Network Weaver launched in 2018 as a spark of imagination and desire birthed through the portal of collaborative action. June Holley, the mother of Network Weaver, casually mentioned as I was dusting her living room one day (at the time, I was a public librarian turned cleaning business entrepreneur) that she would like to start a website. I had no idea then what network weaving is or that June is an internationally recognized Network Weaver. I had a background in virtual administration and management – so, I offered to help.
What I had anticipated as a 6 month contract as team coordinator in the creation of the site has evolved into a career and a 6 year journey of personal growth and collaborative exploration.
Over the course of these years, Network Weaver has expanded and evolved alongside the prevailing collective view of systems change work. We initially published content focused through the more technical and organizational lens of network weaving to support the restructuring of hierarchies in organizations and businesses and/or offer information for burgeoning grass-roots movements or aspiring community networkers. We pulled largely from June’s extensive personal and professional knowledge base and excerpts from her books as well as material from other seasoned weavers in her sphere. As the site grew – we and Network Weaver grew with it.
While my introduction to the world of weaving was inspiring, it was in 2020 – as we witnessed the changing tides of history in motion: the Covid-19 pandemic, the George Floyd murder and the Black Lives Matter movement – that I found myself really ignited by the work of Network Weaver. It was here, in this moment in time – as the collective focus turned to social inequities and challenges highlighted during the pandemic and to the racial injustice at play in socio-political structures – that it really clicked for me: the deep necessity of networks and the upliftment of the practice of personal and collective liberation.
Changing of the Guard(ianship)
The changing collective tides of 2020/2021 coincided with the changing tides of Networks Weaver’s leadership. Network Weaver – lovingly birthed and grown through June Holley’s vision and care – transitioned guardianship to Leadership Learning Community (LLC) in 2021. Network Weaver had been founded by June through her lived experience in the foothills of Appalachia – a region which, steeped in conditions of poverty and oppression, exemplifies the vital need for community networks. LLC was and is the perfect guardian for Network Weaver – committed to uplifting voices historically oppressed and forefronting the exercise of liberatory practices, racial equity and racial justice, building nourishing relationships, and honoring the natural weaving of communities.
It was in relationship with the team at LLC that I first witnessed liberatory practices in action. And it is here that Network Weaver’s content began to gaze more intentionally toward the work of collective liberation.
While June Holley continues to be very much a part of Network Weaver and its vision. (thank you, June – we love you!!) There could not have been a more suitable steward than LLC to continue forward the work and evolution of Network Weaver.
The beginning of a new beginning
Who we ARE and what we BE at Network Weaver is a hub for centering LOVE. We are a library of content pooled from the greatest change makers worldwide – all dedicated to, together, weaving the tapestry of a bright new future for ALL.
Next week, we will be unveiling – our new site! We – the team at Leadership Learning Community / Network Weaver, with the help of Agenda 28 – have poured our hearts and intentions into the new site, it is designed to be a more accessible playground for Network Weaver’s community to explore NW’s rich library of collective resources and offerings.
We are so thankful to you, the Network Weaver contributors, readers, supporters and community at large as we all continue to learn from each other and expand together.
Stay tuned – there is so much more to come.
Marie DeMange is site manager and communications coordinator for Network Weaver. Inspired by knowledge sharing, she is curator/librarian to the ever increasing systems change library. Nature lover, music lover, vocalist and aspiring apiarist, Marie lives surrounded by beauty and community in the foothills of SE Ohio with her special someone and their adorably ornery companions.
Network Weaver is dedicated to offering free content to all – in support of equity, justice and transformation for all.
We appreciate your support!