Murmuration: Was there a formative experience that brought you to this role or work?

Gregory Hatcher: I started my career in advocacy and political organizing with Stand for Children, an education advocacy organization and long-time Murmuration campaign partner; and continued building my political and relationship-building skills within the Denver school system. But, I have always had a service-oriented mindset. One of my core values is to put others first. I am a big believer that every opportunity is a blessing, and as long as I show up with a servant-leadership mindset and support disadvantaged communities, positive change will come. Being an ally to community-oriented organizations helps amplify the voices of those who cannot speak up as loudly or who are not being listened to – and this has always been an integral aspect of my career and my life more broadly.

Murmuration: What were you doing before working at Murmuration?

GH: I have an extensive background working in community organizing and the education reform space. Most recently, I served as the Chief External Affairs Officer at STRIVE Prep (now Rocky Mountain Prep) in Denver and spent five years with Denver Public Schools leading the Public Affairs Team, lobbying and government relations strategy, and regional community engagement.

Murmuration: What drew you to working at Murmuration?

GH: Murmuration Founder and CEO Emma Bloomberg reached out to me initially, after a referral from a dear friend and mentor, to discuss the newly created Vice President of Partnerships role. After speaking with her, I was drawn to Murmuration’s commitment to centering and empowering communities to do what they believe is best. We believe that communities most impacted by problems are integral in leading the charge toward solutions. The role was the perfect opportunity for me to marry my passion for politics and advocacy with my relationship and network-building skills. It was an opportunity to build Murmuration’s partnership vision and strategy from the ground up — ensuring that Murmuration has a strong, well-supported, and engaged national campaign and network partner portfolio. I was also excited by the possibility of building a passionate team to ensure Murmuration’s partners could achieve their mission and campaign objectives.

Murmuration: How do our partners shape our offerings?

GH: We always take a partner-first approach to our work at Murmuration. Partner needs are always top of mind, and it’s baked into the DNA of the organization. Before Emma founded Murmuration, she took a year and a half to do extensive listening and engagement in the field to hear and understand what community and political organizers needed — which was quality data, tools, and research to help amplify their campaigns. To this day, when we hear partner feedback we do everything we can to adapt and build what they need to be successful.

Murmuration: Walk me through a day in the life of your role at Murmuration.

GH: I’m up early by 6 a.m. every day. I have to get at least an hour, and sometimes even 90 minutes, of exercise in before I start my work day. If I’m not traveling to attend partner conferences and meetings, I try to sneak in a bit of time with family before my oldest child goes to school — but by 9 a.m. my work day begins and most days I’m in back-to-back Zoom meetings for the entire day. I’m either meeting with my internal team to improve partner offerings and collaborate on how we can best support partners’ needs across the organization or I’m meeting directly with existing and prospective partners to provide support. I do my best to give myself at least 30 minutes toward the end of the day to do one last email and Slack message sprint to troubleshoot any time-sensitive issues and responses before spending the evening cooking and hanging out with my family.

We always take a partner-first approach to our work at Murmuration. Partner needs are always top of mind, and it’s baked into the DNA of the organization.

Murmuration: How do you participate in Murmuration Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging initiatives?

GH: I’m very involved in Murmuration’s DEIB Steering Committee and have served for two years now. The DEIB Steering Committee has worked to establish DEIB as a foundational aspect of Murmuration’s culture by clarifying our DEIB vision and creating DEIB practices and frameworks. My immediate team also grounds our work in DEIB practices. Every month, we meet to partake in DEIB activities. One nice aspect of this is that we rotate across our team who leads these activities, so it’s a leadership opportunity for those who may not have that built into their role. We also have a DEIB buddy program that I enjoy. People within the organization who may not usually cross paths are paired up from across the organization and meet monthly to discuss provided DEIB topics and questions. We switch DEIB buddies annually, but I still keep in touch with my first DEIB buddy and we check in on each other from time to time.

Murmuration: What is your advice to others who want to work in a similar field or industry?

GH: First, recognize the value of building relationships. Relationship-building skills are critical in the field of community and political organizing, but also to being a good leader. You should always put a premium on building strong relationships with folks. This is especially helpful when you have to have tough conversations with people. Having a solid foundation makes that work much easier, and good relationships overall help drive work forward. Second, find a sense of purpose and joy in your work. Take your organization’s mission personally. Aligning with a mission helps create more meaning out of your role, and provides a sense of purpose in your work.