Mikaela Raphael

Mikaela is Agile Collective’s Client Relations Manager, making sure clients feel heard, supported, and empowered throughout their projects. She thrives on building strong partnerships, translating complex technical ideas into plain language, and ensuring projects run smoothly from start to finish. Whether it’s guiding clients through a new web build or helping them navigate the world of open-source, she’s always on hand to make the process feel clear, collaborative, and (dare we say) even enjoyable.

She’s a full-fledged co-op nerd—her first taste of cooperative living was in a 100-person student housing co-op, where she quickly fell in love with the chaos, collaboration, and late-night meetings that came with shared ownership. Since then, she’s been hooked. Now, as part of a worker’s co-op, she’s excited to bring her passion for democratic workplaces to Agile Collective.

Life before Agile Collective

Mikaela has worn many hats—sometimes all at once. She’s worked with salmon in Alaska, on community development projects in Senegal, led communications for a hospital in Haiti, and navigated the big, sometimes bewildering, world of San Francisco’s tech foundations.

Originally from California (by way of about five other countries), Mikaela has spent much of her career at the intersection of communications, service design, and impact-driven work. Whether working with nonprofits, researchers, or worker-owned businesses, she’s always looking for ways to make systems more equitable, accessible, and people-centered.

When not at work

Mikaela is actively involved in growing Birmingham’s cooperative ecosystem. She believes shared ownership and decision-making are the way forward for building fairer, more sustainable businesses—and she’s more than happy to get stuck in to make it happen.

She spends her time co-running her housing co-op and her lunch breaks dashing to the hardware co-op for just a few more screws, an extra bit of paint, or whatever else the latest project demands.

Mikaela dreams of car-free streets, California tomatoes, and a teleporter for dinners with friends and family across the globe. Until then, she’ll settle for an on-time train, podcast-length voice notes, and a bit of chaos to keep things interesting.