LeeAnn O’Neill

LeeAnn O’Neill
She / They
Bend, OR

As someone who was forcefully removed through adoption from South Korea to the United States by a white family, LeeAnn’s existence in this world has been shaped by colonialism, cultural imperialism, and white saviorism. She is on a life long journey of unpacking the whitewashing of her identity, deprivation from her heritage culture, proximity to whiteness, and her queerness.

LeeAnn believes that equity and social justice work is rooted in connection, dignity, belonging, and collective liberation. Her approach to the work asks social change partners to lean into generative disagreement (h/t adrienne maree brown), apply restorative justice principles, and understand and embrace their individual roles in the social change ecosystem (h/t Deepa Iyer). With deep relationship building and a systems oriented lens, LeeAnn facilitates learning spaces and organizational change processes that asks participants for personal self reflection, accountability, and courage to vision new systems.

With a brain that has too many checklists and a deep love for spreadsheets, LeeAnn has a background in law, access to justice, language access, social services, nonprofit governance, and business. As a recovering attorney, she has more work than most to unlearn how white supremacy culture has infiltrated all aspects of her thinking. LeeAnn is eternally grateful for the collaboration of the Allyship in Action team who help her slow down and remember to radically rethink her way of doing and being. You can find her most days trying to live a car-free life, riding bikes around town, playing capoeira, weaving baskets, and poking wildflowers.

For a more traditional bio and proof of how big of a white supremacy culture hole LeeAnn needs to learn her way out of, you can find her on LinkedIn.