About

black and white photograph of Amanda with shoulder length hair

I’m Amanda Nadelberg. Originally from Massachusetts, I spent a decade in the Midwest and I’ve lived in Oakland since 2012. I am a graduate of Carleton College and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where I held a Truman Capote Fellowship and a Teaching-Writing Fellowship.  

Before founding Culture Forms, and while writing collections of poetry, I worked in a café, at various publishers, and as an occasional professor, tutor, and editor. For many years, I worked as a receptionist at a nonprofit law firm.

Through my experiences as a poet, a teacher, and a colleague, I saw how artistic practice and community building both require making powerful connections between the micro (individual’s needs, our shared humanity) and the macro (our collective or organizational values and purpose). I also noticed how community building efforts draw upon some of the very same skills I use as a poet:

  • Being open to surprise, unexpected connection, and juxtaposition

  • Paying careful attention and relying on curiosity 

  • Being comfortable with doubt and uncertainty — which is to say, staying resilient and nimble.

My facility for helping clients over the years depends on careful consideration of the benefits and consequences of creativity. When I talk about creativity I mean a) that we each have the capacity to practice being creative in our personal lives (however close or far it may seem right now) and b) that creativity is a tool for innovation, forming questions, and continually making our communities ones where we want to remain. 

The irony of a one-person community-building consultancy is not lost on me. For 20 years, I’ve been thinking about how to make the lives of artists and writers with day jobs more manageable alongside the infinite ways to sustain a creative life. In Culture Forms, I have built a new role that I wish had existed years ago: employing creativity to make positive impacts, beyond academia or agencies. One day, I hope to host a fruitful work environment for other creative practitioners as well.