Clarity Does Not Equal Understanding

New Research Study: The Meaning Gap


About

Giselle Rivera-Flores is the author of Hispanic-ish on Substack, where she explores culture, identity, and the lived realities of the Latino community. She is also the founder of The People Praxis and serves as Director of Communications for Massachusetts State Senator Robyn Kennedy, bringing a people-centered approach to public-sector storytelling, strategy, and systems change.

“We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community.”

César Chávez


Giselle Rivera-Flores’ work is situated at the intersection of culture, communication, and systems change, with a focus on how identity, power, and belonging are produced and negotiated in everyday contexts.

Through applied storytelling and strategic communication, she examines the lived realities of Latino communities and the structural conditions that shape visibility, access, and participation. Her work is grounded in reflective practice, community-based knowledge, and an understanding of communication as both a cultural process and an institutional mechanism.

Across her practice, she prioritizes people-centered approaches that emphasize listening, sense-making, and alignment between values and action. Her work advances the belief that sustainable change requires communicative clarity, relational trust, and sustained attention to the systems that influence organizational behavior and public life, privileging long-term impact over symbolic or performative interventions.

The People Praxis is a communication-centered organizational development firm and applied theory practice that helps mission-driven organizations, campaigns, and municipalities strengthen how meaning, power, and trust move through their systems.

Rooted in evidence-based Organizational Development, organizational psychology, and real-world political and community engagement, The People Praxis examines communication not as a soft skill, but as critical infrastructure. Through communication diagnostics, listening studies, culture and decision-flow mapping, leadership communication development, and facilitated sensemaking, the firm helps teams close the gap between what leaders intend and what people actually experience.

By redesigning how organizations listen, speak, decide, and respond—especially under pressure—The People Praxis supports healthier cultures, more equitable leadership, and sustained collective impact.

Hispanic-ish

About

- Awards
  • 2025 ALX100 Award Recipient

  • 2024 ELLA Poderdosa Leadership Award

  • 2019 Gateway Cities Innovator Award

  • Startup Worcester Winner

  • Worcester Business Journal 40 under 40

  • First Place Difference Maker Award

  • Leadership Worcester Alumni

  • Entrepreneur and Small Business recipient from Women in Action

- Instructor
  • LEAP Program Instructor at Marianapolis

  • Food Entrepreneur Upskill Digital Media Instructor at Worcester State University

  • Podcasting Instructor for Afro-Latinx Culture Course at Clark University

- Education
  • Associate Degree in Business

  • Bachelor's Degree in Psychology

  • Master’s Degress in Organizational Psychology

- Mentor
  • EforAll Entrepreneurship Program