Executive Director | 350.org

May Boeve is the San Francisco Bay Area-based Executive Director of 350.org, the renowned, highly effective and influential international climate change campaign whose creative communications, organizing, and mass mobilizations strive to generate the sense of urgency required to tackle the climate crisis. Previously, May co-founded and helped lead the Step It Up 2007 campaign, and prior to that was active in the campus climate movement while a student at Middlebury College. May is the co-author of Fight Global Warming Now.

Spoken Word Improviser/Poet

Tim Merry works with major international businesses, government agencies, local communities and regional collaboratives to lead breakthrough change through coaching, training, keynote speaking, engagement facilitation and systems change designed to energize and shake up the status quo. As an engagement specialist and systems change strategist, Tim organizes for forward movement. He is also a widely renowned spoken word improviser/poet.

| World Cafes

Amy Lenzo, who pioneered the World Cafe online process and has hosted hundreds of online World Cafes with people from all over the world since then, has been hosting conscious online engagement for over a decade and has been a cutting-edge leader in creating distinctly human interactive online spaces that help us connect with ourselves, each other and the natural world.

Founder | Santa Cruz Permaculture

David Shaw, a whole systems designer, facilitator, educator, and musician, founded Santa Cruz Permaculture and the UCSC Right Livelihood College, a partnership with the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” He supports communities locally and globally to transform their shared future through strategic dialogue and collective action.

Associate Professor | UBC Okanagan

Jeannette Armstrong, Ph.D., fluent Okanagan/Nsyilxcən speaker and knowledge keeper of the Syilx Okanagan people, is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Knowledge at UBC Okanagan. She collaborates with Salish-speaking groups to re-establish Indigenous languages, historical relationships and food resource ceremonies through gatherings, trading, and protections of water and land practices. She is a recipient of the Eco Trust USA Buffett Award in Indigenous Leadership and serves on Canada’s Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge Subcommittee of COSEWIC.

Founder and Director | ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation

Orland Bishop, founder and Director of ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation in Los Angeles, an intentional community of mentors, elders, teachers, artists, healers and advocates for the healthy development of children and youth, has pioneered innovative approaches to urban truces and mentoring at-risk youth that draw from his extensive study of medicine, naturopathy, psychology, and African Indigenous cosmologies.

Co-Founder | Beyond Boudaries

Gigi Coyle is a community activist, council facilitator, rite-of-passage guide, and a mentor to a number of individuals, communities and organizations. She is currently working with several organizations, including: Youth Passageways, ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation, the Ojai Foundation, Weaving Earth, and Beyond Boundaries. Her work, which has included co-founding such initiatives as: Walking Water; A Practice of Council; and “The Box, Remembering the Gift,” has always been focused on healing ways through ceremony, inter-generational projects of prayer, action, and service.

Co-Director | The Ojai Foundation

Brendan Clarke, a father, educator, writer and guide whose work focuses on healthy human relationships with self, community and the cosmos, especially at the intersection of social and ecological justice, resilience and response, currently serves as Co-Director of The Ojai Foundation with his wife, Shay.

Justine Epstein is a community organizer, rites of passage guide and council carrier in the lineage of Beyond Boundaries. Her work focuses on healing from inherited systems of colonization, white supremacy, cis-hetero patriarchy and global capitalism through community, practices, prayer, storytelling and relationship with the more than human world, with a particular focus on anti-racism and wealth redistribution.

| San Francisco Unified School District’s Indian Education Program

Paloma Flores, of California Indian Pit River Nation and P'urhépecha de Mexico ancestry, an activist and voice for her people, coordinates the San Francisco Unified School District’s Indian Education Program, co-directs the Bioneers Native Youth Leadership Program, and is a board member for the American Indian Cultural District San Francisco. She is also an artist, a Peace and Dignity Journeys intercontinental prayer runner, and a dancer. 

Founder and Artistic Director | Truthworker Theatre Company

Samara Gaev, founder and Artistic Director of Truthworker Theatre Company, is a Brooklyn-based activist, educator, facilitator, theater director, and performer with 20 years' experience using performance as a tool for cross-cultural healing and social change. Her work, which has taken her to Zimbabwe, Senegal, Hawaii, Brazil, Peru, Cuba, Germany, Scotland, and throughout the U.S., examines and challenges constructions of power, privilege, the prison industrial complex, and other systems of oppression.

Co-Founder | Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education

Dave Hage, co-founder of the Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education and a member of the teaching team for the Weaving Earth Immersion program (and a white, cis-man of northern European descent from Southern Pomo territory, also known as Sonoma County) is a wilderness guide and nature connection mentor.

Activist, Singer/Songwriter

Pat McCabe (Weyakpa Najin Win/Woman Stands Shining), of Diné (Navajo) ancestry but also adopted into Lakota spiritual traditions, is a rural New Mexico-based mother, grandmother, activist, artist, writer, ceremonial leader, and international speaker. A voice for global peace, her multi-faceted work includes exploring issues of sustainability and balance and the reconciliation between the masculine and feminine.

Founder and President | Global Center for Indigenous Leadership and Lifeways

Ilarion (Kuuyux) Merculieff, raised in a traditional Unangan (Aleut) way, recognized as a carrier of ancient knowledge into modern times, has co-founded, chaired or directed a number of leading Alaska Indigenous and environmental groups, including the Alaska Indigenous Council on Marine Mammals; the Alaska chapter of the Nature Conservancy; the International Bering Sea Forum; the Alaska Forum on the Environment, and the Alaska Oceans Network. He has presented at numerous scientific conferences and chaired the Indigenous knowledge sessions at the Global Summit of Indigenous Peoples on Climate Change. He is the author of: Wisdom Keeper: One Man’s Journey to Honor the Untold Story of the Unangan People, and co-authored Stop Talking: Indigenous Ways of Teaching and Learning, and Perspectives on Indigenous Issues: Essays on Science, Spirituality, Partnerships, and the Power of Words. He co-founded a council of Elders called 'the Wisdom Weavers of the world', and he currently leads GCILL - the Global Center for Indigenous Leadership and Lifeways.

Co-Founder and Executive Director | The Humane Prison Hospice Project

Ladybird Morgan, who has worked as a registered nurse, clinical social worker, healer and educator for 20+ years, is co-founder and Executive Director of The Humane Prison Hospice Project whose mission is to implement end-of-life care in prisons by training prisoners to be caregivers. Ladybird has worked with many organizations including The Zen Hospice Project and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and co-facilitates circles at Commonweal and UCSF/MERI Center's Last Acts of Kindness Program. Aside from her work for Humane (speaking on panels, presenting at various end of life events, general advocacy), Ladybird has also been going into San Quentin prison working with the prisoner-formed Brothers Keepers group on their crisis intervention and peer support programs.

Shlomo Pesach is a community organizer, queer mentor and Jewish ritualist devoted to cultivating flourishing fugitive queer futures.

Director | Difficult Dialogues Initiative

Libby Roderick, Director of the Difficult Dialogues Initiative and co-founder of the Difficult Dialogues National Resource Center, is the co-author/editor of many books and articles and works with universities across the U.S. and in South Africa to increase their capacity to effectively conduct difficult dialogues and apply Indigenous ways of teaching and learning. Libby is also an internationally recognized singer/songwriter whose six recordings have received extensive airplay on Earth and, in 2003, NASA played her song "Dig Down Deep" on the planet Mars as encouragement to the robot "Spirit."

Author

Luis J. Rodriguez has spent 40 years doing poetry readings, talks, and leading healing circles as well as creative writing classes in prisons, juvenile lockups, and jails. He has written 16 books in all genres, including the bestselling memoir: Always Running, La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. His latest book is: From Our Land to Our Land: Essays, Journeys and Imaginings from a Native Xicanx Writer. From 2014-2016 Luis served as Los Angeles’ Poet Laureate.

Senior Fellow | Center for Whole Communities

Kristin Rothballer, a social change leader focused on the intersection of personal, social and ecological healing and transformation, consults on strategy, programs, equity and organizational development for nonprofits, foundations, social and land-based enterprises. Her current projects include serving as a Senior Fellow for Center for Whole Communities and pursuing a Masters in Social Transformation at Pacific School of Religion (at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA). Kristin's previous roles and projects included: co-founding and directing Green for All, working to build an inclusive green economy; helping design FIREROCK, a musical to engage people around climate change; guiding wilderness-based retreats for Ecology of Awakening; helping manage the Bell Valley Retreat and Tunitas Creek Ranch retreat centers; and working as Director of Programs at Bioneers. Kristin has also stewarded the Tyler Rigg Foundation for 20+ years.

Marlowe Sam, Ph.D., a Wenatchi/Lakes descendant from the Colville Confederated Tribes of Washington State, is a longtime Indigenous Rights activist and a scholar/researcher in Indigenous Studies with a special focus on Indigenous Water Rights in Canada.

Author

Anita Sanchez, Ph.D., of Aztec and Latina ancestry, has drawn from Indigenous wisdom and modern science to guide thousands of leaders in corporations and nonprofits in creating diverse and inclusive workplaces and communities. She is the author of six books, including the international bestselling: Success University for Women in Business, and the International Latino Book Award winner: The Four Sacred Gifts: Indigenous Wisdom for Modern Times.

Co-Founder and Facilitator | Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education

Will Scott is a co-founder and facilitator at the Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education, which works to create systems change through education at the confluences of social and environmental justice.

Co-Director | Ojai Foundation

Sharon Shay Sloan, Co-Director of the Ojai Foundation, is a rites-of-passage guide and council trainer who has worked with a number of organizations over the years, including: Beyond Boundaries, Wilderness Reflections, School of Lost Borders, Global Passageways, and Youth Passageways. She also worked in international conservation for a decade, including as founding Director for the Indigenous & Community Lands & Seas program for The WILD Foundation and with the World Wilderness Congress.

Director of Training and Technical Assistance | National Compadres Network

Jerry Tello of Mexican, Texan and Coahuiltecan ancestry, raised in South Central Los Angeles, has worked for 40+ years as a leading expert in transformational healing for men and boys of color; racial justice; peaceful community mobilization; and providing domestic violence awareness, healing, and support services to war veterans and their spouses. Director of Training and Technical Assistance for the National Compadres Network and an award-winning author of many publications (including, most recently: Recovering Your Sacredness), he also leads a weekly podcast, Healing Generations. 

Co-Founder | Bioneers

Nina Simons, co-founder of Bioneers and its Chief Relationship Strategist is also co-founder of Women Bridging Worlds and Connecting Women Leading Change. She co-edited the anthology book, Moonrise: The Power of Women Leading from the Heart, and most recently wrote Nature, Culture & The Sacred: A Woman Listens for Leadership. An award-winning social entrepreneur, Nina teaches and speaks internationally, and previously served as President of Seeds of Change and Director of Strategic Marketing for Odwalla.

Program Director of the Bioneers Indigenous Knowledge Program | Bioneers

Cara Romero (Chemehuevi), Program Director of the Bioneers Indigenous Knowledge Program, previously served her Mojave-based tribe in several capacities, including as: first Executive Director at the Chemehuevi Cultural Center, a member of the tribal council, and Chair of the Chemehuevi Education Board and Chemeuevi Headstart Policy Council. Cara is also a highly accomplished photographer/artist.

Program Manager for Bioneers’ Indigeneity Program | Bioneers

Alexis Bunten, Ph.D., (Aleut/Yup’ik), Program Manager for Bioneers’ Indigeneity Program, has been a researcher, media-maker, manager, consultant, and curriculum developer for organizations including the Sealaska Heritage Institute, Alaska Native Heritage Center, and the FrameWorks Institute. She has published widely about Indigenous and environmental issues, and is the author of So, how long have you been Native?: Life as an Alaska Native Tour Guide.

Executive Director, Organizational Development and Strategy | Center for Whole Communities

Ginny McGinn, Executive Director, Organizational Development and Strategy, at the Center for Whole Communities, has long been deeply involved in social and organizational change work and in building partnerships across lines of power and privilege. Previously President of Bioneers, Ginny facilitates and consults on organizational change around the country, using the Whole Thinking Practices and the tools she and her colleagues have helped evolve at Center for Whole Communities.

Founder | The Bodhi Project

Sonali Sangeeta Balajee is the founder of Our Bodhi Project, which promotes practices at the intersection of Belonging, Organizing, Decolonizing, Health, and Interconnectedness. Sonali previously spent 13 years in government in Portland, OR, leading equity-based projects, has been an activist in HIV/AIDS work, environmental justice, and racial equity for 30 years, has 20 years’ experience in dance and music performance and 35 years’ practicing yoga and mindfulness.

CEO | Blue Dasher Farm

Jonathan Lundgren, Ph.D., an agro-ecologist and leading figure in the field of regenerative agriculture, is the Director of the ECDYSIS Foundation and CEO of Blue Dasher Farm. An award-winning scientist with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service for 11 years, he has served as an advisor for national panels and regulatory agencies on pesticide and GM crop risk assessments, written 126 peer-reviewed journal articles, and authored the book, Relationships of Natural Enemies and Non-prey Foods.

Director | The Greenhorns

Severine von Tscharner Fleming, a Maine-based farmer, activist, and organizer, runs Smithereen Farm, a MOFGA certified organic wild blueberry, seaweed, and orchard operation that also hosts summer camps and educational workshops. A founder and board member of Agrarian Trust and current Director of The Greenhorns, a grassroots organization whose mission is to recruit and support incoming generations of new farmers, Severine is also: co-founder and board secretary of Farm Hack, an online, open-source platform for appropriate farm tools and technologies; co-founder of the National Young Farmers Coalition; on the board of the Schumacher Center for New Economics; and on the advisory board of Savanna Institute.

Co-Founder/Director | Sole Food Street Farms

Michael Ableman, based at Foxglove Farm on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia and co-founder/Director of Sole Food Street Farms, is one of the early visionaries of the urban agriculture movement who, over the decades, created high-profile urban farms in Watts, California; Goleta, California; and Vancouver, British Columbia; and has worked on and advised dozens of similar projects throughout North America and the Caribbean. Founder of the nonprofit Center for Urban Agriculture, he is the subject of the award-winning PBS film Beyond Organic narrated by Meryl Streep. His books include: From the Good Earth; On Good Land; and Fields of Plenty.

Executive Director | Honor the Earth

Winona LaDuke, an international thought leader on climate justice and renewable energy, is a rural development economist working on issues of economic, food, and energy sovereignty. She lives and works on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, where she leads several organizations, including: Honor the Earth, Anishinaabe Agriculture Institute, Akiing, and Winona's Hemp, all of them devoted to developing and modeling culture-based sustainable development strategies utilizing renewable energy and sustainable food systems. She is also a leading figure in the work of protecting Indigenous plants and heritage foods from patenting and genetic engineering and has authored six books, including: Recovering the Sacred, All our Relations, Last Standing Woman, The Winona LaDuke Chronicles, and, most recently: To Be a Water Protector.

| World Cafes

Amy Lenzo, who pioneered the World Cafe online process and has hosted hundreds of online World Cafes with people from all over the world since then, has been hosting conscious online engagement for over a decade and has been a cutting-edge leader in creating distinctly human interactive online spaces that help us connect with ourselves, each other and the natural world.

Founder | Santa Cruz Permaculture

David Shaw, a whole systems designer, facilitator, educator, and musician, founded Santa Cruz Permaculture and the UCSC Right Livelihood College, a partnership with the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” He supports communities locally and globally to transform their shared future through strategic dialogue and collective action.

Program Manager | Chapter 510

Jahan Khalighi, a poet, educator and community arts organizer, is a Program Manager and teaching artist with Chapter 510, a made-in-Oakland, CA, youth creative writing and publishing center, for whom he facilitates creative writing and poetry workshops for youth in schools, community centers and juvenile detention centers across California. Jahan is an alumni of June Jordan's Poetry For The People program at UC Berkeley under the mentorship of Aya De Leon, and a former member of the Eugene Poetry Slam Team. His poetry has been featured on TEDx and Whoa Nelly press online journal.

Associate Professor | UBC Okanagan

Jeannette Armstrong, Ph.D., fluent Okanagan/Nsyilxcən speaker and knowledge keeper of the Syilx Okanagan people, is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Knowledge at UBC Okanagan. She collaborates with Salish-speaking groups to re-establish Indigenous languages, historical relationships and food resource ceremonies through gatherings, trading, and protections of water and land practices. She is a recipient of the Eco Trust USA Buffett Award in Indigenous Leadership and serves on Canada’s Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge Subcommittee of COSEWIC.

Founder and Director | ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation

Orland Bishop, founder and Director of ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation in Los Angeles, an intentional community of mentors, elders, teachers, artists, healers and advocates for the healthy development of children and youth, has pioneered innovative approaches to urban truces and mentoring at-risk youth that draw from his extensive study of medicine, naturopathy, psychology, and African Indigenous cosmologies.

Co-Director | The Ojai Foundation

Brendan Clarke, a father, educator, writer and guide whose work focuses on healthy human relationships with self, community and the cosmos, especially at the intersection of social and ecological justice, resilience and response, currently serves as Co-Director of The Ojai Foundation with his wife, Shay.

Co-Founder | Beyond Boudaries

Gigi Coyle is a community activist, council facilitator, rite-of-passage guide, and a mentor to a number of individuals, communities and organizations. She is currently working with several organizations, including: Youth Passageways, ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation, the Ojai Foundation, Weaving Earth, and Beyond Boundaries. Her work, which has included co-founding such initiatives as: Walking Water; A Practice of Council; and “The Box, Remembering the Gift,” has always been focused on healing ways through ceremony, inter-generational projects of prayer, action, and service.

Justine Epstein is a community organizer, rites of passage guide and council carrier in the lineage of Beyond Boundaries. Her work focuses on healing from inherited systems of colonization, white supremacy, cis-hetero patriarchy and global capitalism through community, practices, prayer, storytelling and relationship with the more than human world, with a particular focus on anti-racism and wealth redistribution.

| San Francisco Unified School District’s Indian Education Program

Paloma Flores, of California Indian Pit River Nation and P'urhépecha de Mexico ancestry, an activist and voice for her people, coordinates the San Francisco Unified School District’s Indian Education Program, co-directs the Bioneers Native Youth Leadership Program, and is a board member for the American Indian Cultural District San Francisco. She is also an artist, a Peace and Dignity Journeys intercontinental prayer runner, and a dancer. 

Founder and Artistic Director | Truthworker Theatre Company

Samara Gaev, founder and Artistic Director of Truthworker Theatre Company, is a Brooklyn-based activist, educator, facilitator, theater director, and performer with 20 years' experience using performance as a tool for cross-cultural healing and social change. Her work, which has taken her to Zimbabwe, Senegal, Hawaii, Brazil, Peru, Cuba, Germany, Scotland, and throughout the U.S., examines and challenges constructions of power, privilege, the prison industrial complex, and other systems of oppression.

Co-Founder | Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education

Dave Hage, co-founder of the Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education and a member of the teaching team for the Weaving Earth Immersion program (and a white, cis-man of northern European descent from Southern Pomo territory, also known as Sonoma County) is a wilderness guide and nature connection mentor.

Activist, Singer/Songwriter

Pat McCabe (Weyakpa Najin Win/Woman Stands Shining), of Diné (Navajo) ancestry but also adopted into Lakota spiritual traditions, is a rural New Mexico-based mother, grandmother, activist, artist, writer, ceremonial leader, and international speaker. A voice for global peace, her multi-faceted work includes exploring issues of sustainability and balance and the reconciliation between the masculine and feminine.

Founder and President | Global Center for Indigenous Leadership and Lifeways

Ilarion (Kuuyux) Merculieff, raised in a traditional Unangan (Aleut) way, recognized as a carrier of ancient knowledge into modern times, has co-founded, chaired or directed a number of leading Alaska Indigenous and environmental groups, including the Alaska Indigenous Council on Marine Mammals; the Alaska chapter of the Nature Conservancy; the International Bering Sea Forum; the Alaska Forum on the Environment, and the Alaska Oceans Network. He has presented at numerous scientific conferences and chaired the Indigenous knowledge sessions at the Global Summit of Indigenous Peoples on Climate Change. He is the author of: Wisdom Keeper: One Man’s Journey to Honor the Untold Story of the Unangan People, and co-authored Stop Talking: Indigenous Ways of Teaching and Learning, and Perspectives on Indigenous Issues: Essays on Science, Spirituality, Partnerships, and the Power of Words. He co-founded a council of Elders called 'the Wisdom Weavers of the world', and he currently leads GCILL - the Global Center for Indigenous Leadership and Lifeways.

Co-Founder and Executive Director | The Humane Prison Hospice Project

Ladybird Morgan, who has worked as a registered nurse, clinical social worker, healer and educator for 20+ years, is co-founder and Executive Director of The Humane Prison Hospice Project whose mission is to implement end-of-life care in prisons by training prisoners to be caregivers. Ladybird has worked with many organizations including The Zen Hospice Project and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and co-facilitates circles at Commonweal and UCSF/MERI Center's Last Acts of Kindness Program. Aside from her work for Humane (speaking on panels, presenting at various end of life events, general advocacy), Ladybird has also been going into San Quentin prison working with the prisoner-formed Brothers Keepers group on their crisis intervention and peer support programs.

Shlomo Pesach is a community organizer, queer mentor and Jewish ritualist devoted to cultivating flourishing fugitive queer futures.

Director | Difficult Dialogues Initiative

Libby Roderick, Director of the Difficult Dialogues Initiative and co-founder of the Difficult Dialogues National Resource Center, is the co-author/editor of many books and articles and works with universities across the U.S. and in South Africa to increase their capacity to effectively conduct difficult dialogues and apply Indigenous ways of teaching and learning. Libby is also an internationally recognized singer/songwriter whose six recordings have received extensive airplay on Earth and, in 2003, NASA played her song "Dig Down Deep" on the planet Mars as encouragement to the robot "Spirit."

Author

Luis J. Rodriguez has spent 40 years doing poetry readings, talks, and leading healing circles as well as creative writing classes in prisons, juvenile lockups, and jails. He has written 16 books in all genres, including the bestselling memoir: Always Running, La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. His latest book is: From Our Land to Our Land: Essays, Journeys and Imaginings from a Native Xicanx Writer. From 2014-2016 Luis served as Los Angeles’ Poet Laureate.

Senior Fellow | Center for Whole Communities

Kristin Rothballer, a social change leader focused on the intersection of personal, social and ecological healing and transformation, consults on strategy, programs, equity and organizational development for nonprofits, foundations, social and land-based enterprises. Her current projects include serving as a Senior Fellow for Center for Whole Communities and pursuing a Masters in Social Transformation at Pacific School of Religion (at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA). Kristin's previous roles and projects included: co-founding and directing Green for All, working to build an inclusive green economy; helping design FIREROCK, a musical to engage people around climate change; guiding wilderness-based retreats for Ecology of Awakening; helping manage the Bell Valley Retreat and Tunitas Creek Ranch retreat centers; and working as Director of Programs at Bioneers. Kristin has also stewarded the Tyler Rigg Foundation for 20+ years.

Marlowe Sam, Ph.D., a Wenatchi/Lakes descendant from the Colville Confederated Tribes of Washington State, is a longtime Indigenous Rights activist and a scholar/researcher in Indigenous Studies with a special focus on Indigenous Water Rights in Canada.

Author

Anita Sanchez, Ph.D., of Aztec and Latina ancestry, has drawn from Indigenous wisdom and modern science to guide thousands of leaders in corporations and nonprofits in creating diverse and inclusive workplaces and communities. She is the author of six books, including the international bestselling: Success University for Women in Business, and the International Latino Book Award winner: The Four Sacred Gifts: Indigenous Wisdom for Modern Times.

Co-Founder and Facilitator | Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education

Will Scott is a co-founder and facilitator at the Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education, which works to create systems change through education at the confluences of social and environmental justice.

Co-Director | Ojai Foundation

Sharon Shay Sloan, Co-Director of the Ojai Foundation, is a rites-of-passage guide and council trainer who has worked with a number of organizations over the years, including: Beyond Boundaries, Wilderness Reflections, School of Lost Borders, Global Passageways, and Youth Passageways. She also worked in international conservation for a decade, including as founding Director for the Indigenous & Community Lands & Seas program for The WILD Foundation and with the World Wilderness Congress.

Director of Training and Technical Assistance | National Compadres Network

Jerry Tello of Mexican, Texan and Coahuiltecan ancestry, raised in South Central Los Angeles, has worked for 40+ years as a leading expert in transformational healing for men and boys of color; racial justice; peaceful community mobilization; and providing domestic violence awareness, healing, and support services to war veterans and their spouses. Director of Training and Technical Assistance for the National Compadres Network and an award-winning author of many publications (including, most recently: Recovering Your Sacredness), he also leads a weekly podcast, Healing Generations. 

Founder | TreeSisters.org

Clare Dubois is the founder of TreeSisters.org, a women's reforestation and culture-change organization dedicated to humanity’s emergence as a “restorer species.” For 23 years she has been facilitating body-based, experiential sessions designed to help participants shift consciousness and experience their interconnectedness with nature, the root of balanced leadership and action.

Author | Relational Mindfulness

Deborah Eden Tull, a Zen meditation and mindfulness teacher, author, activist and educator who spent 7 years training at a silent Zen monastery, has been teaching dharma for 20 years and sustainability practices for nearly 30. Her teaching style is grounded in “engaged awareness,” which emphasizes the connection between personal awakening and global engagement. Author of: Relational Mindfulness: A Handbook for Deepening Our Connection with Our Self, Each Other, and Our Planet and The Natural Kitchen: Your Guide for the Sustainable Food Revolution, Eden offers retreats, online courses and consultations internationally. She also teaches The Work That Reconnects, a program created by Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy, and is affiliated with UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center.

Founder and CEO | Emotion Dynamics LLC

Karla McLaren, M.Ed., an award-winning author and social science researcher, is a leading figure in the study of healthy empathy and the revaluing and transmutation of “negative” emotions to help people open new pathways of self-awareness and effective communication. Founder and CEO of Emotion Dynamics LLC and developer of the Empathy Academy online learning site, she is the author of: Embracing Anxiety: How to Access the Genius of this Vital Emotion; The Dynamic Emotional Integration® Workbook; The Art of Empathy: A Complete Guide to Life’s Most Essential Skill; The Language of Emotions: What Your Feelings are Trying to Tell You; and many other books and audio learning programs.

Sheila Diggs, a Washington, DC-based organizational development professional, ICF Executive Coach, and licensed Dynamic Emotional Integration® trainer, is a consultant to businesses, non-profits, and international development and healthcare organizations nationally and internationally. Her work focuses on enhancing empathic communication, self-awareness, and mindfulness in diverse working environments; building awareness around systems of racial inequality in teams and organizations; and developing leadership capacities in women and African Americans.

Founder and Director | Daily Acts Organization

Trathen Heckman is the founder/Director of Daily Acts Organization, a non-profit dedicated to “transformative action that creates connected, equitable, climate resilient communities.” He also serves on the convening committee for Localizing California Waters and the advisory board of Norcal Resilience Network, and he has helped initiate and lead numerous coalitions and networks including Climate Action Petaluma. Trathen lives in the Petaluma River Watershed where he grows food, medicine and wonder while composting apathy and lack.

Environmental Health Programs Manager | Daily Acts

Nichole Warwick is Environmental Health Programs Manager for the nonprofit group, Daily Acts; co-founder and Executive Director of Families Advocating for Chemical and Toxics Safety (FACTS); and co-founder and Co-Director of Sonoma Safe Ag/Safe Schools. She also serves on the Leadership Institute Advisory Board, Conservation Action Fund for Education Board of Directors, and Sonoma Community Resilience Collaborative Steering Committee.

Leadership Institute Manager | Daily Acts

Kerry Fugett facilitates and co-creates the Leadership Institute for Just and Resilient Communities at the non-profit, Daily Acts. She previously served as Executive Director of Sonoma County Conservation Action, leading grassroots campaigns to eliminate synthetic pesticides, facilitating coalition building, canvassing to elect environmental leaders, and organizing mutual support during record-breaking fires in Northern CA. One of her main areas of focus is the weaving of antiracism into community-led climate justice movements.

Leah Song, leader/front-woman of the renowned band, Rising Appalachia, as well as a solo artist, is a singer, multi instrumentalist (fiddle, banjo, guitar), and a musical pioneer across genres and mediums who has had great success and impact in the worlds of folk and roots music, including as founder of the "slow music movement." She and Rising Appalachia are also committed to and widely respected for deeply integrating activism on such topics as the environment, food justice, human rights and prison reform in their lives and work.

Lyla June is an Indigenous musician, scholar and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) and European lineages. Her dynamic, multi-genre presentation style and her emphasis on personal, collective and ecological healing have engaged audiences across the globe. Her richly varied background, which blends studies in Human Ecology at Stanford, graduate work in Indigenous Pedagogy, and the traditional Indigenous worldview she grew up with, helps inform her music and her perspectives. She is currently pursuing her doctoral degree, focusing on Indigenous food systems revitalization.

| World Cafes

Amy Lenzo, who pioneered the World Cafe online process and has hosted hundreds of online World Cafes with people from all over the world since then, has been hosting conscious online engagement for over a decade and has been a cutting-edge leader in creating distinctly human interactive online spaces that help us connect with ourselves, each other and the natural world.

Founder | Santa Cruz Permaculture

David Shaw, a whole systems designer, facilitator, educator, and musician, founded Santa Cruz Permaculture and the UCSC Right Livelihood College, a partnership with the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” He supports communities locally and globally to transform their shared future through strategic dialogue and collective action.

Associate Professor | UBC Okanagan

Jeannette Armstrong, Ph.D., fluent Okanagan/Nsyilxcən speaker and knowledge keeper of the Syilx Okanagan people, is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Knowledge at UBC Okanagan. She collaborates with Salish-speaking groups to re-establish Indigenous languages, historical relationships and food resource ceremonies through gatherings, trading, and protections of water and land practices. She is a recipient of the Eco Trust USA Buffett Award in Indigenous Leadership and serves on Canada’s Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge Subcommittee of COSEWIC.

Founder and Director | ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation

Orland Bishop, founder and Director of ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation in Los Angeles, an intentional community of mentors, elders, teachers, artists, healers and advocates for the healthy development of children and youth, has pioneered innovative approaches to urban truces and mentoring at-risk youth that draw from his extensive study of medicine, naturopathy, psychology, and African Indigenous cosmologies.

Co-Director | The Ojai Foundation

Brendan Clarke, a father, educator, writer and guide whose work focuses on healthy human relationships with self, community and the cosmos, especially at the intersection of social and ecological justice, resilience and response, currently serves as Co-Director of The Ojai Foundation with his wife, Shay.

Co-Founder | Beyond Boudaries

Gigi Coyle is a community activist, council facilitator, rite-of-passage guide, and a mentor to a number of individuals, communities and organizations. She is currently working with several organizations, including: Youth Passageways, ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation, the Ojai Foundation, Weaving Earth, and Beyond Boundaries. Her work, which has included co-founding such initiatives as: Walking Water; A Practice of Council; and “The Box, Remembering the Gift,” has always been focused on healing ways through ceremony, inter-generational projects of prayer, action, and service.

Justine Epstein is a community organizer, rites of passage guide and council carrier in the lineage of Beyond Boundaries. Her work focuses on healing from inherited systems of colonization, white supremacy, cis-hetero patriarchy and global capitalism through community, practices, prayer, storytelling and relationship with the more than human world, with a particular focus on anti-racism and wealth redistribution.

| San Francisco Unified School District’s Indian Education Program

Paloma Flores, of California Indian Pit River Nation and P'urhépecha de Mexico ancestry, an activist and voice for her people, coordinates the San Francisco Unified School District’s Indian Education Program, co-directs the Bioneers Native Youth Leadership Program, and is a board member for the American Indian Cultural District San Francisco. She is also an artist, a Peace and Dignity Journeys intercontinental prayer runner, and a dancer. 

Founder and Artistic Director | Truthworker Theatre Company

Samara Gaev, founder and Artistic Director of Truthworker Theatre Company, is a Brooklyn-based activist, educator, facilitator, theater director, and performer with 20 years' experience using performance as a tool for cross-cultural healing and social change. Her work, which has taken her to Zimbabwe, Senegal, Hawaii, Brazil, Peru, Cuba, Germany, Scotland, and throughout the U.S., examines and challenges constructions of power, privilege, the prison industrial complex, and other systems of oppression.

Co-Founder | Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education

Dave Hage, co-founder of the Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education and a member of the teaching team for the Weaving Earth Immersion program (and a white, cis-man of northern European descent from Southern Pomo territory, also known as Sonoma County) is a wilderness guide and nature connection mentor.

Activist, Singer/Songwriter

Pat McCabe (Weyakpa Najin Win/Woman Stands Shining), of Diné (Navajo) ancestry but also adopted into Lakota spiritual traditions, is a rural New Mexico-based mother, grandmother, activist, artist, writer, ceremonial leader, and international speaker. A voice for global peace, her multi-faceted work includes exploring issues of sustainability and balance and the reconciliation between the masculine and feminine.

Founder and President | Global Center for Indigenous Leadership and Lifeways

Ilarion (Kuuyux) Merculieff, raised in a traditional Unangan (Aleut) way, recognized as a carrier of ancient knowledge into modern times, has co-founded, chaired or directed a number of leading Alaska Indigenous and environmental groups, including the Alaska Indigenous Council on Marine Mammals; the Alaska chapter of the Nature Conservancy; the International Bering Sea Forum; the Alaska Forum on the Environment, and the Alaska Oceans Network. He has presented at numerous scientific conferences and chaired the Indigenous knowledge sessions at the Global Summit of Indigenous Peoples on Climate Change. He is the author of: Wisdom Keeper: One Man’s Journey to Honor the Untold Story of the Unangan People, and co-authored Stop Talking: Indigenous Ways of Teaching and Learning, and Perspectives on Indigenous Issues: Essays on Science, Spirituality, Partnerships, and the Power of Words. He co-founded a council of Elders called 'the Wisdom Weavers of the world', and he currently leads GCILL - the Global Center for Indigenous Leadership and Lifeways.

Co-Founder and Executive Director | The Humane Prison Hospice Project

Ladybird Morgan, who has worked as a registered nurse, clinical social worker, healer and educator for 20+ years, is co-founder and Executive Director of The Humane Prison Hospice Project whose mission is to implement end-of-life care in prisons by training prisoners to be caregivers. Ladybird has worked with many organizations including The Zen Hospice Project and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and co-facilitates circles at Commonweal and UCSF/MERI Center's Last Acts of Kindness Program. Aside from her work for Humane (speaking on panels, presenting at various end of life events, general advocacy), Ladybird has also been going into San Quentin prison working with the prisoner-formed Brothers Keepers group on their crisis intervention and peer support programs.

Shlomo Pesach is a community organizer, queer mentor and Jewish ritualist devoted to cultivating flourishing fugitive queer futures.

Director | Difficult Dialogues Initiative

Libby Roderick, Director of the Difficult Dialogues Initiative and co-founder of the Difficult Dialogues National Resource Center, is the co-author/editor of many books and articles and works with universities across the U.S. and in South Africa to increase their capacity to effectively conduct difficult dialogues and apply Indigenous ways of teaching and learning. Libby is also an internationally recognized singer/songwriter whose six recordings have received extensive airplay on Earth and, in 2003, NASA played her song "Dig Down Deep" on the planet Mars as encouragement to the robot "Spirit."

Author

Luis J. Rodriguez has spent 40 years doing poetry readings, talks, and leading healing circles as well as creative writing classes in prisons, juvenile lockups, and jails. He has written 16 books in all genres, including the bestselling memoir: Always Running, La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. His latest book is: From Our Land to Our Land: Essays, Journeys and Imaginings from a Native Xicanx Writer. From 2014-2016 Luis served as Los Angeles’ Poet Laureate.

Senior Fellow | Center for Whole Communities

Kristin Rothballer, a social change leader focused on the intersection of personal, social and ecological healing and transformation, consults on strategy, programs, equity and organizational development for nonprofits, foundations, social and land-based enterprises. Her current projects include serving as a Senior Fellow for Center for Whole Communities and pursuing a Masters in Social Transformation at Pacific School of Religion (at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA). Kristin's previous roles and projects included: co-founding and directing Green for All, working to build an inclusive green economy; helping design FIREROCK, a musical to engage people around climate change; guiding wilderness-based retreats for Ecology of Awakening; helping manage the Bell Valley Retreat and Tunitas Creek Ranch retreat centers; and working as Director of Programs at Bioneers. Kristin has also stewarded the Tyler Rigg Foundation for 20+ years.

Marlowe Sam, Ph.D., a Wenatchi/Lakes descendant from the Colville Confederated Tribes of Washington State, is a longtime Indigenous Rights activist and a scholar/researcher in Indigenous Studies with a special focus on Indigenous Water Rights in Canada.

Author

Anita Sanchez, Ph.D., of Aztec and Latina ancestry, has drawn from Indigenous wisdom and modern science to guide thousands of leaders in corporations and nonprofits in creating diverse and inclusive workplaces and communities. She is the author of six books, including the international bestselling: Success University for Women in Business, and the International Latino Book Award winner: The Four Sacred Gifts: Indigenous Wisdom for Modern Times.

Co-Founder and Facilitator | Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education

Will Scott is a co-founder and facilitator at the Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education, which works to create systems change through education at the confluences of social and environmental justice.

Co-Director | Ojai Foundation

Sharon Shay Sloan, Co-Director of the Ojai Foundation, is a rites-of-passage guide and council trainer who has worked with a number of organizations over the years, including: Beyond Boundaries, Wilderness Reflections, School of Lost Borders, Global Passageways, and Youth Passageways. She also worked in international conservation for a decade, including as founding Director for the Indigenous & Community Lands & Seas program for The WILD Foundation and with the World Wilderness Congress.

Director of Training and Technical Assistance | National Compadres Network

Jerry Tello of Mexican, Texan and Coahuiltecan ancestry, raised in South Central Los Angeles, has worked for 40+ years as a leading expert in transformational healing for men and boys of color; racial justice; peaceful community mobilization; and providing domestic violence awareness, healing, and support services to war veterans and their spouses. Director of Training and Technical Assistance for the National Compadres Network and an award-winning author of many publications (including, most recently: Recovering Your Sacredness), he also leads a weekly podcast, Healing Generations. 

Author | Relational Mindfulness

Deborah Eden Tull, a Zen meditation and mindfulness teacher, author, activist and educator who spent 7 years training at a silent Zen monastery, has been teaching dharma for 20 years and sustainability practices for nearly 30. Her teaching style is grounded in “engaged awareness,” which emphasizes the connection between personal awakening and global engagement. Author of: Relational Mindfulness: A Handbook for Deepening Our Connection with Our Self, Each Other, and Our Planet and The Natural Kitchen: Your Guide for the Sustainable Food Revolution, Eden offers retreats, online courses and consultations internationally. She also teaches The Work That Reconnects, a program created by Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy, and is affiliated with UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center.

Co-Founder | Bioneers

Nina Simons, co-founder of Bioneers and its Chief Relationship Strategist is also co-founder of Women Bridging Worlds and Connecting Women Leading Change. She co-edited the anthology book, Moonrise: The Power of Women Leading from the Heart, and most recently wrote Nature, Culture & The Sacred: A Woman Listens for Leadership. An award-winning social entrepreneur, Nina teaches and speaks internationally, and previously served as President of Seeds of Change and Director of Strategic Marketing for Odwalla.

Founder and Executive Director | Mycelium Youth Network

Lil Milagro Henriquez, founder (in 2017) and Executive Director of Mycelium Youth Network, an organization dedicated to empowering young people of color around climate change issues, is a veteran of social justice organizing with 18+ years' experience working on a range of issues, including: access to higher education for low-income people and communities of color; food sovereignty; environmental racism; and labor organizing; among others. She is a current recipient of a Women's Earth Alliance fellowship.

Associate Professor | UBC Okanagan

Jeannette Armstrong, Ph.D., fluent Okanagan/Nsyilxcən speaker and knowledge keeper of the Syilx Okanagan people, is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Knowledge at UBC Okanagan. She collaborates with Salish-speaking groups to re-establish Indigenous languages, historical relationships and food resource ceremonies through gatherings, trading, and protections of water and land practices. She is a recipient of the Eco Trust USA Buffett Award in Indigenous Leadership and serves on Canada’s Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge Subcommittee of COSEWIC.

Founder and Director | ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation

Orland Bishop, founder and Director of ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation in Los Angeles, an intentional community of mentors, elders, teachers, artists, healers and advocates for the healthy development of children and youth, has pioneered innovative approaches to urban truces and mentoring at-risk youth that draw from his extensive study of medicine, naturopathy, psychology, and African Indigenous cosmologies.

Co-Director | The Ojai Foundation

Brendan Clarke, a father, educator, writer and guide whose work focuses on healthy human relationships with self, community and the cosmos, especially at the intersection of social and ecological justice, resilience and response, currently serves as Co-Director of The Ojai Foundation with his wife, Shay.

Co-Founder | Beyond Boudaries

Gigi Coyle is a community activist, council facilitator, rite-of-passage guide, and a mentor to a number of individuals, communities and organizations. She is currently working with several organizations, including: Youth Passageways, ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation, the Ojai Foundation, Weaving Earth, and Beyond Boundaries. Her work, which has included co-founding such initiatives as: Walking Water; A Practice of Council; and “The Box, Remembering the Gift,” has always been focused on healing ways through ceremony, inter-generational projects of prayer, action, and service.

Justine Epstein is a community organizer, rites of passage guide and council carrier in the lineage of Beyond Boundaries. Her work focuses on healing from inherited systems of colonization, white supremacy, cis-hetero patriarchy and global capitalism through community, practices, prayer, storytelling and relationship with the more than human world, with a particular focus on anti-racism and wealth redistribution.

| San Francisco Unified School District’s Indian Education Program

Paloma Flores, of California Indian Pit River Nation and P'urhépecha de Mexico ancestry, an activist and voice for her people, coordinates the San Francisco Unified School District’s Indian Education Program, co-directs the Bioneers Native Youth Leadership Program, and is a board member for the American Indian Cultural District San Francisco. She is also an artist, a Peace and Dignity Journeys intercontinental prayer runner, and a dancer. 

Founder and Artistic Director | Truthworker Theatre Company

Samara Gaev, founder and Artistic Director of Truthworker Theatre Company, is a Brooklyn-based activist, educator, facilitator, theater director, and performer with 20 years' experience using performance as a tool for cross-cultural healing and social change. Her work, which has taken her to Zimbabwe, Senegal, Hawaii, Brazil, Peru, Cuba, Germany, Scotland, and throughout the U.S., examines and challenges constructions of power, privilege, the prison industrial complex, and other systems of oppression.

Co-Founder | Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education

Dave Hage, co-founder of the Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education and a member of the teaching team for the Weaving Earth Immersion program (and a white, cis-man of northern European descent from Southern Pomo territory, also known as Sonoma County) is a wilderness guide and nature connection mentor.

Activist, Singer/Songwriter

Pat McCabe (Weyakpa Najin Win/Woman Stands Shining), of Diné (Navajo) ancestry but also adopted into Lakota spiritual traditions, is a rural New Mexico-based mother, grandmother, activist, artist, writer, ceremonial leader, and international speaker. A voice for global peace, her multi-faceted work includes exploring issues of sustainability and balance and the reconciliation between the masculine and feminine.

Founder and President | Global Center for Indigenous Leadership and Lifeways

Ilarion (Kuuyux) Merculieff, raised in a traditional Unangan (Aleut) way, recognized as a carrier of ancient knowledge into modern times, has co-founded, chaired or directed a number of leading Alaska Indigenous and environmental groups, including the Alaska Indigenous Council on Marine Mammals; the Alaska chapter of the Nature Conservancy; the International Bering Sea Forum; the Alaska Forum on the Environment, and the Alaska Oceans Network. He has presented at numerous scientific conferences and chaired the Indigenous knowledge sessions at the Global Summit of Indigenous Peoples on Climate Change. He is the author of: Wisdom Keeper: One Man’s Journey to Honor the Untold Story of the Unangan People, and co-authored Stop Talking: Indigenous Ways of Teaching and Learning, and Perspectives on Indigenous Issues: Essays on Science, Spirituality, Partnerships, and the Power of Words. He co-founded a council of Elders called 'the Wisdom Weavers of the world', and he currently leads GCILL - the Global Center for Indigenous Leadership and Lifeways.

Co-Founder and Executive Director | The Humane Prison Hospice Project

Ladybird Morgan, who has worked as a registered nurse, clinical social worker, healer and educator for 20+ years, is co-founder and Executive Director of The Humane Prison Hospice Project whose mission is to implement end-of-life care in prisons by training prisoners to be caregivers. Ladybird has worked with many organizations including The Zen Hospice Project and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and co-facilitates circles at Commonweal and UCSF/MERI Center's Last Acts of Kindness Program. Aside from her work for Humane (speaking on panels, presenting at various end of life events, general advocacy), Ladybird has also been going into San Quentin prison working with the prisoner-formed Brothers Keepers group on their crisis intervention and peer support programs.

Shlomo Pesach is a community organizer, queer mentor and Jewish ritualist devoted to cultivating flourishing fugitive queer futures.

Director | Difficult Dialogues Initiative

Libby Roderick, Director of the Difficult Dialogues Initiative and co-founder of the Difficult Dialogues National Resource Center, is the co-author/editor of many books and articles and works with universities across the U.S. and in South Africa to increase their capacity to effectively conduct difficult dialogues and apply Indigenous ways of teaching and learning. Libby is also an internationally recognized singer/songwriter whose six recordings have received extensive airplay on Earth and, in 2003, NASA played her song "Dig Down Deep" on the planet Mars as encouragement to the robot "Spirit."

Author

Luis J. Rodriguez has spent 40 years doing poetry readings, talks, and leading healing circles as well as creative writing classes in prisons, juvenile lockups, and jails. He has written 16 books in all genres, including the bestselling memoir: Always Running, La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. His latest book is: From Our Land to Our Land: Essays, Journeys and Imaginings from a Native Xicanx Writer. From 2014-2016 Luis served as Los Angeles’ Poet Laureate.

Senior Fellow | Center for Whole Communities

Kristin Rothballer, a social change leader focused on the intersection of personal, social and ecological healing and transformation, consults on strategy, programs, equity and organizational development for nonprofits, foundations, social and land-based enterprises. Her current projects include serving as a Senior Fellow for Center for Whole Communities and pursuing a Masters in Social Transformation at Pacific School of Religion (at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA). Kristin's previous roles and projects included: co-founding and directing Green for All, working to build an inclusive green economy; helping design FIREROCK, a musical to engage people around climate change; guiding wilderness-based retreats for Ecology of Awakening; helping manage the Bell Valley Retreat and Tunitas Creek Ranch retreat centers; and working as Director of Programs at Bioneers. Kristin has also stewarded the Tyler Rigg Foundation for 20+ years.

Marlowe Sam, Ph.D., a Wenatchi/Lakes descendant from the Colville Confederated Tribes of Washington State, is a longtime Indigenous Rights activist and a scholar/researcher in Indigenous Studies with a special focus on Indigenous Water Rights in Canada.

Author

Anita Sanchez, Ph.D., of Aztec and Latina ancestry, has drawn from Indigenous wisdom and modern science to guide thousands of leaders in corporations and nonprofits in creating diverse and inclusive workplaces and communities. She is the author of six books, including the international bestselling: Success University for Women in Business, and the International Latino Book Award winner: The Four Sacred Gifts: Indigenous Wisdom for Modern Times.

Co-Founder and Facilitator | Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education

Will Scott is a co-founder and facilitator at the Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education, which works to create systems change through education at the confluences of social and environmental justice.

Co-Director | Ojai Foundation

Sharon Shay Sloan, Co-Director of the Ojai Foundation, is a rites-of-passage guide and council trainer who has worked with a number of organizations over the years, including: Beyond Boundaries, Wilderness Reflections, School of Lost Borders, Global Passageways, and Youth Passageways. She also worked in international conservation for a decade, including as founding Director for the Indigenous & Community Lands & Seas program for The WILD Foundation and with the World Wilderness Congress.

Director of Training and Technical Assistance | National Compadres Network

Jerry Tello of Mexican, Texan and Coahuiltecan ancestry, raised in South Central Los Angeles, has worked for 40+ years as a leading expert in transformational healing for men and boys of color; racial justice; peaceful community mobilization; and providing domestic violence awareness, healing, and support services to war veterans and their spouses. Director of Training and Technical Assistance for the National Compadres Network and an award-winning author of many publications (including, most recently: Recovering Your Sacredness), he also leads a weekly podcast, Healing Generations. 

Creator/Root Teacher | The Work That Reconnects

Joanna Macy Ph.D., beloved teacher; author; and scholar of Buddhism, systems thinking and deep ecology; is the creator/root teacher of "The Work That Reconnects," a groundbreaking framework for personal and social change. Her many books include: World as Lover, World as Self; Widening Circles, A Memoir; Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We're in without Going Crazy; and: Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work That Reconnects. Macy, 91, continues to write and teach in Berkeley, California, with two new books in press, including a collection about her work: A Wild Love for the World: Joanna Macy and the Work of Our Times (edited by Stephanie Kaza). 

MaMuse (Sarah Nutting and Karisha Longaker) is a 12-year old musical duo rooted in folk and gospel traditions with 5 albums under its belt. Sarah and Karisha play a wide range of acoustic instruments (upright bass, guitar, mandolins, ukulele, flutes, etc.) and are known for their social engagement, uplifting spirit, haunting harmonies, and deeply resonant, life-affirming lyrics.

Founder | Santa Cruz Permaculture

David Shaw, a whole systems designer, facilitator, educator, and musician, founded Santa Cruz Permaculture and the UCSC Right Livelihood College, a partnership with the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” He supports communities locally and globally to transform their shared future through strategic dialogue and collective action.

| World Cafes

Amy Lenzo, who pioneered the World Cafe online process and has hosted hundreds of online World Cafes with people from all over the world since then, has been hosting conscious online engagement for over a decade and has been a cutting-edge leader in creating distinctly human interactive online spaces that help us connect with ourselves, each other and the natural world.

Co-Founder | LivingRoomConversations.org

Joan Blades is a co-founder of LivingRoomConversations.org, an open source effort to build respectful connections across ideological, cultural and party lines while embracing our core-shared values. Previously a co-founder of MomsRising.org and MoveOn.org, she is a co-author of The Custom-Fit Workplace and The Motherhood Manifesto. A mediator (attorney) by training and inclination, she is a true believer in the power of citizens and our need for respectful discourse.

| Be Well with Brialle

Brialle Ringer, a holistic health coach and award-winning Social Work scholar and racial equity activist, integrates her backgrounds in social work and yoga with a healing justice framework to create dialogues, conversations and experiences that help people connect beyond their usual boundaries. Recently, she has been partnering with Living Room Conversations to support their Talking About Race initiative, and she has, through her company, Be Well with Brialle, worked to make wellness accessible and culturally relevant by creating The Black Women's Healing Fund and offering scholarships to support Black women healing holistically.

Executive Director | Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights

Mari Margil, Executive Director of the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights, leads its International Center for the Rights of Nature. Previously Associate Director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, she assisted the first places in the world to secure the Rights of Nature in law, including Ecuador. She works internationally as well as with Indigenous peoples and tribal nations to advance Rights of Nature legal and policy frameworks. Mari is a co-author of: The Bottom Line or Public Health and Exploring Wild Law: The Philosophy of Earth Jurisprudence.

Senior Legal Counsel | Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights

Thomas Linzey, Senior Counsel for the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER), co-founded the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund and the Daniel Pennock Democracy School (which has graduated over 5,000 lawyers, activists, and municipal officials nationally to fight to elevate the rights of their communities over corporate rights). He is the author of several books, including: Be The Change: How to Get What You Want in Your Community; On Community Civil Disobedience in the Name of Sustainability; and co-author of: We the People: Stories from the Community Rights Movement in the United States.

Co-Founder | CODEPINK

Jodie Evans, co-founder of CODEPINK and a peace, environmental, feminist and social justice activist for 50 years, served in Governor Jerry Brown’s first administration and ran his 1992 presidential campaign. Jodie, who has published 2 books: Stop the Next War Now and Twilight of Empire and is a documentary film producer, is currently board chair of Rainforest Action Network and 826LA and sits on 12 other boards including for the Institute for Policy Studies, Global Girl Media, and The Peoples Forum.

Campaign Organizer | CODEPINK

Nancy L. Mancias, a highly effective Campaign Organizer for the renowned peace and social justice non-violent, direct action group, CODEPINK, has also been part of the movement against torture, a proponent of closing the Guantanamo prison, and, as a key figure in the Justice For All campaign, an advocate for bringing all war criminals to justice.

Organizing Director | Rainforest Action Network

Scott Parkin, a trainer, coordinator and organizer, has worked with anti-corporate, global justice, anti-war, labor, environmental and climate movements in North America, Europe and Australia. Currently Rainforest Action Network’s (RAN) Organizing Director, Scott previously spent 12 years as Senior Campaigner on RAN’s Climate Team, helping lead campaigns against, among others, Wall Street banks, mountaintop removal coal mining, and the Keystone XL pipeline. Scott also co-hosts a regular podcast on environmental and social justice politics called the Green and Red Podcast.

Finance Campaigner | The Sunrise Project

Roberta Giordano, born and raised in Rome, Italy, is the Finance Campaigner at the Sunrise Project. Previously, she worked with Amazon Watch, campaigning to expose the immense financial firm BlackRock's investments in oil and gas companies operating in the Amazon basin directly threatening Indigenous communities. While a student at UC Berkeley, Roberta worked to pressure the UC system to move its money out of fossil fuels investments.

Dragonfly Wilson (aka Robin LaVerne Wilson/Miss Justice Jester) is a conceptual artist, performer, storyteller, musician, writer, educator, photographer, and filmmaker who has worked with many theater companies, educational and cultural institutions, and activist organizations, including: the Grace Exhibition Space, Pollination Productions,  Jump-Start Theatre, La Pocha Nostra, Theatre Neumarkt, Miss Vera's Academy, Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative, Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. Wilson's most recent project is the hybrid street performance, Absconded.