Andrea

At Roaring Fork Leadership, we believe leadership is built through experience, connection, and a commitment to community. That’s why we’re excited to welcome Marcus Thackston to the RFL Board of Directors. Marcus is the Owner and Founder of Blend Web Marketing, where he brings a holistic approach to business strategy that blends website design, branding, marketing, and systems integration to help organizations thrive. As an entrepreneur for over a decade, Marcus has worked across industries, supporting both businesses and nonprofits in building strong, sustainable operations. Marcus is no stranger to RFL. A graduate of the Academy in 2018, he has continued [...]

On April 10th, more than 50 women and one very intentional man gathered at Morgridge Commons in Glenwood Springs for ELEVATE 2026. And what unfolded wasn’t just an event. It was a reminder. A reminder that when you bring people together with intention, something shifts. More Than a Room - It Was A Community in Motion From the very beginning, there was energy in the room. Not surface-level networking, but real connection. Women from across the Roaring Fork and Colorado River Valleys showed up representing different industries, life stages, and leadership journeys. And yet, there was a shared thread: A desire [...]

Roaring Fork Leadership took some time to catch up with Katie Preston-Higbee, RFL Mastermind Alum, to learn about what she's up to and how she has taken what she's learned and evolved herself, her purpose, and her career. Here's the Q + A with Katie: Q. Reflecting on your time in the RFL Mastermind program, what was most impactful for you - either personally or professionally? A. Hands down the community connection. Being in a room with talented, values-driven women who genuinely care about meaningful things created a rare kind of support, equal parts encouragement and accountability. I left many sessions [...]

Roaring Fork Leadership Announces Development Director Transition and Open Position At Roaring Fork Leadership, we believe leadership is a journey and sometimes that journey includes both meaningful beginnings and thoughtful transitions. Today, we share both gratitude and opportunity. With Deep Appreciation for Lizz Bailey. After serving as RFL’s Development Director, Lizz Bailey has shared her resignation as she moves on to a new opportunity, with her last day being March 20th. Lizz’s relationship with RFL has been deeply woven into our fabric, first as an Academy participant, then as a Civic Impact Project sponsor, and ultimately as the first person to [...]

📥 Download Come Together: Leadership, Belonging, and the Work of Staying Engaged (free) There is a quiet tension many of us feel across the Roaring Fork and Colorado River Valleys. We care deeply about housing. About mental health. About workforce. About climate, child care, education, and the future of our communities. And yet, collaboration often feels harder than it should. Conversations stall. Meetings fatigue us. Coalitions form—and sometimes quietly dissolve. People step back. It would be easy to call this apathy. But what if it’s something else? In our new whitepaper, Come Together: Leadership, Belonging, and the Work of Staying Engaged, [...]

Listening Intelligence: The Leadership Skill Hiding in Plain Sight RFL Academy Welcomed Dave Momper from Thrival Concepts on February 6, 2026 at the Basalt Regional Library. Pictured: Steve Vanderleest, Andrea Palm-Porter, Dave Momper If leadership is influence, then listening is its foundation. This month, RFL Academy participants spent the day with Dave Momper, diving into the science and practice of Listening Intelligence, a powerful framework that expands how leaders understand communication, conflict, and collaboration. At first glance, listening may seem simple. We do it every day. But as participants quickly discovered, hearing and listening are not the same thing. Listening Intelligence challenges [...]

Civic Impact Project Highlight: Beyond Silos— Mapping Collaboration to Strengthen Belonging, Civic Capacity & Community Health One of this year’s most significant Roaring Fork Leadership’s Civic Impact Projects is Beyond Silos: Strengthening Nonprofit Collaboration for Greater Community Belonging, a partnership between two RFL Civic Impact Teams and project sponsor Andrea Palm-Porter and Angie Anderson, RFL Alum and President & CEO of the Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association. Angie and Andrea are also part of the Belonging Colorado Leadership Network Learning Cohort (where this idea and project was defined), positioning this work within a broader statewide effort to build connection, trust, and community resilience. [...]

The Belonging Gap: Why Connection Is Becoming the Core Leadership Skill "Increasing belonging across all settings is needed." Colorado Health Institute: https://www.coloradohealthinstitute.org/research/colorado-belonging-barometer In every program we run—from Academy to Mastermind to Elevate—one truth consistently emerges: leaders today are struggling more with connection than with competence. Across Colorado’s mountain and rural communities, leaders are managing more responsibilities with fewer resources. Many describe living in a constant state of time poverty—the chronic sense of having too much to do and not enough time to do it. Research out of UCLA calls time poverty one of today’s most pervasive emotional burdens, leaving people feeling [...]

Building Bridges, Not Walls: Fostering Collaboration, Trust, and Belonging in Our Tri-County Communities   The Aspen-to-Parachute corridor is shown here in a map provided by Aspen Community Foundation. On Friday, June 27, 2025, I had the privilege of presenting at the CIVICO Colorado Governors Fellowship 2025 Regional Gathering in Glenwood Springs, CO. This gathering's core purpose is to equip Coloradans for public service and civic leadership, with key outcomes including understanding our state's challenges, developing competencies, strengthening networks, learning from public officials, and implementing individual development plans. It was an honor to contribute to such a vital initiative. During the gathering, [...]

Navigating the Future of Work and Community – Part 2 Now Available A free resource for leaders ready to thrive through change and build stronger communities At Roaring Fork Leadership, we believe that leadership isn’t just a role—it’s a daily practice, and a community responsibility. That belief has guided us for over 37 years as we’ve worked to grow leaders who can adapt, collaborate, and lead with purpose. In Part 2 of our white paper series, Navigating the Future of Work and Community, we explore how leadership must evolve to meet today’s challenges [...]