Teri (she/her) comes from the “space in between”, the place of never fully being from here or there, she is a body of many cultures. She identifies a black mixed-race, cis-woman, daughter of Guyanese immigrants, descendant of disruptors, visionaries, culture carriers and a future ancestor. She is multilingual, neurodivergent, immigrant, sister, friend, partner, mother, elder millenial and afro-futurist who has a complicated relationship with identity labels. These particular identities capture the lineage of being that has incubated her curiosity and fascination in culture, belonging and collective liberation. For almost 20 years Teri has supported hundreds of individuals, organizations and teams working on social change in shifting towards more liberatory leadership models and coaching collectives of leaders. She practices new ways of working, authentic communication and delegated decision making in sociocracy circles as a member of an intentional community and as a co-founding member of the Imaginal Cells Collective. In her approach to the work, Teri centers: people on the margins, justice, vulnerability, play + experimentation, relationships, learning and healing. She’s cried, laughed, fallen, been inspired, afraid, burned out and transformed by the work of social change, and she sticks with it because she believes “if it is necessary, it is possible”. Info

Allen Cooper is a leadership coach and organization development consultant with over 20 years of experience supporting social change and environmental groups. Through his firm, Kestrel Insight, he connects strategy, leadership development, and inclusive culture to help organizations thrive and achieve exceptional results.

Bio forthcoming.

Patti Dayleg, MPH, is a Leadership and Team Coach and founder of Malaya Solutions, partnering with nonprofit leaders, small business owners, and coalitions to build cultures rooted in care and collective power. She has collaborated with over 100 leaders in movements focused on sustainability, climate change, health, education, food justice, and immigrant rights. Before founding Malaya Solutions, Patti spent a decade driving high-stakes systems change — advocating for disaggregated data and health funding for Asian American immigrant communities, securing six- and seven-figure opportunities for underserved communities, overseeing DEI compliance across $20 billion in NYC contracts, and serving as one of Broadway's first Directors of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Today, she coaches women of color and their teams who are ready to grow by deepening the relationships that make it all work. Patti also hosts What We Made Possible, a podcast on healing, leadership, and systems change.

Dr. Mel Michelle Lewis serves as the inaugural Executive Curator of Root to Flourish Collective, cultivating deep relationships and promoting interconnectedness between people and nature. Their work ensures systemically marginalized voices are central to shaping the future of environmental stewardship. Dr. Mel is a conservation sector thought leader, scholar, writer, and transdisciplinary artist deeply committed to amplifying critical voices and creative visions for structural change, sustainable practice, environmental justice, and social transformation. Originally from Bayou La Batre, Alabama, Dr. Mel’s transformative justice approach is grounded in the lessons of the Gulf South’s lands, waters, cultures, and cherished Ancestral lineages. Dr. Mel’s academic background is rooted in environmental humanities, Black queer theory, Black feminist thought, and ethnic studies with an emphasis on movements for liberation and systemic change. Previously, they provided strategic guidance for the future of clean water as Vice President for People, Justice, and Cultural Affairs at American Rivers, leading organizational transformation equity initiatives. They have co-chaired environmental movement coalition work, including America the Beautiful for All’s Freshwater Workgroup and Uncommon Dialogue's Workforce Diversity Workgroup. They also recently held the role of Affiliated Researcher with the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Mel was Associate Professor and Director of the Ecosystems, Sustainability, and Justice Program, co-founder of The Space for Creative Black Imagination: An Interdisciplinary Making and Research Institute, and Chair of the Humanistic Studies Department at Maryland Institute College of Art where they continue to support interdisciplinary learning. They chaired the Center for Geographies of Justice, the Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Department, and Africana Studies Department at Goucher College, as well as the Department of Ethnic Studies at Saint Mary’s College of California. They’ve earned a PhD, MS, MA, MPP certificate, and BA in multiple interdisciplinary justice based fields. In addition to their professional life, Dr. Mel is a writer and artist whose creative work depicts life in rural coastal settings through the lens of Black, Creole, AfroIndigenous, and queer embodied knowledges. Their transdisciplinary visual and performing art features ancestral altars, installations, and photography. Their research and creative writing appears in top journals, anthologies, and creative writing publications; their book Biomythography Bayou is available via The Griot Project Book Series at Bucknell University Press and their forthcoming project Waterbody is supported by American Bird Conservancy‘s Afrofuturism Collective and Re:wild. Dr. Mel is deeply committed to meditation, conjure and Ancestor veneration, southern foodways, and community mutual aid practices. They live in Baltimore on Piscataway and Susquehannock lands with their wife and a clutter of free range community alley cats.

Bio forthcoming.

("Raisa"/"rise-ah") is a dedicated network weaver and community catalyst. Accompanied by over a decade of deep civic engagement and a non-profit career centered on coalition building at growing levels of influence, Riyza engages her joy for connecting with others through her alliances with distributed advocacy networks and action coalitions. She champions missions that put people over profit and build the capacity of humanity for a more liberated, resilient, and peaceful future. Through her practice at Rooted Networks, Riyza elevates networks/community as critical infrastructure for systems change and transformation. Her role as a weaver is to cultivate trust, belonging, and intuitive interrelationality as networks collaboratively act/innovate to address our world's complex polycrisis. Her work is steeped in an ethos of participatory governance, intersectionality and interculturalism, and authentic leadership. Riyza's roots are found in her hometown of Tampa, Florida - her life a confluence of diverse socio-cultural experiences and a long-held personal mission to simply do what she can to advocate for herself and her community. While pieces of her heart are scattered in many parts of the world, she has called Cary, North Carolina (Skaruhreh/Tuscarora, Catawba, Lumbee lands) home since 2023, where she continues to find her dreams coming true one day at a time. She is often found loving life while laughing among treasured friends, cooking (and eating) soup, hollering from the crowd at a live jazz night, or scoring points at her weekly mahjong club. Other interests include open-air naps, spicy food competitions (more eating), karaoke, Star Trek, and her banana collection (surprisingly, no eating here). Though woefully unfunny herself, Riyza remains a lifelong fan and student of comedy.

In 2012, Charles Orgbon founded Greening Forward, a nonprofit organization that trains and funds young people to lead climate solutions, and transition economies away from consuming more dinosaur juice. His youth climate activism caught the attention of national environmental leaders, from Audubon to the White House. Funders such as singer-songwriter Jack Johnson, media mogul Ted Turner, and many corporations took notice. Through Greening Forward campaigns sponsored by Disney, Wells Fargo, and State Farm, Charles saw how corporations could drive real climate action. This drove his decision to become a consultant with Deloitte & EY, specializing in helping Fortune 100 companies identify climate risks, measure environmental impact, and accelerate commitments towards solving the climate crisis, transforming sustainability buzzwords into actionable KPIs. Now, he advises many clients from major corporations to higher education institutions to grassroots non-profits and philanthropies on sustainability and social impact strategies. Namely, he's the Managing Director of The Carbonate Group, which drives bold results at the intersection of climate, equity, and social change, empowering our clients to launch high-impact funds, breakthrough campaigns, and measurable ESG strategies. The Carbonate Group has delivered millions in new giving, enabled first-of-their-kind climate and equity initiatives, and brought nonprofit, foundation, and corporate partners into full alignment on shared goals. Charles holds a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Georgia, where he serves as a founding trustee for a diversity scholarship. And during graduate studies at the Johns Hopkins University, he studied the intersection of climate and social issues. Meanwhile, the two-time TEDx speaker continues to serve on the Board of Directors for Greening Forward and has been named a Captain Planet Foundation Superhero for the Earth, an Environmental Excellence Award recipient from SeaWorld, and a GreenBiz 30 Under 30 Awardee.