This Gathering
Hosted by:
The Land and Sea
We will gather on the unceded territories of the Klahoose, Tla’amin, and Homalco Nations—lands alive with the teachings of more-than-human kin.
Kindred
Kindred is a quietly held creative and philanthropic body that nurtures kinship across disciplines. We support those tending to collective healing, legal imagination, ecological integrity, and cultural renewal. Our approach is what we call innerdisciplinary: rooted in inner life and external systems, ancestral wisdom and emergent intelligence.
Our Archetypal Invitations
Tending soil or soul, story or system—each participant archetype offers a vital thread in the shared work of reworlding:
Rooting Nurturers
Tending land, lineage & repair
Branching Storytellers
Weaving memory & future through story & culture
Canopy Cartographers
Mapping possibility & prototyping possibilities
A Relational Compass
- Arrive not just with your body, but with your breath.
- Let the tide of emails recede.
- Let presence be the most extravagant thing you offer.
- Drink water before you’re thirsty. Rest before you unravel.
- Assume everyone is carrying many things tender. And yes, naps count as participation.
- We’ll have a soft, designated place where phones can rest (yes, really).
- Tuck yours in for a nap. Let your nervous system breathe.
- If you choose to keep your phone nearby, please refrain from using it in shared spaces.
- This is not a place for documenting. This is a place for unfurling.
- Before you share someone’s words or image beyond this space, please ask.
If you have specific needs, let us know as early as possible—before the ferry sets sail. We’ll do everything we can to meet your needs, but conjuring out of thin coastal air is a magic we haven’t mastered (yet).
No need to be brilliant. Or rehearsed. You’re not late to yourself. Bring your becoming.
Daily Rhythms
A more detailed daily schedule will be shared closer to the convening date. Below is an overview of the daily flow:
Waking Hours
Begin with breakfast, movement, or meditation to welcome the day.
The Heart of the Day
Midday invites featured speakers, ecological immersions, creative workshops, and intimate conversations.
The Open Field
Afternoons are yours to follow what calls. Possibilities include: herbal wildcrafting, swimming, kayaking, forest wandering, spa offerings or simply: rest, solitude & time with new and old friends
Twilight & Tending
Evenings include: shared dinners, storytelling, Kinfolk Jam (bring your voice, instrument, or palms), dance party under the stars
Glimpse of Offerings
with Rex Wyler & Krista Tippett
A dialogue between two elders who have spent lifetimes listening to change, legacy, and land. Rex Wyler, co-founder of Greenpeace and original founder of Hollyhock, brings decades of ecological action rooted in the Pacific Northwest. Krista Tippett, host of Peabody winning radio show On Being, offers a contemplative lens that makes room for paradox, poetry, and belief.
with Suzanne Simard
A walk through the woods becomes an invitation to see what usually goes unseen. Suzanne Simard—forest ecologist and author of Finding the Mother Tree—guides us in noticing the hidden relationships below and around us: the fungal threads, root systems, and slow wisdom that sustain the forest as a living community.
with Mike Niconchuk, Alexandra Chen, Wendy D’Andrea, and Mariah Rooney
This session invites us to listen from the body, not just the mind—from the wound, not just the theory. Voices rooted in ancestral grief, trauma expertise, neuroscience and current crisis will come together to challenge inherited myths around trauma, resilience, and care. We will explore what it means to honor pain that is not individual, but communal, cultural, and ongoing.
with Dania Cabello
What if play is not a luxury, but a language? Dania Cabello—movement practitioner, cultural worker, and daughter of exiles—guides us into the ancient intelligence of joy, improvisation, and embodied resistance. Through collaborative movement, ritual, and rest, we reclaim the body as a site of connection and collective imagination. No experience needed—just your breath, your bare feet, and your willingness to arrive.
with Maria Popova
What if science could be read like an oracle? In this generative workshop, we’ll transform real scientific texts into poetic insight—rewilding the voice of science through intuitive collage. Participants will cut, tear, and reconfigure ecological and astronomical findings into short poems, koans, or “divination cards”—tiny wild psalms from the living world. A practice in listening for metaphor, not just data.
with Tarun Nayar
A live deep listening experience with Modern Biology’s Tarun Nayar. With the assistance of headphones, Tarun will create ambient, dreamy soundscapes made with the bioelectricity of the flora and fungi we find in the wilderness. We will take in the sights, sounds, and smells around the land to shift our state of being and knowing.
with Heather Wolf & Azita Ardakani Walton
A rooted, sensory workshop with Azita and brewess and herbalist Heather Wolf. Join these witchy ladies for a quiet, grounded session in relationship with the plants of Cortes Island. We will work with locally gathered herbs—learning how to make a simple salve, tincture, or infused oil. Participants will leave with something they’ve co-created.
A ceremony guided by breathworker Milana Snow, Palestinian singer Rotana Tarabzouni, and journalist and writer Noor Tagouri. This session invites participants into a ritual arc of breath, voice, and story to metabolize grief, re-enter the body, and restore connection. Through collective breathwork, improvised vocal invocation, and poetic storytelling, we will move what words alone cannot hold. Rooted in ancestral memory and feminine knowing, this is a space for sacred witnessing and renewal.
Logistics
How to get here, and what to know for your time on site.
All paths lead to the edge of the Salish Sea. Kindred will provide your transportation to Cortes Island upon arrival to Vancouver. Travel stipends are available if you need financial support with your travel to and from Vancouver. Please contact Jenny at jjuhl@weioffice.com.
Flight to Campbell River:
Checking In: An automated text message will be sent 4 hours before your private, chartered flight from Vancouver to Campbell River to allow you to check in electronically. We recommend taking this step to expedite your check-in experience at the terminal. If your legal name is different from the one you used to register for the gathering, please contact Jenny Juhl at jjuhl@weioffice.com as soon as possible.
Arrival: Please plan to arrive at South Terminal at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) between 1:00–2:00pm.
If you’re arriving at YVR’s Main Terminal on August 27, make your way to the South Terminal via the free airport shuttle, which departs every ~20 minutes. Please see the pickup locations and schedule here.
At the South Terminal, proceed to the North Cariboo Air counter to check in. Please note that you will be traveling on a small aircraft with limited overhead storage. Most carry-ons will need to be checked, so we recommend keeping essential items with you.
Boarding begins at 2:30pm, with a scheduled departure at 3:00pm.
Arrival in Campbell River:
Your flight is scheduled to arrive at 3:45pm at Campbell River Airport. After retrieving your bags, you’ll board a short (15-minute) shuttle ride to the Discovery Launch Water Taxi.
Water Taxi to Cortes Island:
Water taxis will depart Campbell River at 4:15pm and 5:30pm. The boat ride to Cortes Island takes approximately 45 minutes. The water is typically calm, and seasickness is rare. If you’re lucky, you might spot whales or other local sea life along the way!
If you’re on the second departure, feel free to explore the nearby Campbell River quay while you wait. Cafés, restaurants, ice cream, shops, and museums are all within walking distance. Please return to the dock at least 15 minutes before the 5:30pm departure to prevent any delays.
Arrival at Hollyhock Retreat Centre:
Upon arrival at Mansons Landing on Cortes Island, shuttles and friendly local drivers will take you on a final, scenic 10-minute drive to Hollyhock.
Once on-site, the Hollyhock team will welcome you, help you settle into your accommodations, and invite you to relax, connect, or explore until dinner at 7:00pm at the lodge. For early arrivals and locals, drinks and snacks will begin at 6:00pm.
Heading Home:
For your return trip to Vancouver on Sunday, August 31, shuttles will depart Hollyhock at 10:00am and 11:30am. We will have grab-and-go lunch options to take with you to enjoy on your journey home.
You’ll take the water taxi back to Campbell River, followed by a shuttle to the airport.
The flight to Vancouver is scheduled to board at 1:30pm, with departure at 2:00pm.
For international guests: Please remember to bring a valid passport, passport card, or NEXUS card for entry into Canada. Invitation letters from Hollyhock Retreat Centre are available – please contact us as soon as possible if you would like us to draft one for you.
You are encouraged to download the ArriveCAN app, which allows you to submit your travel and customs information in advance, potentially expediting your border crossing experience at YVR.
- Beach towel
- Flashlight or headlamp
- Swimsuit
- Warm layers, socks, slippers (all programmatic spaces are “shoeless”)
- Rain gear
- Sun protection
- Hiking shoes & water shoes
- Any specialty items & medications
- Toiletries
- Small instrument should you be inspired to play
- Tote bag & water bottle
- A childhood photo
- A book to gift
- A personal object for Altar to honor ancestors
- A piece of textile to weave into a collective tapestry
Meals are served buffet-style three times a day—seasonal, chef-driven, and inspired by the island. Each dish is prepared fresh from scratch using local ingredients, many of which are grown on-site. Please make sure your dietary restrictions have been communicated prior to arrival. If your dietary restrictions have changed since registration, please contact us as soon as possible.
For basic medical needs, support is available on the property. In the rare event of a serious health emergency, helivac transport to the nearest hospital is accessible. If you have a life-threatening medical condition or severe allergies, let us know in advance. Please note that Hollyhock has a no substance use policy.
We’ve reserved the full campus for the gathering, and will do our best to offer everyone’s first or second choice for lodging—though we cannot guarantee it in all cases. Sharing rooms will be necessary for many of our guests. If you have any accessibility needs, please let us know—we’re committed to making your stay as comfortable and supportive as possible.
As part of your time on Cortes, each guest is invited to enjoy one complimentary 60-minute treatment. These offerings are an invitation to slow down and reconnect with your body.
To book your session, please use one of the direct links below. When prompted, enter the code KINDRED at checkout to apply a full discount.
Please note that although the treatment is fully covered, the system will still request a credit card to complete the reservation—this will be kept on file for an optional (but appreciated) tip for your practitioner. To accommodate the largest number of participants, we ask that you limit your session to 60 minutes.
Available Treatments:
- Hollyhock Massage Booking link
- Thai Massage Booking link
- Lomi Lomi Booking Link
- Acupressure & Reflexology Booking Link
- Reiki & Craniosacral Booking Link
- Sessions will be offered during the unstructured time window each afternoon. A hot tub and sauna are also available on site for your enjoyment.
The Constellation: Kindred Participants
Suhani Abdullah
Suhani Abdullah is a Program Director at Civic (Re)Solve on their Expand Representation portfolio. Civic (Re)Solve provides patient, risk-tolerant capital to a network of diverse, effective pro-democracy leaders and organizations across the country. Prior to C(R), Suhani was at Pivotal Ventures, an organization dedicated to advancing social progress for women. At Pivotal, she helped launch the Women’s Political Power strategy, focusing on building lasting, sustainable power for women in politics and beyond. Previously, Suhani was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company for five years, focusing on socioeconomic mobility in America. Suhani worked closely with foundations and public entities to address complex challenges and advance change. She was previously a contributing researcher to the Institute of Black Economic Mobility – a think tank focused on advancing racial equity and inclusive growth in the US. Outside of work… Suhani loves to travel and play outside. Depending on the season, you’ll find her running, playing tennis, or skiing (or reading, if it’s raining). In the past few years, she’s lived in Denver, New York, and Nairobi and is currently planning a move back to the greatest place on Earth – California. Suhani studied Economics and Industrial Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.
Vanessa Andreotti
Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti is the former Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Victoria. She is the author of Hospicing Modernity: Facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism and Outgrowing Modernity: Navigating complexity, complicity and collapse (August 2025), and one of the founders of the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures Arts/Research Collective. Her latest work, Burnout From Humans: A Little Book About AI That is Not Really About AI, explores AI as a mirror and metaphor for human systems and invites readers to rethink relationality amidst planetary crises.
Dave Archambault
Dave Archambault II is married to Nicole Thunder Hawk and a proud grandfather. Former Chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and founder of Wozu, a nonprofit dedicated to regenerating land, culture, and community. He advocates for Indigenous rights, sustainable development, and the spiritual connection between people and the Earth.
Jodi Archambault
Jodi Archambault, Hunkpapa and Oglala Lakota, is an acclaimed advocate and originative solutionist who applies a transformative lens —whether in policy, art, or activism— to drive the visibility of, expand understanding about and maximize impact and opportunity for Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous rights. Jodi’s life and mission are grounded in the harmony of relationships and Indigenous ways of life, which is why she founded ANPO, an organization that focuses on the deep interconnectedness of Indigenous lands, languages, and cultures.
Nicole Archambault
Nicole Thunder Hawk Archambault is the business office manager at Saint Bernard’s Mission in Fort Yates, ND, and former owner of Hawk’s Corner. A proud grandmother and community leader, she advocates for healthy living, youth engagement, and giving back to Cannon Ball, where she was born, raised, and proudly returned.
Azita Ardakani Walton
Azita Ardakani Walton is an artist, creative entrepreneur and philanthropist. She has pursued her work through nature’s principles as a means to inform economics, movements, and design. Azita is currently stewarding Kindred, a quietly held philanthropic and creative entity that nurtures kinship across disciplines.
Manda Aufochs Gillespie
Manda Aufochs Gillespie is an author, podcaster, and social profit pioneer. She runs a small, but mighty community foundation on Cortes Island (cortesfoundation.ca), is the founder of Folk University (folku.ca), and of the Cortes Island Academy (cortesislandacademy.ca): revolutionizing what’s possible in place-based education and connected community.
Rachel Bagby
Landing Justice
Bryonn Bain
Bryonn Bain is Brooklyn’s own prison activist, actor, hip hop theater innovator and spoken word poetry champion. Described by Cornel West as an artist who “…speaks his truth with a power we desperately need to hear,” his theater, film and television work are critically acclaimed – Wrongfully imprisoned in his second year at Harvard Law, Bryonn sued the NYPD, and told his story for 20 million viewers on “60 Minutes” in an interview with Mike Wallace. Bain produced the Lyrics on Lockdown Tour, which reached 25 states, and spawned higher education courses using the performing arts to build literacy in prisons nationwide. For the decade that followed, Bain taught courses using the arts on Rikers Island penal colony. After teaching hip hop, spoken word and theater at Harvard, Bain founded the prison education program at NYU to offer higher education and college degrees to men incarcerated in upstate New York. Bryonn founded and directs the Prison Education Program at UCLA.
Carlos Andrés Baquero Díaz
Carlos Andrés Baquero-Díaz is the Research Director at the NYU MOTH Program and at the NYU Earth Rights Research and Action (TERRA) Program. He holds a JSD from NYU, where his research focused on the intersection of property rights and environmental protection in tropical forests. Carlos Andrés also earned an LLM from NYU, where he was a Hauser Global Scholar and received the Jerome Lipper Award in 2019. He holds a Law degree (cum laude) and a degree in Political Science from Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá). His work spans academic publications and public-facing formats—including podcasts, documentaries, and opinion pieces—on topics such as socio-environmental justice, property and environmental rights, and Indigenous peoples’ rights.
Susan Beaulieu
Susan Beaulieu (Anishinaabe, Red Lake Nation) is a mother, weaver, and committed co-creator walking a path of deep healing, remembrance, and collective liberation. Drawing from her lived experience, ancestral lineage, and an interdisciplinary background in trauma healing, education, public policy, healthcare, and community development, Susan creates sacred spaces for re-integration of body, heart, mind, and spirit. Her work centers on personal sovereignty through energetic discernment—honoring frequency, coherence, and relational truth—as tools for navigating personal and collective transformation. With grounded care and visionary design, she supports the emergence of life-affirming systems rooted in right relationship and sacred reciprocity, helping to seed a resonant web of remembrance for this time of planetary transition.
Justin Boreta
Justin Boreta is a musician and visual artist from Los Angeles who weaves together work across electronic music, contemplative practices, psychedelic therapy, and a reverence for the natural world. His collaborative efforts include projects with notable figures such as Ram Dass, Eckhart Tolle, Tara Brach, Alan Watts, and more. Boreta’s ambient music project, Superposition, garnered a Grammy nomination in 2020 for the album “Form//Less.” His generative art collection, “Rituals,” a collaborative project, was awarded the Lumen Prize for Art and Technology in 2022. As a former member of The Glitch Mob, Boreta has an extensive history of releasing albums and touring internationally over a span of 15 years. In 2024, he is set to release his debut solo album.
Shivon Brite
Shivon Brite (Nakota/Assiniboine) weaves strategy as a form of kin‑work. As Chief Strategy Officer at ANPO she braids community wisdom, somatic practice, and data‑driven design to restore Indigenous lands, languages, and lifeways. Over fifteen years she has mobilized hundreds of millions for Native‑led health, climate, and cultural renewal and co‑created power‑re-balancing models across sectors. Shivon listens first, builds second, and invites policy, capital, and care to move at the speed of trust and in rhythm with the living world.
Eboni Bugg
Eboni Bugg is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker committed to helping communities engage in radical imagining towards liberation. She is currently the Director of Community Investment at the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation where she stewards philanthropic resources for social impact. Eboni is particularly interested in the relationship between land stewardship, diasporic foodways, and healing justice. She is a Registered Yoga Teacher and is passionate about the benefits of mindful movement, breath, and meditation.
Dania Cabello
Dania Cabello is an Artist, Athlete, and Embodiment Coach dedicated to liberation, resurfacing ancestral wisdom, and holistic health practices. Her work weaves mind, body, and spirit, offering transformative pathways through practices of play, movement, storytelling, and breathwork. As a former professional soccer player, Dania brings a unique perspective to her practice, navigating the complexities of competitive sports while using movement as both a healing modality and a political language. She reimagines the body as a site of liberation, joy, and systemic change. With a Master’s Degree in Education focused on liberatory theories and a certified Somatic Practitioner, Dania blends critical pedagogy with embodied practices to nurture transformation, release trauma, and cultivate safety and well-being. She facilitates mindfulness and movement-based workshops that inspire conscious awareness, self-reflection, and collective care.
Kairn Carrington
Climate Hope
Dany Celermajer
Danielle (Dany) Celermajer is a philosopher and writer, whose life and work grows from the intentional multispecies community where she lives on Dharawal country, in the rainforests of south east Australia. More formally, she is Deputy Director of the Sydney Environment Institute and lead of the Multispecies Justice project at the University of Sydney and carries the title of Professor of Sociology. Over the last decade, she has turned her attention from uniquely intra-human injustice and human rights to injustices and violence against the more than human world, and the intersection between human and more than human violence and injustice. Through the experience of living through the black summer bushfires as part of a multispecies community, she began writing about a new crime of our age, Omnicide. Her creative non-fiction book, Summertime; Reflections on a Vanishing Future (Penguin Random House, 2021) was written in recognition of the critical urgency of conveying the complex conceptual recognition of the multispecies harms of the climate catastrophe. Her latest book, co-authored with other members of the Multispecies Justice Collective is Institutionalizing Multispecies Justice, Cambridge University Press, 2025.
Alexandra Chen
Alexandra Chen (A.B., A.M., Ed.M., PhD., Harvard University) is a child psychologist and trauma specialist from Hong Kong serving refugees in conflict and post-conflict zones. For over a decade, Alexandra has been working with war-affected children and their families in and from the Middle East and Africa, most recently as advisor to UN agencies on the Syria crisis. Alexandra is currently partnering with UN, World Bank, government ministries and non-profit agencies to design early childhood and mental health interventions, and to provide psychotherapy for victims of sexual violence and torture in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Turkey. Alexandra completed her PhD at Harvard University, studying the impact of trauma and toxic stress on refugee children’s cognitive functioning and mental health.
Wendy D’Andrea
Associate Professor of Psychology/Chief Science Officer My research focuses on the differences between acute trauma, such as an auto accident or single-incident assault, and chronic trauma, such as sustained physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. My lab investigates how information processes, especially attention and cognition, are impacted by prolonged trauma exposure and re-shaped through therapeutic interventions. I am also particularly interested in the physiological signature of chronic trauma, and the ways in which it differs from the signature of acute trauma. We use measures of autonomic reactivity such as heart rate, skin conductance, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), to investigate these differences. My other interests are in diagnostic nosology and phenomenology and psychotherapy process. When I’m not working, I love to dance and cook (sometimes at the same time).
Michael Datura
Michael Dé Danann Datura is the principal of Cortes Island School, an educational scholar, and an ecological artist working with musical and visual media. He is the (co-)author of two books: Place, Being, Resonance (2015) and Wild Pedagogies (2018). He has co-founded three ecologically-themed hip-hop projects: the Courtenay-based Declining Amphibian Phenomenon (2001-2005), the Vancouver-based How Many Planets? (2008), and, most recently, a “more-than-human collaboration” with Ruby Singh called kraKIN (2021-present). He is also an ecological collage artist and, sometimes, a poet.
Ben Davis
Ben Davis is a strategist, convener, and service-driven leader with a passion for strengthening civic life through connection, creativity, and systems-level change. He is the co-founder of Civic (Re)Solve, a 10-year philanthropic investment in civic health and democratic renewal. Prior to that, he spent eight years with the Wend Collective, testing innovative, trust-based, and risk-tolerant approaches to philanthropy across a broad range of public issues. Ben also co-founded OnSight Public Affairs, where for over 15 years he led high-impact campaigns and communications for causes and candidates shaping Colorado and the nation. He believes lasting change is rooted in deep trust, moral imagination, and creative acts—and sees his work as a way of listening for what wants to emerge in the world. Outside of work, he’s a father, husband, climber, runner, biker, and lover of Colorado’s high country, live music, and the radical idea that everyone is an artist.
Dania Davy
Dãnia Davy, Esq. is the founder of Land & Liberation, LLC, to promote liberatory relationships between humans, natural and financial resources, and land. Before starting her own firm, Dãnia served as the Director of Land Retention and Advocacy at the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund and Skadden Fellow at the Land Loss Prevention Project. Dãnia earned her J.D. at the University of Virginia School of Law and her A.B. in Africana Studies & Community Health at Brown University. This fall, she and her family will be rematriating to Jamaica to support the preservation of afro-indigenous, sustainable, rural villages.
Willow Defebaugh
Willow Defebaugh is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Atmos, an award-winning climate and culture magazine that seeks to re-enchant people with our shared humanity and the Earth. She is the author of The Overview, a deep ecology newsletter and book, and host of The Nature Of podcast by Atmos. She is a lifelong student of nature and graduated with a degree in creative writing from the University of Michigan. Her work has been featured in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Teen Vogue, V Magazine, Interview, i-D, BBC, The Guardian, Them, New York Magazine, and more. She lives in Brooklyn on unceded Lenape territory.
Anthony Demby
Anthony Demby is a cultural strategist, bridge builder, and founder of Humbleriot, an intentional idea shop that lives at the intersection of music, culture, and experience design. Passionate about connection, innovation, and possibility, he partners with aligned companies, artists, and thought leaders to craft powerful narratives and create transformative projects and experiences that resonate across cultures.
Sheri Dunn Berry
Sheri Dunn Berry is a new member of the Kindred team. As a nonprofit and philanthropic leader, Sheri brings more than 30 years of experience in policy, program, resource, and organizational development with social justice and faith-based organizations and networks. Sheri’s parents – who left their native Texas for Los Angeles to escape Jim Crow culture and laws during the Great Migration – catalyzed her commitment to social and economic justice. Their grit, intellect, and unwavering service to others continue to inspire her efforts to create a more compassionate America that works for everyone.
Kayla Edem
Kayla Edem is a strategist, researcher, and creative producer focused on amplifying human connection, potential, and access within the real and imagined ecosystems that shape our worlds. Her portfolio of impact includes founding community advocacy initiatives, designing curriculum on social and relational dynamics, and orchestrating brand campaigns across tech, arts and culture, and humanitarian aid. With a multidisciplinary background in operations, brand strategy, and community design, Kayla partners with purpose-driven founders and organizations to build values-aligned systems, shape coherent narratives, and bring bold ideas to life. She approaches her work as both architect and advocate, moving fluidly between the whole of the forest and the details of the trees.
Bro Gilbert
Bro Gilbert is a magician-turned-messenger of wonder. From his coastal hometown of Gibsons, BC, he conjures fresh perspectives for classrooms and boardrooms alike. He is a speaker, author, and the founder of The Astonishment Academy, an organization dedicated to weaving the principles of magic into leadership, workplace culture and modern curricula. When he isn’t designing new ways to wow his fellow humans, Bro can be found rambling through cedar-lined forests, popping up on the occasional TV set, strumming a bluegrass tune, or refining and perfecting his legendary prawn curry.
Alisa Gould Simon
Alisa Gould Simon is a vocalist and a plant whisperer, a coach and an educator. She guides individual and group experiences that weave deep listening, alternative medicine and interspecies communication to support the re-membering of our kinship with the more than human world. Alisa offers private coaching and group programs at Become Wind and shares handmade herbal remedies at Flora Luna.
Karri Green
Karri Green has a passion for cultivating community-minded culture through hospitality, which continues to drive the success of Vancouver’s Chambar Restaurant . Karri has worked in local government and been involved in regional infrastructure, social infrastructure and energy transition projects with a special interest in the intersection of ethics and economics.
Melanie Greenberg
Melanie Greenberg has spent her career in support of the field of Peacebuilding, working in philanthropy, practice, and academia. Melanie is currently Managing Director for Programs at Humanity United. She previously served as CEO of the Alliance for Peacebuilding, and as Associate Director of the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation. Melanie has helped design and facilitate public peace processes in the Middle East, Northern Ireland, and the Caucasus, and she enjoys writing and teaching in international law, security, and peacebuilding. Melanie lives in McLean, Virginia with her husband, yellow Lab, and frequent sightings of her adult children.
Sol Guy
Sol Guy is a father and a son on the side he’s an award-winning producer, director and story addict whose work weaves film,music, art and community-building. He is the co-founder of Quiet, an artist-led community rooted in trust, care, and artistic sovereignty (not so Quiet). Sol’s projects explore art as a pathway to healing and social transformation aka living. His credits include Bobi Wine: The People’s President (Oscar-nominated), Lakota Nation vs. United States (Emmy-winning), MTV/National Geographic’s 4REAL, and K’naan’s Wavin’ Flag. He most recently directed The Death of My Two Fathers, a personal documentary on family and identity (don’t do it family is a rugged exploration). Sol is currently writing a book on art, healing, and the role of the artist.
Aru Helwa
A. Helwa is an award-winning writer and poet known for her passionate, love-centered approach to spirituality. With over 15 years of experience in Islamic spirituality and personal development, Helwa has inspired hundreds of thousands of readers to discover divine love in everyday life.
Taylor Holden
Taylor Holden joyfully serves as a Senior Advisor to Civic (Re)Solve, a 10-year initiative offering patient, risk-tolerant capital to leaders who are empowering voters, expanding representation, and elevating dialogue in our democracy. A longtime organizer and strategist, Holden has spent most of her career working behind the scenes to radically resource advocates and candidates who provide aid, inspire civic engagement, and shift policy to meaningfully improve people’s lives.
Haley Johnson
Haley is a space-holder and weaver of relational rhythms. Her work is grounded in collective healing and Earth-aligned care, guiding others into deeper connection with their inner healer and with each other.
Rather than leading with titles or techniques, Haley leads with presence—offering trauma-informed, heart-centered spaces that invite people to slow down, feel more fully, and remember their belonging. Her core offering is simple: to hold space where people can come home to themselves and to community.
As a Director at Civic (Re)Solve, Haley crafts gatherings and wellness programs that prioritize safety, care, and transformation. Her background in political science and government work now informs her commitment to liberation as lived, relational practice—a pathway to collective healing.
Haley’s healing approach blends traditional Hatha yoga, integrative breathwork, meditation, and her intuitive understanding of the body’s wisdom. A global citizen, she has lived in Honduras, Mexico, Thailand, and Canada, speaks fluent Spanish, and once journeyed across 49 U.S. states as a long-haul trucker—experiences that taught her the medicine of movement and resilience.
Her work is not about transcendence—it’s about tending the sacred in the everyday. Whether facilitating breathwork, weaving logistics, or simply listening, Haley brings the spaciousness of presence and the fierce softness of Love.
Sadhu Johnston
Sadhu Johnston is a recognized leader in urban sustainability, policy innovation, and city governance. Sadhu is climate co-lead with the Canadian Urban Institute on the Climate Ready Infrastructure Service. He also serves as the Executive Director for the Cortes Housing Society. With a career spanning over two decades, he has played a pivotal role in advancing environmental initiatives and sustainable urban development. As the former City Manager of Vancouver, Canada, Sadhu was instrumental in implementing the Greenest City Action Plan, positioning Vancouver as a global leader in climate resilience and urban sustainability.
Prior to his tenure in Vancouver, he served as Chief Environmental Officer and Deputy Chief of Staff for the City of Chicago, where he spearheaded ambitious climate action programs. A sought-after speaker and advisor, Sadhu works with governments, organizations, and businesses to drive climate action, urban innovation, and policy transformation.
He is also the co-author of The Guide to Greening Cities and continues to champion solutions that integrate environmental stewardship with economic and social progress, shaping the cities of the future.
Adam Khafif
Championing community-dependent storytellers and creatives. Co-Founder of At Your Service with award-winning journalist Noor Tagouri. AYS is a media company specializing in amplifying overlooked narratives, weaving them into pop culture. AYS produces documentary series, live events and brand campaigns to connect with communities through intentional storytelling. In the final stages of creative directing and producing a travel brand of apparel and accessories, handmade by skilled artisans in Morocco. Inspired by my Moroccan heritage and my travels through At Your Service, we bridge traditional fabrics and techniques with contemporary design.
Julia Kim
Dr. Julia Kim is a global wellbeing and Wellbeing Economics specialist, program facilitator, and researcher. She is an explorer of the terrain connecting inner transformation and broader systems change, drawing on her experience as a physician and public health researcher in Africa and Asia, Senior Policy Advisor at the United Nations (UNDP and UNICEF), International Program Leader at the GNH Centre Bhutan, and Executive Committee member of the Club of Rome. Recent work integrates contemplative practice and music improvisation within leadership development and program design in the fields of wellbeing economics, global health, and sustainable development.
Christine Lai
Christine Lai is an interstitionary who lives and works in the in-between — weaving communities, organizations, and possibilities. A partner with the Together Institute, she accompanies foundations and teams in centering care and connection toward collective flourishing. She is also engaged in a deep commitment and inquiry into what it means to live into interdependence. Geo-flexible by design, Christine delights in bringing people together — especially over a shared meal — and has spent the better part of 20 years moving between cities every few days or weeks, living in community with community.
Vanessa LeBourdais
Vanessa LeBourdais is an Ashoka Fellow, Positive Deviant Fellow, cultural visionary, singer-songwriter, and designer of transformational experiences that bridge inner awakening and systemic change. She recently completed The Well-Fucked Woman, a genre-breaking book on feminine power, erotic sovereignty, and creative rewilding. Her upcoming project, The Gaia Matrix, merges speculative storytelling, immersive design, and earth-based magic to imagine a regenerative future, rooted in mutual care and aliveness. Vanessa gratefully lives in Coast Salish territory near Vancouver, in a deep relationship with land, ritual, and song. When not radically transforming culture, she tells jokes, does tarot, and flirts with the universe.
Laura Loescher
Through Resilience Resources, Laura offers leadership coaching and philanthropic advising to individual donors, family foundations, and funder intermediaries. A leader in social justice philanthropy for more than 25 years, she delights in collaborating with clients who devote their lives and resources to both inner and outer transformation. Laura currently has a special interest in land justice and land return via advising roles with Landing Justice Fund and Commonground Fund. When not engaged with resourcing transformational work in the world, she enjoys writing poetry, sharing resiliency practices, and creating impermanent eco-art: www.earthaltars.com & www.resiliencycards.com.
Haley Mellin
In an artful way, Haley Mellin supports the creation of new Indigenous protected areas, land titling, and locally-led protected areas in the tens of millions of acres annually. She founded the Art into Acres initiative, interweaving contemporary cultures with old growth resilience. As an artist, she paints outdoors in gouache and draws in charcoal. Haley completed her doctorate at the Steinhardt School and undergraduate studies at U.C. Berkeley, and served on the Inaugural Jury for the National Endowment for the Humanities Climate grants. Her first museum exhibition, Siamo Natura, is on view at Museo Novecento in Florence, Italy. Haley enjoys collecting stamps.
Ethan Nadelmann
Ethan has devoted most of his adult life, first as a professor and then as an activist, to changing the ways that people think about psychoactive drugs and to reforming problematic drug policies. He and his colleagues were at the forefront of dozens of successful campaigns to legalize marijuana, reduce the incarceration of drug law offenders, advance harm reduction approaches to drug use and addiction, and otherwise promote alternatives to punitive prohibitionist drug policies. He is currently working on a memoir and enjoying the psychedelic renaissance.
Deepa Narayan
Global and community work on poverty and inequality; influence and persuasion to shift large organizations and powerful people from community leaders to the World Bank- addressing with compassion and clarity issues of masculinity and inequality.
Tarun Nayar
Originally educated as a biologist, veteran musician Tarun Nayar brings his passion for nature and sound together as Modern Biology, a project that is organismic, immediate, uplifting, and deeply contextual. He uses modular synthesis, home built synthesizers and other analog equipment to improvise with the natural vibrations of a certain place and time – via plant bioelectricity, latent electromagnetic radiation, and even the earth’s resonant hum. Trained from childhood in Indian classical music, he uses the system of Indian raga to mold his musical choices for time of day and season. His performances are an effort to bring the listener into the present moment through vibration, space, and connection.
His work has been viewed over 200 million times and amassed him over 1 million followers on social media, has been featured by The Guardian, BBC, Genius, Vice, The Verge, LA Times and Times of India among others, and one of his ambient works opens the new album, Moonchild Era, by Punjabi star Diljit Dosanjh. His recent albums have received editorial support on Spotify’s Music for Plants, Deep Listening, and Lava Lamp playlists. Recent performances include the Museum of Contemporary Art (LA), Wonderfruit Festival (Thailand), The Nobel Prize Museum (Stockholm) and the New York Botanical Garden.
Tarun is passionate about protecting wild places and has committed the lion’s share of the proceeds of this project to supporting the natural world.
Zoe Newcomb
Zoe Newcomb is a Senior Program Manager, Peacebuilding at Humanity United. In this role, Zoe stewards Humanity United’s long-term commitment to supporting a growing network of youth peacebuilders and activists in South Sudan. She also supports HU Peacebuilding’s Healing & Wellbeing thematic work, promoting a greater understanding of individual and collective care within the peacebuilding community. She is a passionate advocate for trust-based philanthropy, focusing on more equitable, responsive grantmaking practices that amplify the leadership of proximate peacebuilders.
Michael Niconchuk
Salama Project
Sister Peace
Sister Peace is an ordained nun in Thich Nhat Hanh’s Order of Interbeing. She appears in the 2017 film “Walk With Me” under her monastic name—Sr. An Nghiem—and was profiled in Lion’s Roar by Zen teacher Koun Franz. Born in Washington, D.C., and educated in Catholic schools, Sister Peace graduated from Georgetown University. She built up a successful nail salon business and entered local politics, working on Anthony Willams’ campaign for mayor of Washington and in his administration. Practicing with the Washington Mindfulness Community, she met Thich Nhat Hanh when she assisted with a meditation retreat he led for the U.S. Congress. In 2006, she went to Plum Village to deepen her understanding of what a nun’s life entailed, and her ordination took place in 2008. She has had many roles in the Plum Village community including organizing retreats in Europe, Asia, Liberia, South Africa, and the US, as well as press and PR for the community.
Claudia Peña
Claudia serves as the Executive Director of Kindred, a foundation that believes in relational architecture, and works at the nexus of law, justice and kinship for the human and more than human. She is also on faculty at UCLA School of Law and in the Gender Studies department where her scholarship has focused on trauma and healing informed practices. She is currently Senior Advisor to For Freedoms, an artist collective that centers art and creativity as a catalyst for transformative connection and collective liberation. She is also the founding co-director of the Center for Justice at UCLA, home of the Prison Education Program. Claudia has devoted her life to service through community organizing, consciousness-raising across silos, coalition-building, teaching, and advocacy through law & policy and the arts.
John Christian Phifer
John Christian Phifer is a guide at the threshold—where life, death, and the natural world meet. As executive director and creative force behind Larkspur, he has led the creation of Tennessee’s first conservation burial ground: a living sanctuary where people return to the earth in the most elemental way. With a background that spans 25+ years as a funeral director, embalmer, end-of-life doula, funeral celebrant, and home funeral guide, John Christian brings reverence and clarity to the conversation around death. His vision draws on nature’s wisdom to reimagine care for the dead, the grieving, and the earth that holds us all. The focus of the PBS documentary Bury Me at Taylor Hollow, John Christian’s work weaves together environmental stewardship and death care, inviting people to embrace mortality not with fear, but with intimacy, honesty, and awe. He believes that to know death is to know life more fully—and that returning to the earth is one of the most powerful acts of love we can offer the planet and each other.
Brenda Pipestem
Lauren Platt
Lauren partners closely with Kindred, bringing over a decade of experience in strategic advising, relationship building, and collaborative work. Since joining Walton Enterprises (WEI) in 2021, she’s been dedicated to helping people thoughtfully navigate their personal, philanthropic, and financial journeys. Lauren thrives on bringing clarity to complex questions and helping people make decisions that feel right–both for today and the future. Her work is grounded in truly understanding others, building genuine relationships, and leading with care and intention. Outside of work, Lauren enjoys life in Colorado with her partner and two golden retrievers, Hobey and Cora, who keep her grounded, joyful, and always up for adventure.
Maria Popova
Maria makes sentences and ceramics.
Melody Rabe
Melody is a musician and event producer with a passion for creating impactful and meaningful connections through her work. As a talent producer for the Women’s March on Washington, Melody became a member of the Resistance Revival Chorus, blending her love of art with activism. Today, she serves as the Director of Project Management at Humbleriot, an ideas shop specializing in meaningful gatherings. She is also a member of the NYC punk band Bad Peach and releases music under her own name.
Harris Rashid
Harris Rashid has a passion for connecting with crowds and loves playing music for the people. He was born in Malaysia and raised in Brooklyn, New York. A hip hop DJ first and foremost, he has a wide ranging love for Reggae / Dancehall, House, R&B, Latin, Funk and Soul, and Jazz music.
César Rodriguez
César Rodríguez-Garavito is an Earth rights scholar, field lawyer, and founding director of the MOTH (More-Than-Human Life) Program at NYU School of Law. He is a Professor of Law and Director of the Earth Rights Research & Action (TERRA) Clinic at NYU. César’s work has advanced new ideas and legal actions worldwide on issues such as climate justice, Indigenous rights, and what he proposes to call “more-than-human rights” (rights of nature). His contributions to Earth rights have been recognized with a More-Than-Human Fellowship by the London Design Museum and a spot in the UN Museum’s Top 10 Culture for Impact 2024 List.
Mariah Rooney
Mariah Rooney, MSW, LICSW (they/she), is a trauma specialist, educator, and consultant whose work sits at the intersections of trauma, healing justice, and transformative change. They have served as a faculty member in graduate schools of social work and their research has focused on body-centered approaches to trauma care. Mariah’s passion for creating inclusive and embodied opportunities for healing led them to found Trauma Informed Weight Lifting, a program of the Center for Trauma and Embodiment. Mariah sits on the board for the Trauma Research Foundation and their work is deeply informed by a commitment to justice, collective liberation, and the power of strong, collaborative relationships.
Suzanne Simard
Professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia, author of Finding the Mother Tree, leader of the Mother Tree Network
Millana Snow
Millana Snow is a multidisciplinary creator, healer, and entrepreneur reshaping the global wellness landscape. As the creator of Integrative Breathwork, she’s trained hundreds worldwide in transformative healing. Her upcoming book, It’s All Within You (Hachette, 2025), distills over a decade of experience into a powerful guide for reclaiming inner power. Millana’s work weaves art, spirituality, and science to inspire deep personal change. Known for her bold, heartfelt style, she creates immersive experiences that awaken truth, beauty, and self-remembrance.
Katia Sol
Katia Sol is grateful to be the new steward in service (CEO) of Hollyhock. Katia brings over 25 years of experience in transformative leadership, experiential education, group facilitation, nature-based rites of passage, coaching and community development. Katia’s passion for personal and social change is rooted in her own early experiences of grief and loss, a spiritual awakening at 16, and several years spent working in rural and Indigenous communities around the world. Katia’s work is rooted in a deep belief in healing through relationship—with self, community, and the Earth. A mother of three boys, she is devoted to cultivating a more just, joyful, and regenerative world.
Michael (“Zimmie”) Szymkiewicz
In the past 20+ years, Zimmie has worn almost every hat possible in the world of DJ culture. From touring domestically and internationally to running a record label to tour managing other DJs and even creating documentary films about DJ history, his passion for music cannot be overstated. He is also extremely fond of ice cream.
Noor Tagouri
Noor Tagouri, founder of the At Your Service, is a formidable force in the world of journalism and storytelling. At 31, she is an award-winning journalist and producer, a touring speaker for over 15 years, and has told stories in every medium from radio and print, to documentaries, brand campaigns and global speaking tours. Noor’s most recent investigative series “REP: A Story About the Stories We Tell,” explores the concepts of Representation and Objectivity in Media. She teaches the REP investigation in her Revolutionary Representation Journalism Course. Noor is currently producing her next series titled “Common Ground,” an immersive community-led tour and series to gather and bring back civil discourse.
Rotana Tarabzouni
Rotana Tarabzouni is a Palestinian recording artist, songwriter, actor and somatic facilitator . Born and raised in Saudi Arabia, Rotana’s art uses ritual to explore the erotic as life-force, spirit, life, death, cultural bondage and the dance between these elements. Named BBC’s 100 most powerful women, Rotana is determined to travel to the places culture has placed the most shame on to create art and story from the very center of that shame. Rotana was most recently seen in We Live in Cairo at New York Theater Workshop in the role of ‘Fadwa’. Rotana also premiered her musical one-woman show Alien of Extraordinary Ability at FORM Festival. Rotana released a full length meditation album ‘Opening’ with award winning producers Superposition. In 2024, Rotana released her second EP IBQI ابقي and short film by award winning Palestinian director, Mayar Hamdan.
Krista Tippett
Krista Tippett is a Peabody-award winning broadcaster, National Humanities Medalist, and New York Times bestselling author. She created the groundbreaking public radio show and podcast On Being, which has won the highest honors in broadcast, Internet and podcasting. She is the author of three books, most recently Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living.
James Walton
Burton Warrington
Burton W. Warrington (Menominee, Prairie Band Potawatomi and Ho-Chunk) currently serves as the President of Indian Ave Group (IAG) and President of Menomini yoU, a non profit focused on community language and cultural revitalization. Mr. Warrington’s career includes a unique mix of legal, business, management and policy experience. Burton and his wife Cindy, have four children between the ages of 14 and 4.
Rex Weyler
Rex Weyler is an ecologist, writer, and teacher. His books include Blood of the Land, Greenpeace, and others. In the 1970s, Weyler was a cofounder of Greenpeace International and editor of the Greenpeac Cronicles newsletter. In the 1980s, he co-founded the Hollyhock Learning Centre in BC, Canada. He currently works with the International Bateson Institute and lives on Cortes Island in British Columbia, Canada.
Heather Wolf
With a voice mesmerizing and enchanting, Heather Wolf draws from the timeless river of living folk tradition. With the Appalachian mountain dulcimer she fuses ancient and modern, reviving folkloric ballads of old with her own original compositions, opening realms of moody, sensuous, folk rock and mysterious, bardic psychedelia.
In 2019, she released her first solo EP of folk songs on mountain dulcimer. Then forming folk psych rock band Wild Revival with Nik Kemmer, they released their first EP April’s Fool in 2021. In 2024, she began the experimental electro-folk synth-pop project Witch Pop with Raqa Down. In 2025, Wolf’s debut solo LP Midnight Hour emerges with a cast of collaborators including Cosmo & Merlin Sheldrake, Hale May, Anne Bourne, Katie Rudman and others, supporting her own original works and folk traditionals, honoring lineages of the Appalachian dulcimer of Jean Ritchie, medieval Ladino Sephardic traditions, and the 70s folk revival music of Richard & Mimi Fariña.
Lauren Yarmuth
For nearly 25 years Lauren has worked at the intersection of whole people and thriving ecological systems. Drawing on learnings from the edges of innovation through to the very core of our humanity, Lauren excels at bridging perspectives, synthesizing information, and co-creating the conditions for what is both possible and necessary. Lauren’s professional experiences weave across multi-stakeholder collaboration, climate leadership, regenerative food systems, sustainable buildings, organizational change, convening design, and professional development. Previous roles include Executive Director of Stone Barns Center, Director of Circle Economy at IDEO, Co-Founder of YR&G Sustainability (now WSP), Professor of Sustainability at Columbia University, and Director at ENSAR (now Rocky Mountain Institute). Lauren is currently working with the NoVo Foundation’s Bioregional Communities portfolio.
Karima Zedan
Karima Zedan is a seasoned strategic communications and public affairs expert with a track record of leading high-impact initiatives across technology, policy, and social impact sectors. With a background in journalism and public engagement, she specializes in crafting narratives that bridge the gap between complex issues and diverse audiences.
Karima has held leadership roles in global organizations, driving initiatives that promote transparency, digital equity, and responsible innovation. Her expertise spans media relations, stakeholder engagement, and corporate social responsibility, helping organizations navigate evolving public and regulatory landscapes.
Passionate about ethical storytelling and inclusive communication, Karima has worked with policymakers, community leaders, and corporate executives to shape meaningful dialogues on technology, governance, and social change. Through her work, she continues to champion the power of strategic communication to drive informed decision-making, foster trust, and create positive societal impact.
Kolu Zigbi
Kolu serves as a re-sorceress, strategist, connector, and catalyst for social and environmental justice. With a focus on collective governance of land and financial resources by BIPOC and marginalized communities, she promotes solidarity over charity and builds liberatory power. She works both sides of the funding and investment flow, partnering with grassroots groups to activate participatory grantmaking and investments, and with foundations to grow funding for BIPOC-led world-building. She is inspired by Black social movements, Pan-Africanism, Agrarianism, Feminism, systems thinking, her ancestors, and nature.
Maxwell Zorick
Maxwell Zorick is a social impact strategist and creative campaigner. He’s the Program Director of the Elevate Dialogue portfolio at Civic (Re)Solve. The fund provides patient, risk-tolerant capital to a network of effective pro-democracy leaders and organizations across the country.Previously, he was the Senior Director of Social Impact at the MTV Entertainment Group at Paramount (which includes MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, among other networks), where he worked on social impact campaigns across many issues, including civic engagement, gun violence, and mental health. During that time, he played a leading role in starting Vote Early Day, a civic holiday with over 2,000+ partners to promote voting access and turnout.Recently, he has been a strategy and campaigns consultant to a number of philanthropies, including Schmidt Futures and Grounded. Prior to MTV, he was the Manager of Social Impact at General Assembly, where he focused on programs that promote economic mobility through careers in technology. He has also been a Partnerships Manager at Purpose, a social impact agency, and a Senior Aide to Sean Eldridge and Chris Hughes, where he coordinated their political and charitable giving.In 2013, he was a Fellow at The New Leaders Council in New York City. Maxwell graduated magna cum laude from NYU.
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