Dana Ginn Paredes

she/her/hers

For over 18 years, Dana has played a strategic role in positioning organizations for growth and success. Her experience on management teams coupled with on-the-ground campaign/electoral organizing, training, and technical assistance has led her to develop a deep understanding of what it takes to cultivate dynamic organizations. It was not until she was introduced to Forward Stance that she understood there was so much more possibility and potential when we utilize our whole selves— the mind-body-spirit.

Dana learned of Forward Stance while at Forward Together, a national multi-racial organization that works with community leaders and organizations to transform culture and policy to catalyze social change. Forward Stance is a mind-body physical practice that unleashes our full potential for leadership, organizational growth, and strategic movement building. During this time, she coordinated the Forward Stance Leadership Institute and coached individuals and organizations—from throughout California to Albuquerque, New Mexico, Portland, Oregon, Atlanta, Georgia, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin—to develop and deepen their practice.

In 2013, Dana started Momentum Institute. Momentum Institute is designed to provide access to those seeking to learn Forward Stance, create pathways for current practitioners to deepen their practice, and align different leaders and organizations who are teaching Forward Stance and integrating it into their social change efforts.

Before starting Momentum Institute, Dana has worked with Forward Together, the Center for Third World Organizing, and Californians for Justice. She is a co-author of Looking Both Ways: Womenʼs Lives at the Crossroads of Reproductive Justice and Climate Justice. She currently serves as the board chair for Power California, is a 2008 fellow of the National APAWLI Program of the Center for Asian Pacific American Women, and a 2007 fellow of the Women's Policy Institute, a program of the Women’s Foundation of California. Dana holds a BA in Political Science from the University of California, at Berkeley.