Jodi Petersen, PhD is a researcher and evaluator who began her career wanting to help people who were incarcerated find success post-release and quickly realized that individual-level solutions can only go so far when people are navigating oppressive systems. That realization led her to a different kind of power: data, the language systems and funders actually listen to. Jodi founded Petersen Research Consultants to help nonprofit and government human services organizations measure and increase their real-world impact, serving as an external evaluator and community researcher for hundreds of organizations across the country. She helps organizations clarify their programming, define meaningful outcomes, and use what they learn to drive more equitable decisions closing the gap between doing good work and being able to prove it.