Thursday, March 27th
This double session (holding space for both a community conversation and a healing circle until 6pm) will provide a brave, safe and respectful space for those who are deeply troubled/impacted by the ongoing crimes against humanity being inflicted on the Palestinian people. We will gather to: share our feelings; process our emotions; engage in deep listening, guided meditation and silent reflection; and practice somatic healing techniques. Our facilitators will be: Ashira Darwish, creator of Active Meditation, a modality focusing on trauma therapy and integration that draws upon her own personal journey of healing from full-body paralysis with a severed spinal cord in 2012; and David Shaw, a founder of Santa Cruz Permaculture, deeply experienced in hosting community conversations on conflict resolution. The session will conclude with a “spoken-word harvest” by Jahan Khalighi.
(Note: this is a double session from 3:00-6:00pm)
March 27th | 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm | Ashby Room, Residence Inn
Panelists
Ashira Darwish
Founder | Catharsis Holistic Healing
Ashira Darwish, who began her career as a journalist in Palestine and then worked for 15 years as TV and Radio journalist and researcher for the BBC, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, is the founder of Catharsis Holistic Healing, a trauma therapy project in Palestine, which uses the Ashira Active Meditation approach that she pioneered to help people suffering from continuous trauma. Her personal journey of healing from full body paralysis with a severed spinal cord in 2012 has given her a deep insight into the process of recovery, allowing her to offer a highly specialized and culturally sensitive approach to trauma healing.
David Shaw
Founder | Santa Cruz Permaculture and the UCSC Right Livelihood College
David Shaw, a whole systems designer, facilitator, educator, and musician, founded Santa Cruz Permaculture and the UCSC Right Livelihood College, a partnership with the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” He supports communities locally and globally to transform their shared future through strategic dialogue and collective action.
Jahan Khalighi
Program Manager | Chapter 510
Jahan Khalighi, a spoken word poet, youth educator and community arts organizer, leads creative writing workshops for personal and collective transformation in a wide range of settings, from juvenile detention centers to classrooms, from community centers to boardrooms. He currently manages programs at Chapter 510, a youth creative writing and publishing program in Oakland, CA. Jahan has performed widely, including at: TEDxSonoma, YBCA, Mission Cultural Center, Bioneers and Esalen; and some of his work has been published in Whoa Nelly Press.
Welcome to The Chrysalis Project, an immersive workshop designed to ignite personal transformation and foster leadership through dynamic, collaborative artmaking. We’ll dive into wire-sculpting and reflective writing in which we weave our unique stories into a collaborative art piece. This workshop isn’t just about learning a craft, it’s about embracing our roles as leaders and change-makers in our communities. As we twist and shape wire, we’ll also weave connections with other young visionaries, collaboratively crafting art and a collective vision. Come discover how the act of making can shift us from passive onlookers to active creators of our futures. No artistic experience necessary. With Chrysalis creator Carrie Ziegler.
NOTE: This workshop will initiate the art project, which will continue with drop-in sessions on Friday & Saturday for youth to continue working on the collaborative project throughout the conference weekend.
March 27th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Kinzie Room, Brower Center
Panelists
Carrie Ziegler
Artist
Carrie Ziegler, an international artist and leader in collaborative art initiatives, seeks to harness the collective power of art to drive social and environmental transformation. Through her Art in Action initiatives, she collaborates with local governments, organizations, and educational institutions to create multi-dimensional works that blend participant creativity with pressing societal issues, inspiring active engagement to bring communities together to create lasting change. The Chrysalis Project, now a global initiative, initially contributed to the passing of the Thurston County, WA, Climate Mitigation Plan, and the Plastic Whale Project played a pivotal role in the successful passing of a local ban on single-use plastic bags.
Discover the profound ability of music and movement to inspire resilience, healing, and transformation in this soulful workshop led by Rising Appalachia. Drawing from their acclaimed Folk Choir master class, sisters Leah and Chloe Smith invite you into an immersive exploration of how art and sound can hold space for beauty, hardship and disaster alike. This workshop weaves together community singing, storytelling, and embodied practices to tap into the universal language of music as a means of connection and catharsis. Learn how to use your voice as a tool for personal and collective empowerment, exploring melodies, harmonies, and movement rooted in folk traditions and global rhythms. Together, we will explore how music can be a balm in times of struggle, and a celebration in moments of Joy.
March 27th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Lotus Cafe, Dharma College
Panelists
Rising Appalachia
Internationally Touring Folk Ensemble
Rising Appalachia, the brainchild of Atlanta-raised sisters Leah Song and Chloe Smith, rooted in the rich musical traditions of their family and region, is an internationally touring folk ensemble with a passionate global following. Eschewing industry norms, they have independently forged their own exemplary, deeply ethical, value-driven path for 16 years, producing seven albums and conducting tours around the world while simultaneously immersing themselves in community-building, cultural exchange programs, and music gathering and sharing everywhere they go. Their most recent album (their first of carefully curated cover songs) is: Folk & Anchor.
Come join us in a circle to explore how surviving and thriving in these difficult times requires expanding our ability to pause our busy lives and be present with grief. In naming our losses and mourning together we will get to experience grief’s potential for solace, regeneration and transformation. Through basic breathing practice, intimate sharing, guided group conversation, and a simple ritual with elements from nature, we will touch into the gifts of connection and healing available when we take time to honor our losses and tend to our grief in community. Facilitated by death/grief educators and community gatherers, Anneke Campbell, Asha Kohli and Nisha Arcadia Shah.
We invite you to bring a sacred item to place on our collective altar—a token that holds meaning for you. This altar will hold us as we tend to our grief, weaving our individual stories into a shared tapestry of honoring and healing.
March 27th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Insight Room, Dharma College
Panelists
Anneke Campbell
Writer and Community Activist
Anneke Campbell, a writer and community activist who has worked as a midwife, nurse, English professor, yoga teacher and death educator, co-authored (with Thomas Linzey): We The People: Stories from the Community Rights Movement in the U.S. and edited Nina Simons' book, Nature, Culture and the Sacred: One Woman Listens for Leadership. Anneke also publishes essays and articles and writes and co-produces the Bioneers newsletter: Leading From The Feminine: Weaving The World Anew and has facilitated grief sessions at the conference for the past 5 years.
Asha Kohli
Executive Assistant | Bioneers
Asha Kohli, a life coach, movement artist, and practitioner of herbal medicine with ancestral lineages in the Andes and India, facilitates grief circles, embodiment immersions, and communal rituals. She is the founder of Kohlibri Creative, a healing arts project that weaves artistry and ancient ways to guide others in their journey of self-healing and empowerment through artistic expression and earth-based rituals.
Nisha Arcadia Shah
Public Health and Lifestyle Medicine Professional
Nisha Arcadia Shah, MDiv, MPH, RDN, a public health and lifestyle medicine professional, social movement and eco-chaplain, literary activist, and doctoral student in transformative studies, works on projects supporting literary, health, and social change initiatives and specializes in lifestyle research. She is also an avid land walker, backyard farmer, voracious reader, nature lover, and library volunteer.
Youth justice is experiencing a pendulum swing back to “tough-on-crime” narratives, reinstating a system of rigid responses destructive to young people and communities. Louisiana stands out as a stark example, having become the first state to reinstate archaic laws that punish all 17-year-olds as adults. Biomimicry reminds us that in dark moments, we can thrive by repeating successful strategies, integrating the unexpected, reshuffling information, and letting go of what no longer works; and Restorative Justice has been shown to be an effective strategy for recognizing our interconnectedness and building our capacity for emergence. In this workshop, we will use a restorative justice lens to explore the ways ecological teachings can be applied to youth justice. With: Kristen A. Rome (Executive Director, Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights); Cymone Fuller (Senior Director, Restorative Justice, Equal Justice USA) and Ghani Songster, Transformative Healing & Restorative Justice Manager for the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (CFSY).
March 27th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Skillful Means Center, Dharma College
Panelists
Cymone Fuller
Senior Director, Restorative Justice | Equal Justice USA
Cymone Fuller, who began her career as a community organizer and spent many years focused on systemic reforms in the youth criminal justice legal system, currently serves as the Senior Director of Restorative Justice at Equal Justice USA, where she supports the spread of community-held restorative justice diversion initiatives across the country.
Kristen Rome
Executive Director | Louisiana Center for Children's Rights
Kristen Rome, JD, a Louisiana-based attorney, doula, and writer, currently serves as Executive Director of the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights, a client-centered nonprofit law office that represents youth in the juvenile and criminal legal systems. A proud native of New Orleans and a graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta, Kristen received her Juris Doctor from Loyola University of New Orleans’ College of Law. (lakidsrights.org)
Ghani Songster
Transformative Healing & Restorative Justice Manager | Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (CFSY)
Kempis ‘Ghani’ Songster who spent 30 years in prison starting at age 15, is the Transformative Healing & Restorative Justice Manager for the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (CFSY), which seeks to: “Catalyze the just and equitable treatment of children in the United States by demanding a ban on life without parole and other extreme sentences for children…and create opportunities for formerly incarcerated youth to thrive as adults and lead in their communities.” A founding member of Right to Redemption, the Redemption Project, and the Coalition to Abolish Death by Incarceration (CADBI), as well as a co-founder and director of Ubuntu Philadelphia, Ghani has emerged, since his release in 2017, as an outspoken voice in Philadelphia’s movement to create transformative, restorative responses to harm and violence, including as leader of Philadelphia’s first Restorative Justice Diversion program for youth, Healing Futures.
ReParentive® Therapy, a somatic, experiential, non-hierarchical and non-pathologizing therapeutic modality that has roots in approaches to mental wellbeing that prioritize embodiment, mindfulness, liberation, and social justice, views the body as an ecosystem that reflects what’s happening in the larger society and in which resulting negative patterns can get encoded. ReParentive® concepts and approaches can be valuably applied to systems, leadership styles, activism and personal/spiritual growth, providing tools that permit us to heal at a deep level and shift those deeply encoded cellular and neurological patterns, allowing us to “spiral out” from an authentic, embodied place with radically increased efficacy. Come discover how ReParentive Therapy techniques and perspectives can enhance your life and work. With therapist, teacher and group leader, Pamela Rosin, MFT.
March 27th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Lotus Cafe, Dharma College
Panelists
Pamela Rosin
Founder | ReParentive Therapy
Pamela Rosin, MFT, the founder of ReParentive Therapy (an intergenerational trauma healing model), is an adjunct faculty member at the Integral Counseling Psychology Department at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) and a Certified Hakomi Therapist who utilizes experientially-based modalities and a synergy of Buddhist and Somatic psychologies to cultivate healing in her patients. In her therapy, teaching and leading of groups, Pamela draws from her extensive and varied background, which apart from her formal studies, includes professional acting, a decade as a bodyworker, and many years of teaching Shakespeare in prison.
This session invites participants to explore the concept of “Cultural Currency,” a framework for exchanging value that centers creativity, care, and collaboration over monetary returns. Through storytelling, group discussion and reflective prompts participants will identify ways their personal and professional practices can contribute to building a culture of reciprocity and shared humanity. Participants will leave with actionable ideas for fostering transformative relationships and projects that honor cultural and artistic sovereignty. Facilitated by Sol Guy, founder of Quiet.
March 27th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Skillful Means Center, Dharma College
Panelists
Sol Guy
Co-Founder | Quiet
Sol Guy, an award-winning producer and director whose career in filmmaking, music, community-building, and support of artists seeks to demonstrate the power of art to heal and to catalyze social change, is the co-founder of Quiet, an artist-led community seeking a new approach to creative practice and support anchored in value alignment, artistic sovereignty, spiritual well-being, and reciprocity. Honored by National Geographic as an “Emerging Explorer,” Sol most recently directed the documentary about his family, The Death of My Two Fathers. He has also co-produced and directed a number of highly acclaimed projects in music, film, and TV, including the Oscar-nominated film Bobi Wine: The People’s President.
Friday, March 28th
Join Chrysalis creator Carrie Ziegler and fellow Bioneers youth for a session of collaborative wire-sculpture artmaking. This relaxed, hands-on session is a perfect way to unwind, connect with peers, and engage in a creative, collective experience. Dive in at any stage and help bring our community project to completion by the conference’s end. No prior workshop attendance or experience required.
March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Terrace outside Tamalpais Room, Brower Center
Panelists
Carrie Ziegler
Artist
Carrie Ziegler, an international artist and leader in collaborative art initiatives, seeks to harness the collective power of art to drive social and environmental transformation. Through her Art in Action initiatives, she collaborates with local governments, organizations, and educational institutions to create multi-dimensional works that blend participant creativity with pressing societal issues, inspiring active engagement to bring communities together to create lasting change. The Chrysalis Project, now a global initiative, initially contributed to the passing of the Thurston County, WA, Climate Mitigation Plan, and the Plastic Whale Project played a pivotal role in the successful passing of a local ban on single-use plastic bags.
Come join us in a circle to explore how surviving and thriving in these difficult times requires expanding our ability to pause our busy lives and be present with grief. In naming our losses and mourning together we will get to experience grief’s potential for solace, regeneration and transformation. Through basic breathing practice, intimate sharing, guided group conversation, and a simple ritual with elements from nature, we will touch into the gifts of connection and healing available when we take time to honor our losses and tend to our grief in community. Facilitated by death/grief educators and community gatherers, Anneke Campbell, Asha Kohli and Nisha Arcadia Shah.
We invite you to bring a sacred item to place on our collective altar—a token that holds meaning for you. This altar will hold us as we tend to our grief, weaving our individual stories into a shared tapestry of honoring and healing.
March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Insight Room, Dharma College
Panelists
Anneke Campbell
Writer and Community Activist
Anneke Campbell, a writer and community activist who has worked as a midwife, nurse, English professor, yoga teacher and death educator, co-authored (with Thomas Linzey): We The People: Stories from the Community Rights Movement in the U.S. and edited Nina Simons' book, Nature, Culture and the Sacred: One Woman Listens for Leadership. Anneke also publishes essays and articles and writes and co-produces the Bioneers newsletter: Leading From The Feminine: Weaving The World Anew and has facilitated grief sessions at the conference for the past 5 years.
Asha Kohli
Executive Assistant | Bioneers
Asha Kohli, a life coach, movement artist, and practitioner of herbal medicine with ancestral lineages in the Andes and India, facilitates grief circles, embodiment immersions, and communal rituals. She is the founder of Kohlibri Creative, a healing arts project that weaves artistry and ancient ways to guide others in their journey of self-healing and empowerment through artistic expression and earth-based rituals.
Nisha Arcadia Shah
Public Health and Lifestyle Medicine Professional
Nisha Arcadia Shah, MDiv, MPH, RDN, a public health and lifestyle medicine professional, social movement and eco-chaplain, literary activist, and doctoral student in transformative studies, works on projects supporting literary, health, and social change initiatives and specializes in lifestyle research. She is also an avid land walker, backyard farmer, voracious reader, nature lover, and library volunteer.
Bioneers brings together a very diverse, discerning, engaged and reflective community, and the curated conversations around crucial topics we have been hosting recently (“Conversation Cafes”) have proven highly popular and stimulating. Each session begins with a very brief presentation by one of the conference presenters as a “conversation starter” to frame the topic, followed by structured group discussion. At the end of each session, a “harvester” who has carefully witnessed and “absorbed” what has transpired, offers us a poetic synopsis/recapitulation of the highlights of our time together.
Growing in Southeast Louisiana near a corridor callously but accurately dubbed Cancer Alley means growing up with the ecological grief and anxiety that accompanies knowing your home and ecosystem are harming you and your community’s health. When your connection to home and family binds you to a place riddled with toxic pollution and politics, what is the antidote? Leave and find a safe community, or stay and take up the work of your ancestors to resist these toxic industries? For those living in and around Cancer Alley, these choices can be a daily battle, but the best elixir for ecological grief is action.
This youth-led community conversation is for anyone living on the frontlines of endemic pollution or climate catastrophe who has wrestled with the choice of staying and fighting or leaving to find a better place to call home—and for anyone who wants to learn from and support them. With: Lael Kylin Judson from Rural Roots Louisiana; and Skye Williams. Facilitated by David Shaw, Santa Cruz Permaculture and UCSC Right Livelihood Center; and Tenika Blue, an advocate for anti-violence initiatives, social justice reform, and community healing. “Harvester:” Jason Bayani, author, theater performer, Artistic Director, Kearny Street Workshop.
March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Ashby Room, Residence Inn
Panelists
David Shaw
Founder | Santa Cruz Permaculture and the UCSC Right Livelihood College
David Shaw, a whole systems designer, facilitator, educator, and musician, founded Santa Cruz Permaculture and the UCSC Right Livelihood College, a partnership with the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” He supports communities locally and globally to transform their shared future through strategic dialogue and collective action.
Tenika Blue
Social Justice Advocate
Tenika Blue, a fourth-generation Bay Area native with 20+ years’ experience advocating for anti-violence initiatives, social justice reform, and community healing, organizes sacred circles as a central part of her work, employing a heart-centered approach to foster community resilience, empower individuals to connect with their roots, and embrace transformative healing.
Lael Kylin Judson
| Rural Roots Louisiana
Lael “Kylin” Judson, a sophomore honor student at The Dunham School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and a resident of Ascension Parish, has lost loved ones to pollution-related illnesses and works with Rural Roots Louisiana on Environmental Justice issues centered around Cancer Alley, a region disproportionately impacted by industrial toxicity. Kylin aspires to becoming an Environmental Lawyer dedicated to addressing systemic inequities and protecting vulnerable communities.
Skye Williams
Activist | Rural Roots Louisiana
Skye Williams, a soon-to-be graduate of Donaldsonville High School in Louisiana is an activist with the Environmental Justice, Eco-Literacy, Earth-care advocacy and community-building organization, Rural Roots Louisiana. Skye plans a career in nursing as well as Environmental Justice activism.
Jason Bayani
Artistic Director | Kearny Street Workshop
Jason Bayani, MFA, a theater performer and author, is Artistic Director of the Kearny Street Workshop, the oldest multi-disciplinary Asian Pacific-American arts organization in the country. A Kundiman Fellow, his published works include: Locus (a 2019 Norcal Book Award finalist) and Amulet. He has written for World Literature Today, Muzzle Magazine, Lantern Review, and other publications and performs regularly around the country. His first solo theater show was 2016’s Locus of Control.
In a time when people too often run from grief and struggle in order to seek joy, this session will delve into how coming into a more active, balanced relationship with joy and grief is essential to nurturing our sense of wholeness. Join us for a cross-generational conversation between panelists and among attendees, as we collectively explore how these twin pillars can frame essential practices for not just surviving, but thriving in a time of deep uncertainty. Facilitated by Akaya Windwood, Liz Ogbu, Benja Mertz.
March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Skillful Means Center, Dharma College
Panelists
Akaya Windwood
Lead Advisor | Third Act
Akaya Windwood, a widely renowned, highly experienced, award-winning activist, leadership trainer and facilitator who served as President of the Rockwood Leadership Institute for ten years, is the founder of the New Universal Wisdom and Leadership Institute, which centers human wisdom in the wisdom of brown womxn. She is also: on the faculty of the Just Economy Institute; Lead Advisor at Third Act; and director of the Thriving Roots Fund. Akaya is the author of: Leading with Joy: Practices for Uncertain Times (2022).
Liz Ogbu
Designer and Grief Worker | Studio O
Liz Ogbu, a designer and grief worker, is an expert on transforming unjust urban environments. Her multidisciplinary design practice, Studio O, operates at the intersection of racial and “spatial” justice. She collaborates with/in communities in need to leverage design to address collective harm and catalyze community healing. Her honors include IDEO.org Global Fellow, Aspen Ideas Scholar, and Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Resident. Her TED Talks, which share a creative practice rooted in community wisdom and healing, have been viewed over a million times.
Benja Mertz
Performer, Educator, Folklorist, and Song-Leader
Benja Mertz, a performer, educator, public speaker, folklorist, and song-leader, is Board Chair of the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, an immigrant rights and anti-incarceration nonprofit organization. Also founder and Director of Joyful Noise! Gospel Singers in Sonoma County, Benja trained in song-leading through legendary programs such as Dr. Ysaye Barnwell's Vocal Community and Bobby McFerrin's CircleSong Schools and is part of a long tradition of writers and musicians at the forefront of social change in America.
4:45 pm: Interactive Session – Catalyst for Change—Building Personal Roadmaps for Civic Participation
Hosted by Civic (Re)Solve
This session is meant to serve as a catalyst for change—to challenge and encourage leaders and engaged citizens to envision their personal role in public service. In this interactive workshop, we will seek to transform inspiration into action, as all of us will be invited to create personal roadmaps to public service. All of us will be welcomed to connect with the panelists, to gain valuable insight into their programs and to explore diverse ways to actively get involved in civic leadership. With: Anathea Chino, Advance Native Political Leadership; Chloe Maxmin, Dirtroad Organizing; Elizabeth Rosen, Future Caucus; and Caitlin Lewis, Work For America.
March 28th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Skillful Means Center, Dharma College
Panelists
Anathea Chino
Co-Founder and Executive Director | Advance Native Political Leadership
Anathea Chino (Acoma Pueblo), co-founder and Executive Director of Advance Native Political Leadership, is a queer feminist leader and champion for Native voices with 20 years’ experience as a political strategist, fundraiser, and operative, works to advance Indigenous representation through investment in infrastructure development, strategy, research, and relationship building. She has co-founded a number of state and national organizations, including: Women’s Democracy Lab, Indigenous Women Rise, and Emerge New Mexico, and also serves on the boards of Americans for Indian Opportunity, California Native Vote Project, and Emergent Fund.
Chloe Maxmin
Dirtroad Organizing | Co-Founder
Chloe Maxmin, co-founder (with her best friend, Canyon Woodward) of Dirtroad Organizing and co-founder of and advisor to JustME for JustUS, a Maine-based organization focused on rural youth civic engagement and climate justice, also runs Begin Again Farm with her partner, Bill Pluecker, growing organic vegetables for her community. Chloe’s political engagement has included co-founding Divest Harvard when she was a student there, serving in the Maine House of Representatives in 2018, and in the Maine State Senate in 2020, when she was the youngest woman ever to serve in that body. Chloe is also co-author (with Canyon Woodward) of Dirt Road Revival.
Caitlin Lewis
Executive Director | Work For America
Caitlin Lewis, Executive Director of Work for America, a nonprofit seeking to make public service a more desirable, accessible, and stable career path that uplifts families and communities, has a long track record working in the public, private and non-profit sectors, including: developing social impact strategies for global brands; being a philanthropic advisor to Van Jones; helping launch an affordable housing fund; serving in local, state and federal governments, including at NYC’s City Hall and in the White House Liaison Office of USDA; working on several political campaigns and managing external affairs for the organization that manages Times Square.
Elizabeth Rosen
Communications Director | Future Caucus
Elizabeth Rosen, Communications Director for Future Caucus, the largest nonpartisan organization of young lawmakers in the U.S., previously supported global democracy movements with Freedom House, mobilized young voters with NextGen America, worked on public diplomacy at NATO, and held numerous odd jobs, including ski instructing in Park City, pizza delivery in Fort Myers Beach, and fact-checking for a New York Times writer in Paris.
Do you love the concept of Biomimicry but because you’re not a biologist or engineer, don’t think it holds any practical applications in your field? Well, if your work is more about leading people, shifting culture, or transforming organizations, there is definitely a place for you in the Biomimicry movement! Come join Biomimicry for Social Innovation’s founder, Toby Herzlich and Gina LaMotte, Managing Director of Biomimicry for Social Innovation, for an interactive session in which we’ll explore nature’s lessons on collaboration, trust-building, and leading resilient change.
March 28th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Ashby Room, Residence Inn
Panelists
Toby Herzlich
Founder | Biomimicry for Social Innovation
Toby Herzlich, founder/Director of Biomimicry for Social Innovation, a non-profit dedicated to applying nature’s genius to leadership and social change, is a trainer and facilitator focused on progressive leadership development and building diverse multidisciplinary networks for changemaking. A certified Biomimicry Specialist and educator, Toby’s 30+ years of experience have included: Senior Trainer with the Rockwood Leadership Institute; co-founder of the Cultivating Women’s Leadership training intensives; organizational consulting with such clients as the Sierra Club, Ford Foundation, AgroEcology Fund, National Hispanic Cultural Center, and the Navajo Nation; and the launching of several national collaborative networks, including the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable and the Young Climate Leaders Network. She is also a facilitator with the Volgenau Climate Initiative and Project Positive.
Gina LaMotte
Managing Director | Biomimicry for Social Innovation
Gina LaMotte, Managing Director of Biomimicry for Social Innovation, is a social entrepreneur dedicated to the vision of a thriving, just and regenerative future who has for 25+ years been inspired by biomimicry, systems-change, social innovation, design thinking, and climate justice in her work. In 2008, she founded EcoRise, a nonprofit supporting thousands of K-12 schools nationwide with programs centering youth leadership to advance climate action, sustainability and environmental justice. She also created Gen:Thrive, a national initiative that provides network mapping and data visualization tools to advance health, equity, and climate resilience in K-12 schools.
Saturday, March 29th
Join Chrysalis creator Carrie Ziegler and fellow Bioneers youth for a session of collaborative wire-sculpture artmaking. This relaxed, hands-on session is a perfect way to unwind, connect with peers, and engage in a creative, collective experience. Dive in at any stage and help bring our community project to completion by the conference’s end. No prior workshop attendance or experience required.
March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Terrace outside Tamalpais Room, Brower Center
Panelists
Carrie Ziegler
Artist
Carrie Ziegler, an international artist and leader in collaborative art initiatives, seeks to harness the collective power of art to drive social and environmental transformation. Through her Art in Action initiatives, she collaborates with local governments, organizations, and educational institutions to create multi-dimensional works that blend participant creativity with pressing societal issues, inspiring active engagement to bring communities together to create lasting change. The Chrysalis Project, now a global initiative, initially contributed to the passing of the Thurston County, WA, Climate Mitigation Plan, and the Plastic Whale Project played a pivotal role in the successful passing of a local ban on single-use plastic bags.
Bioneers brings together a very diverse, discerning, engaged and reflective community, and the curated conversations around crucial topics we have been hosting recently (“Conversation Cafes”) have proven highly popular and stimulating. Each session begins with a very brief presentation by one of the conference presenters as a “conversation starter” to frame the topic, followed by structured group discussion. At the end of each session, a “harvester” who has carefully witnessed and “absorbed” what has transpired, offers us a poetic synopsis/recapitulation of the highlights of our time together.
The fervor of our ecological and social movements, while well-intentioned, can often shut people down, sometimes even turning them into opponents, but to achieve genuine transformation, we will need just about everyone. In this session, we will explore how to tap into our compassion, flexibility, curiosity, listening, engagement, and service to widen the possibilities for wellness for all sentient beings. The central question we will contemplate will be: How can we show up in ways that welcome everyone into change? Participants should be prepared to listen and interact in mindful, respectful conversations with open minds and hearts.
The conversation starter for this session will be Jeanine M. Canty, author and professor of Transformative Studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Facilitated by David Shaw, Santa Cruz Permaculture and UCSC Right Livelihood Center. “Harvester:” Jason Bayani, author, theater performer, Artistic Director, Kearny Street Workshop.
March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Ashby Room, Residence Inn
Panelists
Jeanine Canty
Professor of Transformative Studies | California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS)
Jeanine M. Canty, Ph.D., a professor of Transformative Studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) whose teaching intersects issues of social and ecological justice, ecopsychology, and the process of worldview expansion and change, is author of Returning the Self to Nature: Undoing Our Collective Narcissism and Healing Our Planet and both editor and contributor to the books Ecological and Social Healing: Multicultural Women’s Voices and Globalism and Localization: Emergent Approaches to Ecological and Social Crises. Her newest book (April ’25) is an expanded, second edition of Ecological and Social Healing: Multicultural Women’s Voices. (ciis.edu)
David Shaw
Founder | Santa Cruz Permaculture and the UCSC Right Livelihood College
David Shaw, a whole systems designer, facilitator, educator, and musician, founded Santa Cruz Permaculture and the UCSC Right Livelihood College, a partnership with the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” He supports communities locally and globally to transform their shared future through strategic dialogue and collective action.
Jason Bayani
Artistic Director | Kearny Street Workshop
Jason Bayani, MFA, a theater performer and author, is Artistic Director of the Kearny Street Workshop, the oldest multi-disciplinary Asian Pacific-American arts organization in the country. A Kundiman Fellow, his published works include: Locus (a 2019 Norcal Book Award finalist) and Amulet. He has written for World Literature Today, Muzzle Magazine, Lantern Review, and other publications and performs regularly around the country. His first solo theater show was 2016’s Locus of Control.
Come join us in a circle to explore how surviving and thriving in these difficult times requires expanding our ability to pause our busy lives and be present with grief. In naming our losses and mourning together we will get to experience grief’s potential for solace, regeneration and transformation. Through basic breathing practice, intimate sharing, guided group conversation, and a simple ritual with elements from nature, we will touch into the gifts of connection and healing available when we take time to honor our losses and tend to our grief in community. Facilitated by death/grief educators and community gatherers, Anneke Campbell, Asha Kohli and Nisha Arcadia Shah.
We invite you to bring a sacred item to place on our collective altar—a token that holds meaning for you. This altar will hold us as we tend to our grief, weaving our individual stories into a shared tapestry of honoring and healing.
March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Insight Room, Dharma College
Panelists
Anneke Campbell
Writer and Community Activist
Anneke Campbell, a writer and community activist who has worked as a midwife, nurse, English professor, yoga teacher and death educator, co-authored (with Thomas Linzey): We The People: Stories from the Community Rights Movement in the U.S. and edited Nina Simons' book, Nature, Culture and the Sacred: One Woman Listens for Leadership. Anneke also publishes essays and articles and writes and co-produces the Bioneers newsletter: Leading From The Feminine: Weaving The World Anew and has facilitated grief sessions at the conference for the past 5 years.
Asha Kohli
Executive Assistant | Bioneers
Asha Kohli, a life coach, movement artist, and practitioner of herbal medicine with ancestral lineages in the Andes and India, facilitates grief circles, embodiment immersions, and communal rituals. She is the founder of Kohlibri Creative, a healing arts project that weaves artistry and ancient ways to guide others in their journey of self-healing and empowerment through artistic expression and earth-based rituals.
Nisha Arcadia Shah
Public Health and Lifestyle Medicine Professional
Nisha Arcadia Shah, MDiv, MPH, RDN, a public health and lifestyle medicine professional, social movement and eco-chaplain, literary activist, and doctoral student in transformative studies, works on projects supporting literary, health, and social change initiatives and specializes in lifestyle research. She is also an avid land walker, backyard farmer, voracious reader, nature lover, and library volunteer.
Modernity has stripped many of us of our ancestral lifeways. In this interactive session with Maija West and Hilary Giovale, we will explore the reclamation of matriarchal principles, practices, and ways of knowing. Calling on our supportive ancestors, we will create small circles within our larger circle, to sense this reclamation in our bodies, imagine it in our hearts, and begin speaking it into being. How can people of all genders come together and respectfully embody the ancestral teachings that connect us to land, water, and each other?
March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Lotus Cafe, Dharma College
Panelists
Maija West
Author and Consultant
Maija Danilova West, a retired attorney, author, and consultant with 25+ years’ experience advising nonprofits, businesses, tribes, and government agencies, specializes in utilizing reconciliation strategies to foster strong agreements within diverse communities. Her Latvian heritage has deeply influenced her leadership vision, emphasizing the importance of relationships, traditions, and honoring life's transitions. This cultural grounding, combined with her extensive professional experience, informs her work as a peacemaker. Maija's recent book, "Matriarch Makeover, a 30-Day Invitation," is an ecological call to action for women leaders.
Hilary Giovale
Author and Activist
Hilary Giovale, a ninth-generation American settler, descended from Celtic, Germanic, Nordic, and Indigenous peoples of ancient Europe, is an active “reparationist” who seeks to “divest from whiteness” and seeks to follow Indigenous and Black leadership in support of human rights, environmental justice and equitable futures. She is the author of Becoming a Good Relative: Calling White Settlers toward Truth, Healing, and Repair.
Our “personal ecology” is the dynamic relationship between all the interconnected inner and outer elements that shape our life—our mind, body and spirit and also our community and the environment that surrounds us. Exploring our personal ecology can be of great help in radically improving how we live, how we connect, and the balance we create between all the elements in our lives. Come discover ways to cultivate better balance, awareness, and harmony, so you can be better equipped to care for and nurture yourself, your family, your friends, your community, and the larger world. With Brandi Mack, who has a long track record in community engagement, “trauma-informed” design, facilitating transformative experiences and blending nature-based solutions with mindful practices to foster connection, reflection, and growth.
March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Skillful Means Center, Dharma College
Panelists
Brandi Mack
Holistic Health Educator
Brandi Mack, a traditional ecological designer with a deep passion for personal growth and community building, is deeply committed to creating a healthier, more sustainable world for future generations. A holistic health educator, therapeutic massage therapist, permaculture designer, living systems thought leader, and mother of three daughters, she has a long track record of facilitating transformative experiences and blending nature-based solutions with mindful practices to foster connection, reflection, and growth.
These times call on all of us to become more resilient as individuals and communities. In this engaging, highly interactive “playshop,” we will explore a dozen or so simple practices to help us calm our nervous systems, energize our bodies, and open to new possibilities. The practices span breath, movement, expression, connection and self-discovery. We’ll leave with a toolkit to create our own personalized resiliency routines, as well as practices we can share with our families, friends and communities. With: transformational coach, advisor, and eco-artist, Laura Loescher.
March 29th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Lotus Cafe, Dharma College
Panelists
Laura Loescher
Transformational Coach, Philanthropic Advisor, and Eco-Artist
Laura Loescher is a transformational coach, philanthropic advisor, and eco-artist with home bases in Oregon and Vermont. Living a semi-nomadic lifestyle, she creates Earth Altars—impermanent nature art crafted from natural objects gathered in beautiful outdoor settings. Deeply committed to personal, community, and planetary well-being, Laura developed Resiliency Cards: 64 Simple Practices for Resilient Living, a unique card deck that combines her nature-inspired art with practical exercises to calm the nervous system, energize the body, spark new possibilities, and foster self-awareness.
4:45 pm: Interactive Session – Moving Towards Belonging: A Dance/Theater Experience
Co-Sponsored with The Belonging Resident Company
Come explore the radical idea of “belonging without othering,” as espoused by the Othering and Belonging Institute’s Director, john a. powell, through simple movement and theater techniques, and guided conversation. This workshop offers participants a chance to explore personal and collective experiences of belonging, and to dream a world in which everyone belongs in the circle of human concern. Instructors: Sarah Crowell and Sangita Kumar, Co-Directors of The Belonging Resident Company, an ensemble of artists and facilitators dedicated to making the revolution of belonging irresistible.
March 29th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Skillful Means Center, Dharma College
Panelists
Sarah Crowell
Co-Director | The Belonging Resident Company
Sarah Crowell, a Black, biracial, lesbian/queer dancer/choreographer and artistic collaborator, sees her work in the world as the bringing of mindfulness and physical embodiment into movements for social justice and racial healing. A leader at Oakland’s Destiny Arts Center for 30 years who now does consulting work with the Othering and Belonging Institute, Dance Mission Theater and other organizations, Sarah is currently the Co-Director of the The Belonging Resident Company, a performance ensemble that centers BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ artists, facilitators, and musicians and aims to foster embodied experiences of belonging and dismantle systems of oppression.
Sangita Kumar
Co-Director | Belonging Resident Company
Sangita Kumar, an organizational development consultant and somatic coach, is the founder of Be The Change Consulting, a human-centered consulting firm that seeks to support organizations and movements to bring liberatory practices into their work. She is also the Co-Director of the The Belonging Resident Company, a performance ensemble that centers BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ artists, facilitators, and musicians and aims to foster embodied experiences of belonging and dismantle systems of oppression.
