this moment. Topics include the human and social impact of AI, responding to sociopolitical crisis, and systems thinking for systems change.
By request
Substack
Imagining and building new systems
Essays on how we got here and what a different system could look like.
Free
Let’s Talk
I'm based in Salt Lake City but work with people everywhere remotely.