The Pittsburgh Black Worker Center has worked with Justin Laing of Hillombo LLC to manage the process of updating our vision, mission and planning process. Hillombo was able to fully engage participants in complicated discussions to help clarify our mission and commitments. Justin Laing also conducted outreach and follow up (focus groups) with similar movement (stakeholder) organizations to help us develop an analysis (assessment) of the state of our movement (sector). Through his use of experiments as an approach Justin also helped us develop a process to increase the number of our people identifying and acting collectively as Black socialists in Pittsburgh.

I fully endorse Justin Laing’s facilitation, research, and synthesis skills to help move the organization’s work forward.

—Carl Redwood, Project Director. Pittsburgh Black Worker Center

Justin Laing has been a very generous  partners with Pangea World Theater. and TCTOCC (Twin Cities Theater of Color Coalition.) Justin’s facilitation skills stands on the foundation of principal and justice.His deep listening ability and weaving of democratic spaces while arriving at a practical plan, crafts an empowered ensemble. 

Justin engages with compassion and is a thought partner who is unaftraid to challenge till our thinking gets nuanced and has clarity of focus. All our arrival points locates itself  and meets  the immediate and longterm goals and aspirations both local and national . Justin is proactive  quick to respond, thorough and extremely resourceful.

i feel privileged to work with Justin.

—dipankar mukhergee, artistic director, Pangea World Theater

Justin is an amazing facilitator, leader and trainer who is intentional about pushing people to think, analyze, and assess their mission and the purpose behind their work. He has a unique ability to guide individuals in connecting the dots and engaging in self-reflection that leads to significant growth and development. I highly recommend Justin's services.

—Fawn Walker-Montgomery, C.E.O., Take Action and Advocacy Group

I’ve worked with Justin across multiple projects, and his rigor consistently surfaced deeper insights and clarified underlying goals that were initially hard to articulate. He excels at connecting emerging questions to values, finding alignment amongst competing perspectives and working through contradictions. I’d highly recommend him to organizations that have major questions about the implications of their work or have alignment around a value, but unsure on how to apply it.

— Dustin Gibson (he/him) Programs Director, PeoplesHub

"Justin Laing has been essential to the development and advancement of Grantmakers in the Arts and of the cultural community nation-wide. As a member of our Board of Directors, Justin Laing was a key figure in Grantmakers in the Arts’ embrace of racial equity in arts funding. Justin not only changed how Grantmakers in the Arts works – he changed how our national field thinks, speaks and works. As a grantmaker member of GIA’s Board of Directors, Justin Laing co-developed our Racial Equity in Arts Funding Workshop. As a consultant, Justin led the development of GIA’s Pro-BIPOC Arts Funding Community of Practice, one of the best-reviewed, most popular of all of GIA’s workshop offerings. I would recommend Justin Laing as a consultant and colleague to anyone who is serious about challenging their long-standing assumptions, changing the way they think and work and driving positive impact in their communities. Justin Laing is an outstanding thinker and professional.

—Eddie Torres, President & CEO, Grantmakers in the Arts"—Eddie Torres, President & CEO, Grantmakers in the Arts

Justin Laing is an experienced, thoughtful, and persistent systems organizer, enabling a group to reach its goals and objectives. He recognizes and encourages each member to express their thinking and contribute to the organization’s mission.

—Ashaki Binta, National Black Liberation Movement Unity Initiative, National Organizer