Global citizen, community builder, and systems strategist

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I am a partner for community change

Relationships and commitment to communities power my work. My thirty-year career has focused on humanitarian assistance, community development, philanthropy, market leadership and social entrepreneurship. As an activist and a strategy and management consultant, I have worked with a wide range of organizations from grassroots to Local and National Organizations to 1 billion INGOs. I consistently combine rigor, creativity, and strategy to shape meaningful change across such diverse spaces and bring an ability to connect community voices with institutional reform, while also influencing global agendas. I spend time getting to know you and your organization, you get to know me and the passion, skills, experience and commitment that I bring into my work, and we then use that trust to figure things out and move forward together. We may need to get out of the “boxes” or make a new one, but together, we will develop structured and meaningful solutions for the work at hand.

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Client Testimonials

  • From 2023-2025, I worked closely with Marie-Rose in her leadership of a team co-designing and implementing the Girl Child Long Walk's pilot Gender Equality Seed Fund, which provided small grants to faith-inspired change agents advancing gender justice in communities around the world. Marie-Rose was passionate about the work, dedicated, and highly organized, communicating regularly and making sure the pilot initiative stayed on track. She is bright, thoughtful, collaborative, and, having been one, she cares deeply about and tirelessly supports the wellbeing and effectiveness of grassroots changemakers!

    — Andrew Jones, Co-Director and Impact Partner, Imago Dei Fund

  • It was a great pleasure to work with Marie-Rose. I heard her speak in a conference on localization and community-driven solutions. I was inspired and challenged by her points and hoped to find a way to work together in the future. That opportunity came sooner than I had anticipated and I was able to contract Marie-Rose for a study on the Arc of Crisis of Haitian migrants across Latin America. She was meticulous and thoughtful in how she gathered information while also respectful and careful of the dynamic of engaging with personal and professional contacts on behalf of an organization. She was clear in her process, took feedback, and engaged interactively in assessing how to achieve the goal of the effort. Marie-Rose was a pleasure to work with — I learned much from her through this process and so the consultancy had a double value.

    — Meghan López, DNP, FNP-BC

  • I have been so grateful to work closely with Marie-Rose and to learn from her at various stages of work and learning related to localization and community-driven programming and solutions. She played a critical role as a consultant to my organization, guiding a partnership learning process and joining our team for broader discussions and learning on localization. Her extensive experience as an advocate and leader in her field, her kind engagement with all stakeholders and partners, and her candid and constructive feedback all helped ensure that our learning was meaningful and actionable. She is generous with her time and expertise, and thoughtful in how she helps organizations shape and evolve strategy over time.

    — Gina Bramucci, Senior Director of Safeguarding at International Rescue Committee

  • During my tenure as Executive Director/CEO of the Hildebrand Family Self-Help Center, Inc., Romain Murphy Consulting has been a strategic partner at various stages of the growth, development and evolution of the organization. One of the major projects undertaken by Marie-Rose was to restructure and provide interim management of our Congregate Shelter Program with a focus on establishing consistency across program sites, addressing salary disparities, creating the tools necessary and providing accompanying training for staff. Among other initiatives, she researched and created Workforce Development options aimed at increasing the capacity of our head of households to earn livable wages. When requested, she worked part of a team to facilitate the successful renewal of our multi-million dollar contract with the state. Marie-Rose’s exceptional skills, insight and work experiences contributed significantly to supporting the agency’s vision of self-sufficiency and bringing that vision to fruition. I recommend her without reservation.

    — Joyce Trotman

  • It was a privilege and a pleasure to work with Marie-Rose. Her ability to create trust with all stakeholders whilst leaving space for difficult conversations is truly remarkable. Marie-Rose combines her deep strategic thinking with her practical experience of managing and working with local actors and communities. Thanks to Marie-Rose, we were able to create spaces where local partners were comfortable sharing their concerns and priorities. Marie-Rose is deeply committed to equitable partnerships and decolonisation of the Aid sector. Marie-Rose is also a fantastic person to talk to and learn from, I will always remember the discussions we had. I am delighted to recommend her, and I hope we will have the opportunity to work together again.

    — Laurent Martial, CARE International UK 

  • Marie-Rose is extraordinary. If someone were to tell me that they were working with her, I would congratulate them. Marie-Rose has a unique power that is fueled by her keen perceptiveness, deep generosity, and bold honesty. Leading social change can be a complicated and often frustrating effort - but Marie-Rose has a way of making all of the gray areas seem less daunting. She is able to see the problems, identify solutions, and communicate her ideas in a way that acknowledges the difficulty without excusing inaction. I admire the way that she is able to balance a bold frankness and fiery passion for change with genuine empathy and understanding for others. Managing consulting projects, I never hesitate to bring Marie-Rose onto a team. I trust her implicitly to uphold our values, deliver a high-quality product, and create meaningful impact. I know that she will always lead a consulting team with compassion and collaboration. It's hard to express just how much I have personally and professionally benefited from her mentorship through difficult situations. And while she is usually the most experienced on a team, she stays open to new ideas or approaches and always makes those around her feel respected and heard.

    — Elena Gillis, Managing Partner, Kuja/Adeso

  • Marie-Rose is an outstanding strategic advisor, facilitator, and voice of wisdom and truth on global development. She worked with our team as a co-facilitator of a workshop series that engaged stakeholders from around the world, representing a wide mix of sectors and of lived experience. In addition to deft leadership of the workshops, she provided critical insight and guidance across so many complex subjects and decision points. I leaned on her advice heavily throughout the consultancy, and even after we completed our project together I have continued to hold it as an anchor and reference. Among Marie-Rose's many gifts, I will spotlight just a few that were especially meaningful to me throughout this consultancy: her swift and thorough analysis and management of informal and unspoken hierarchies, and working to re-balance power and counter inequities; her ability to address uncomfortable truths in a direct, sensitive, and constructive manner; her commitment and responsiveness to clients, no matter what barriers or hurdles may present themselves. Marie-Rose embodies the best of global development leadership, and I am so grateful to have been connected to her. I hope we will have the opportunity to work together again in the future.

    — Kristina Graff, The Yoga Alliance