Getting to Know the La Piana Team: An Interview with Olivia Audsley, Associate Consultant

This blog post is part of our series getting to know the La Piana team. This week we spoke with Olivia Audsley, Associate Consultant, who joined the firm in 2022. She is based in Los Angeles.

What are three words you would use to describe your role with La Piana Consulting?

• Dynamic, educational, flexible

What attracts you to working with nonprofits, foundations, and/or the consultants who serve them?

• Work takes up such a big portion of our lives, so making sure that time is spent contributing to a better world is a top priority for me. I’m constantly inspired and reassured by the people I get to work with, all of whom are pouring their energy into meaningful missions. It’s exciting to witness just how many passionate, smart, and creative individuals are out there tackling the biggest challenges we face. Knowing I can play even a small role in that collective effort makes the work deeply fulfilling.

What skills or lessons from your past experience do you draw from the most in your role?

• Being a staff member at various nonprofits has been one of the most valuable experiences I bring to this work. It gives me a grounded understanding of how decisions, changes, and organizational dynamics can impact the people doing the day-to-day work. I carry that perspective into every project. To me, staff, clients, or the communities being served are the heart of any organization so keeping them front and center is something I strive to do.

What are your favorite types of challenges/projects/opportunities?

• I really enjoy working on mergers and surveys. Merger work often feels a bit like counseling. There’s a lot of complexity in the interpersonal dynamics, and I love digging into that and helping people navigate a path that ultimately serves the mission. No two merger projects are the same, which keeps things fresh and requires creativity every time. I also get a lot of energy from survey work. It usually signals that an organization is open to learning and growing, and I really connect with leaders who are genuinely interested in hearing feedback and using it to do better – I tend to gel with those types of folks.

What do you most enjoy doing when you’re not working?

• I love to cook and spend time outdoors. Working remotely is great in so many ways, but it also means most of my day is spent in front of a screen. So, I really value activities that get me moving and let me use my hands because it’s a refreshing change of pace and taps into a totally different part of my brain. Living in LA is a huge bonus because there are endless ways to get outside – mountains, beaches, deserts, etc. I love to explore around here. (Olivia pictured right, enjoying horseback riding in LA)

What is your favorite place/sight/sound in the world?

• This might be recency bias, but Moab, Utah really blew me away. The landscapes in Canyonlands and Arches were absolutely unreal. The colors, the rock formations, the scale of it all… it’s the kind of place that makes you stop and just take it all in.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

• To remove your ego from social justice work. My mom reminded me that I’m not so important that I can’t rest or step away when I need to. The work doesn’t, and shouldn’t, depend on just one person. There are so many others working toward the same goals, and we carry the load together. When I’m actively in it, someone else can rest, and when I need a break, others will keep things moving forward. That perspective has helped me stay grounded and more sustainable in this work.