Values-Driven Consulting for Creatives, CommunitY BUILDERS & Organizations
HOLISTIC SUPPORT • Creative DEVELOPMENT • SUSTAINABLE Systems Design • clarity & visioning • storytelling for impact • PERSONALIZED PLANNING • PIVOTS, Boundaries & growth
Emilly Prado is a multidisciplinary creative, cultural worker, and strategist who brings over 15 years of cross-sector experience to her consulting practice. She guides artists, organizers, and institutions in building sustainable, equity-centered systems rooted in creativity and care. Her background as an entrepreneur, artist, educator, and former non-profit program director result in a framework that blends strategic thinking with cultural visioning and deep care for the individuals and teams her work supports. Together, we clarify goals, deepen impact, and align lives with values to build paths towards achieving meaningful milestones. Learn more about how she can help, her consulting approach, and what clients say about working with Emilly. Ready to book you first session? Sign up here!
How I Help
I support artists, grassroots collectives, universities, nonprofits, professionals, and mission-aligned brands with consultation services and implementation services when capacity allows. Our work together is personalized, spanning topics such as:
- Business development for artists
- Project planning and execution
- Strategic career growth and pivots
- Grant application and creative writing manuscript feedback
- Storytelling for social media and PR
- Community-centered event production
- Systems development for individuals and organizations
- Program, curriculum, and workshop design
- Equity and inclusion practices rooted in lived experience
Whether you’re just starting out or scaling up, I tailor each session to your needs with warmth, clarity, and intention. My decades-deep network in Portland is also a prime resource whenever referrals are needed.
My Approach
Every collaboration begins with deep listening. I approach consulting as a co-creation process — one grounded in care, curiosity, and action. Our conversations explore many layers and aspects—not simply work but the complex world we live in and the many roles, hopes, and challenges we balance. For longer term clients, we collaborate to create agendas, set goals, and you walk away each session with a breadth of resources and action items.
The Booking Process
We often begin with a brief call to explore your needs, vision, challenges, and to get to know one another. When you’re ready to book your first session, you fill out a short intake form to help shape our time together.
Our first session serves as our launchpad! From there, I’ll offer personalized strategies, frameworks, and tools designed to meet you where you are and help you move forward with confidence. My consulting style is holistic, values-rooted, and always tailored — no one-size-fits-all solutions here.
Some clients prefer a one-time consultation, while others opt for recurring sessions (monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly) to build in time for independent work and reflection between calls. We can always adjust the rhythm as we go!
What Clients Say About Working with Emilly
“Emilly provided the structure, follow through, and encouragement I needed in a one-on-one consultant. She met me as a working, woman of color trying to prioritize a writing practice, and her practical tips and thoughtful approach helped me level up creatively and professionally. Plus, she’s got the best spreadsheets. I highly recommend Emilly!”
“Over the past few years, I’ve gone to Emilly for guidance on marketing, time management, social media, and developing and monetizing workshops. Utilizing the insights from our sessions and detailed notes, I’ve found significant success and improvement in all areas. I truly believe this guidance equipped me with the versatility needed to weather the pandemic when it could have easily crushed my aspirations as a writer.”
“Emilly helped me adjust to my early career in Portland and gave me tools to help me survive young adulthood, especially as a first-gen professional. I could be honest about what I was struggling with, and she referred me to plenty of resources. She coached me on how to plan for my goals, whether related to my creative practice, job, or personal finances. With many thanks to Emilly, she kept me accountable, helped me land interviews, and ultimately land a new role! I learned a lot, feel more confident, and feel like I am a more functional human equipped with the tools to chart a successful future for myself.“
Current and Past Clients Include
Emilly has the pulse on the local arts and cultural scene. We hired her to produce a storytelling event. It only took one call for her to know what elements we needed to provide a meaningful experience. Her connections opened doors for us to engage people in our work who previously did not know about us, and that makes her services unique.”
—Roberto Franco
former Program Director at Oregon Community Foundation
Let’s Work Together!
Have a vision you’re ready to grow? Curious about how we can collaborate? I’d love to hear from you! Get in touch by emailing below — I aim to respond within 48 hours.