The Thread That Connects It All
I have never fit neatly into a single title—and I no longer believe I am supposed to.
I’m Dr. Laura Sherwood, an interdisciplinary researcher, strategist, nonprofit founder, TEDx speaker, and transformational facilitator. For more than two decades, my work has explored how creativity, research, storytelling, and human connection can strengthen communities, guide organizations, and transform lives.
While my work spans different disciplines, it is connected by one enduring question:
What becomes possible when people are given the opportunity to see themselves, their communities, and their circumstances differently?
Researcher. Strategist. Storyteller. Transformational Facilitator.
The Lens Through Which I See the World
I believe transformation begins with perspective.
The stories we tell influence how we understand ourselves, how organizations respond to the people they serve, and whose experiences are recognized and valued.
When people are invited to look again—to examine an experience from another angle, name what has remained invisible, or move beyond an old narrative, something begins to shift.
A photograph can make an experience visible.
A story can challenge an assumption.
A conversation can build understanding.
A new perspective can open the way to action.
This belief connects every part of my work.
From Community Voice to Meaningful Change
Much of my community work centers on Photovoice, a participatory research method combining photography, personal narrative, group dialogue, and collective action.
As the founder and executive director of Transformative Arts Project, I have developed initiatives that bring together visual storytelling, participatory research, youth leadership, public art, and community engagement. I have trained more than 100 Community Health Workers and facilitators, engaged diverse participants across generations and cultures, and brought community-created photographs and narratives before thousands of public viewers.
My work has included youth mental-health initiatives, community needs assessments, national research, facilitator development, recovery-centered storytelling, public exhibitions, and international partnerships. I have worked with youth, older adults, immigrants, refugees, Spanish-speaking seniors, faith communities, LGBTQ+ participants, people in recovery, and others whose experiences are too often interpreted by someone else.
The purpose is never simply to collect stories. It is to transform lived experience into insight, dialogue, strategy, and action.
Speaking, Teaching, and Facilitating
I create learning experiences that connect research with real life.
As a TEDx speaker, trainer, consultant, and facilitator, I work with nonprofits, universities, public-health organizations, community leaders, and individuals seeking creative and human-centered approaches to change.
My TEDx talk, The Power of an Image: Understanding Communities, explores how photographs can reveal perspectives that traditional approaches may miss. My workshops and training programs invite people to actively participate in seeing, questioning, creating, and connecting.
Whether I am teaching Photovoice, preparing facilitators, guiding a strategic conversation, or speaking about storytelling and human potential, my goal is to create an experience that is thoughtful, engaging, and capable of moving ideas into action.
Experience Grounded in Research and Practice
PhD in Human Development
MA in Organizational Development and Leadership
BA in Communications and Gender Studies
Founder and Executive Director of Transformative Arts Project
TEDx speaker
Photovoice practitioner and facilitator trainer
Community-engaged and participatory researcher
Organizational consultant and transformational facilitator
Designer of local, national, and international initiatives
I collaborate with organizations and individuals developing community initiatives, participatory research, Photovoice projects, training programs, workshops, and transformational experiences.
If you are exploring what meaningful change could look like within your organization, community, or next chapter, I would welcome the opportunity to begin a conversation.