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 | One Earth

Justin Winters, formerly Executive Director of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, is the co-founder and Executive Director of One Earth, an organization working to galvanize science, advocacy and philanthropy to drive collective action on climate change to forge a path forward to a 2050 in which 100% renewable energy; protection and restoration of 50% of the world’s lands and oceans; and a transition to regenerative, carbon-negative agriculture create a world in which humanity and nature coexist and thrive together.

Strategic Partner | RESOLVE

Carly Vynne, Ph.D, is an ecologist and conservation strategist who seeks out creative solutions for how we can leave more room for nature in a rapidly changing world. She recently co-authored The Global Deal for Nature, which calls for an ambitious, time-bound set of nature-based targets that must be achieved if we are to solve the climate and extinction crises.

Campaign Director | Avaaz

Oscar Soria, Campaign Director at the renowned, highly effective, international civic movement Avaaz, is an Argentine human rights and environmental campaigner who has received widespread recognition for his innovative work at the intersection of technology, organizing, and advocacy on social, political, and environmental issues. He previously held senior global roles in Greenpeace and WWF and served in non-executive or advisory roles for the boards of several prominent organizations, including: Oxfam, Amnesty International, and the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities.

Managing Director | One Earth

Karl Burkart is the Managing Director of One Earth, which supports academic institutions and NGOs working on the cutting edges of climate and energy science, biodiversity mapping, and sustainable agriculture. Formerly Director of Media, Science and Technology at the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, Karl's past projects include: creating the blog, Greendig; producing and writing Planet 100, the Discovery Network's first online video news show; and leading digital advocacy for the TckTckTck campaign, a global network of more than 450 NGOs working to secure a strong international climate agreement. Karl's publications include co-authoring the groundbreaking paper "A Global Deal for Nature: Guiding Principles, Milestones, and Targets" in 2019.

| Brazilian Coordination of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon (COIAB)

Angela Amanakwa Kaxuyana is part of the senior leadership of the Brazilian Coordination of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon (COIAB). At a very young age, in the late 90’s she played a critical role in the struggle of the Kaxuyana, Kahyana and Tunayana peoples that led the demarcation of their lands in 2003. Angela led several indigenous led conservation initiatives and has a degree in Business Administration with specialization in environmental management.

Mycologist and Author

Paul Stamets, speaker, author, award-winning mycologist, medical researcher, groundbreaking mycological entrepreneur, and a visionary thought leader in the study of fungi and their uses in promoting human health, ecological restoration, and detoxification of the environment, is the author of six books, including: Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World, Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms, and Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World. Paul has discovered and named numerous new species of psilocybin mushrooms and is the founder and owner of Fungi Perfecti, LLC, makers of the Host Defense Mushrooms (www.hostdefense.com) supplement line. And Paul’s work has now entered mainstream popular culture. The new Star Trek: Discovery series features a Lt. Paul Stamets, Science Officer and Astromycologist(!).

Director | The Spirit Aligned Leadership Program

Katsi Cook (Mohawk/Haudenosaunee), from Akwesasne along the St. Lawrence River, a groundbreaking, revered figure in the revitalization of Indigenous midwifery and of advocacy for Indigenous women's health, is Director of The Spirit Aligned Leadership Program, which works with Indigenous elder women to heal, strengthen, and restore Indigenous communities. A founding member of the National Aboriginal Council of Midwives and the Konon:kwe ("all women") Council, Katsi has decades of experience as a researcher and a lecturer on Indigenous environmental reproductive health, and she and her husband of 40 years, Jose Barreiro, have 6 children and 11 grandchildren.

Professor | California Institute of Integral Studies

Francoise Bourzat, a San Francisco Bay Area-based somatic counselor, teaches at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco, runs online courses, lectures in various institutions, collaborates with physicians on a variety of treatment projects, and trains psychedelic guides internationally. She has guided ceremonies with sacred mushrooms in collaboration with Indigenous healers in Huautla de Jimenez, Mexico, for the last 30 years and is the author of: Consciousness Medicine: Indigenous Wisdom, Entheogens, and Expanded States of Consciousness for Healing and Growth.

Senior Producer | Bioneers

J.P. Harpignies, Bioneers Senior Producer, affiliated with Bioneers since 1990, is a Brooklyn, NYC-based consultant, conference producer, copy-editor and writer. A former Program Director at the New York Open Center and a senior review team member for the Buckminster Fuller Challenge from 2010 to 2017, he has authored or edited several books, including Political Ecosystems, Delusions of Normality, Visionary Plant Consciousness, and, most recently, Animal Encounters.

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.

Co-Founder | Native Women's Collective

Cutcha Risling Baldy, Ph.D. (Hupa, Yurok, Karuk), Associate Professor and Department Chair of Native American Studies at Humboldt State and co-founder of the Native Women's Collective, a nonprofit supporting the revitalization of Native American arts and culture, researches Indigenous feminisms, California Indians and decolonization. She is the author of: We Are Dancing For You: Native feminisms and the revitalization of women's coming-of-age.

Environmental Ambassador | Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma

Casey Camp-Horinek, Environmental Ambassador of the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma and Hereditary Drum-keeper of its Women’s Scalp Dance Society, elder and matriarch, is also an Emmy award-winning actress, author, and internationally renowned, longtime Native and human rights and environmental justice activist. She led efforts for the Ponca tribe to adopt a “rights of nature” statute and pass a moratorium on fracking on its territory. She has traveled and spoken around the world.

Founder and Executive Director | IllumiNative

Crystal Echo Hawk (Pawnee), is the founder and Executive Director of IllumiNative, the first and only national Native-led organization focused on changing the narrative about Native peoples on a mass scale. Crystal built IllumiNative to activate a cohesive set of research-informed strategies that illuminate the voices, stories, contributions and assets of contemporary Native peoples to disrupt the invisibility and toxic stereotypes Native peoples face.

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.

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. 

Traci Sorell, Cherokee Nation citizen and an award-winning author, writes fiction and nonfiction books, short stories and poems for children. A former federal Indian law attorney and advocate, Traci lives with her family in northeastern Oklahoma where her tribe is located.

Author | There There

Title VI Indian Education Coordinator | American Indian Child Resource Center

Manny Lieras (Navajo & Comanche), the Title VI Indian Education Coordinator with the Oakland Unified School District, works with urban American Indian youth at The American Indian Child Resource Center and has established himself as an influential role model and change agent in the Oakland, CA, intertribal community. He also teaches pow wow drumming and singing, has produced a film series, Injunuity (www.injunuity.org), and works with the Occupied Canoe Family in the Bay Area.

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. 

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.

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.

Executive Director | Menikahnaehkem

Anahkwet (Guy Reiter), a traditional Menominee from Wisconsin, member of the Menominee Constitutional Taskforce and Executive Director of the grassroots community organization, Menikahnaehkem, is a local organizer, activist, author, amateur archaeologist, and lecturer. He has organized a wide range of events on Menominee culture, spoken at a number of universities, and written articles for Environmental Health News and other publications.

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.