Unwoven, Aligned, and Uniquely Ours
In December 2020, as a member of Boulder County’s COVID-19 Task Force, Kaylin proposed offering more than her personal perspective on the new vaccine by designing a survey to gauge vaccine hesitancy and concerns in the regional LGBTQ+ communities. To her surprise, the study ended up being the first of its kind in the United States and underscored how much more research needed to be done to understand and address major health disparities for LGBTQ+ people, who had not until then been included in COVID-19 health equity interventions. A research partnership with Out Boulder County (now Rocky Mountain Equality) was forged, which was the impetus for creating a formal research enterprise.
Although the initial concept for the organization was original research, Kaylin and Kimala realized that the structure Kaylin was creating would be powerfully synergistic if it could hold all the work we had been doing together in intentional, yet seemingly disconnected, ways for the past two decades. Once we organized our life’s work in the context of our three approaches to social and environmental change—research, impact investing, and grantmaking—our most deeply held values were reflected back to us in a profound and clarifying way.
We are awed and inspired by all the threads of connection: Unwoven, aligned, and uniquely ours.
Kaylin Gray, Ph.D.
(She/Her)
Kaylin believes in the power of research and data to confirm, surprise, orient, and disorient—and ultimately to compel action. In the words of Kurt Lewin, a pioneer of action research, “Nothing is so practical as a good theory.” Kaylin has dedicated her professional life as an applied social psychologist to unraveling complex issues, asking questions and listening deeply, finding the humanity in the stories data tell, and building bridges from research to real change.
Kaylin was born in Minnesota and raised in a family of entrepreneurs, community-builders, and philanthropists. She discovered her love of humanistic psychology as an undergraduate at the University of Notre Dame, and then chose to specialize in social-organizational psychology at Columbia University, where she was awarded her doctorate with distinction. After a decade in New York City, she moved to Portland, Oregon where she had the great fortune to discover her wife, Kimala, and they soon after decided to grow their life and family in Colorado. Over twenty years of partnership and adventure later, they are the grateful parents of three brave and bold daughters who delight, challenge, and teach them what matters most.
Kaylin holds CITI certifications in Human Subjects Research, and certificates in Sustainable Development and Nonprofit Governance. She was named a Boulder County Leadership Fellow and a member of Boulder County’s COVID-19 Community Task Force. She also trained to join Boulder Community Hospital’s Critical Incidents Response Team (CIRT) formed in partnership with local nonprofits. She currently serves as President of the board of Rocky Mountain Equality (formerly Out Boulder County).
Kaylin envisions a world that is inclusive, equitable, sustainable, and just—and, admittedly, also one where everyone knows that the noun data is plural. Most of all, she is moved to be able to use her training and talents to consistently strive to do more and do better, in community with inspiring, passionate, and dedicated partners.
Kimala Gray
(She/Her)
Kimala was born in Canon City, CO. Because of her deep love for animals—particularly apes, dogs, elephants, owls, and donkeys—conservation is a high value of hers. She has been greatly influenced by her lifelong hero, Jane Goodall. While in high school, Kimala discovered a passion for learning from, and connecting with, people who were different from her. This motivated her to seek a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Colorado State University. Shortly after graduation, Kimala moved to Portland, Oregon where she worked at a domestic violence shelter, transitional housing program for families experiencing homelessness and Mt. Hood Community College’s Head Start. Through her work with clients from diverse backgrounds, Kimala became an advocate for equity and inclusivity. She cherished getting to know her clients through their stories, while partnering with them to achieve their goals.
Kimala, along with her wife, Kaylin, moved back to Colorado in 2003. She received a certificate in Sustainable Community Development from the International Institute for Sustainable Development. A trip to Kenya and Uganda with the Jane Goodall Institute’s Peak Society in 2005 was transformative, as Kimala’s love of learning about other cultures in the presence of chimpanzees and other African wildlife showed her how conservation efforts can benefit the lives of both animals and people. Looking through a sustainability lens, Kimala became a champion of programs that empower women and children through education, micro-lending, health care, and conservation.
Kimala and Kaylin have three amazing daughters, adopted internationally from Southeast Asia and Central Africa. Their beautiful family calls Boulder County home. Through Unwoven Collective’s research, impact fund, and foundation, Kimala is excited to continue learning and to find new ways to collaborate and effect change. She served on the board of Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence (SPAN) in Boulder. Kimala’s dream is to one day retire with her spouse in the Pacific Northwest with their dogs and future adopted rescue donkeys, Buttercup and Jasper.
