Meet the Team
The 828 team is made up a diverse group of specialists to meet the needs of every organization we work with.
Lawrence Garrett
Lawrence is considered a modern-day cultural savant. Known by many for his knack of decoding cultural behaviors that either support or undermine values and performance, Lawrence has grown a reputation for getting to the heart of the matter by identifying specific behaviors that are directly impacting business outcomes. Over the last 15 years, Lawrence was able to hone these skills through his current consulting practice, Eight-Twenty-Eight, LLC., focusing on Leadership and Inclusion in the greater Pierce County area, his prior role as Executive Director of Advancing Leadership, as well as his numerous partnerships and consultative work with various non-profits within the community.
His talents, temperament and tenure as a leadership trainer, performance coach and equity and inclusion practitioner provides a unique combination of results, relationship and emotional quotient enhancement. Lawrence takes pride in his ability to assess, design and shift culture for maximum impact. A colleague and friend said it best about Lawrence, “He knows how to ‘change the weather’ in any environment he’s in.”
Deon Lister
Career Projects/Outreach Coordinator | Bridge connecting jobseekers to employers
Proven Workforce Development Professional with over 10 years of project coordination, case management, employment/training, job development, consultation, employee relations, event coordination/marketing, management, and ownership experience.
Currently, Deon helps job seekers find employment. If they are not work-ready, he helps them find training or internship opportunities.
Coach Rees
Ariassa Wilson, known as Coach Rees is a dynamic, authentic, growth minded individual. As a head college basketball coach, retention manager, supervisor, professor, curriculum developer and consultant, she brings 15 years of leadership, teaching and coaching experience from basketball courts, classrooms, to boardrooms and Zoom. Coach Rees’s passion for seeing other people grow led her to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Youth Ministry and Psychology, then a Masters in Coaching and Administration, while playing professional basketball in Brazil; all while running a non-profit geared towards leadership and life skill development for marginalized youth. Hard work, passion and purpose driven are a few phrases to describe Rees. Coach Rees has coached up individuals across the globe, in countries like Colombia, to rural parts of Alaska; speaking at assemblies and numerous college leadership development events. Her background includes coaching individuals from all walks of life, from first generation college students, professional athletes, professors, entrepreneurs, to real estate investors. Coach Rees life conviction is to empower others to believe they are worthy of investing in themselves. This is done through passion, love, repetition, relationship. Rees will assist you in discovering your life’s mission, vision and purpose. Using specific tactics that contribute to growth in your emotional intelligence, self-efficacy and behavioral finance, empowering you to thrive with confidence by centering self. When not serving others, Rees is working to complete her Doctorate in Organizational Leadership, running two real estate investment companies, and traveling the world. Rees is proud to lead and serve as a role model for others while dismantling injustices and stereotypes, to promote anti-racist structures.
Cate Roscoe
Having originally studied and worked in the traditionally male dominated fields of science and math, Cate brought that lived experience to her DEI work becoming an anti-racist math educator. In the classroom she strives to center equity, diversity, and relevance, and seeks to decolonize education. Her activism
began while growing up as a young queer woman in the early 90’s, and the feminism course that introduced her to the truth that no one is equal unless everyone is equal. Since then, Cate has developed a philosophy to combat oppression by forging unification through empathy. She understands that the white-supremacist-patriarchy’s most effective tool has always been to divide, and that if we each push against our oppression from only our side, we will be pushing against each other and effectively holding up the very systems we want to dismantle. Cate’s DEI philosophy is that: Equal isn’t equal until it’s everything, that’s how equal works.
In addition to her diverse careers in science, education, and outreach, Cate has been an elite and professional athlete and coach in the team sport of Ultimate for over 20 years. She thrives in a team environment, combining her experiences as an athlete, coach, and educator to help create other powerful team cultures in classrooms, on the field, and with colleagues. The hard work for social justice and DEI is best accomplished as a team, and can advance the development of a team. Our deepest relationships, and relational equity, are formed when we enter into shared struggle, be that in a project, creation, sport, or fight. Cate uses, builds, and strengthens these relationships in an interactive approach to DEI training.
Cate sees a strong team as an effective way to make change and build personal development towards social justice.
