Thursday, March 27th
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.
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.
4:45 pm: Young Leaders Program – Community of Mentors with Benja Mertz
Joy and Grief in Challenging Times
Bioneers is inherently a community of mentors—people eager to learn, share, explore and create together. The “Community of Mentors” space at Bioneers is an intergenerational container that offers youth the opportunity to be in small group mentoring sessions with Bioneers presenters. The presenters will share their life experience in an interactive dialogue with youth who are seeking guidance on their path to activism.
Young people today are faced with having to come of age during one of the most challenging periods in our history. In this session, Benja Mertz, Board Chair of the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity and founder/Director of Joyful Noise! Gospel Singers, will explore with us how to stay sane and centered during such uncertain and often frightening times. All youth are welcome to bring questions, hopes, grief, and all parts of themselves to the conversation. Hosted by Sam Burris-Debosky and justine epstein of Weaving Earth.
March 27th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Kinzie Room, Brower Center
Panelists
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.
Sam Burris-Debosky
| Weaving Earth
Sam Burris-Debosky, a farmer, carpenter, and rites-of-passage guide dedicated to imagining and building resilient, flourishing communities, co-founded and directed Village Farm at Stanley, in Aurora, Colorado, an urban farm dedicated to food-justice and education. Sam is working at this year’s Bioneers Conference as part of the Weaving Earth team to help host the Community of Mentors sessions.
justine epstein
| Weaving Earth
justine epstein, a guiding council (board) member and 3-year graduate of Weaving Earth and a co-facilitator for the Ancestors & Money coaching cohort, is an organizer, facilitator, rites of passage guide and naturalist dedicated to transmuting legacies and systems of ancestral harm through wealth redistribution, social justice movement organizing, ancestral healing, cultural rites of passage, embodied community, and deep ecology.
How do we resist systemic violence while working towards a world where everyone belongs and we can uphold the dignity of every individual? The legacy of nonviolence provides us a way to not only fix issues (pass legislation, change systems), but also to repair relationships (heal trauma, strengthen community). In this interactive workshop, we will seek to learn from the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the organizing strategy of the Civil Rights Movement. With: Kazu Haga, a trainer and practitioner with over 25 years’ experience in nonviolence and social change work, author of Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm.
March 27th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Tamalpais Room, Brower Center
Panelists
Kazu Haga
Author, Trainer, Practitioner
Kazu Haga, a trainer and practitioner of nonviolence and restorative justice who works with incarcerated people, youth, and activists from around the country and has over 25 years’ experience in nonviolence and social change work, is a core member of Building Belonging, the Ahimsa Collective, and the Fierce Vulnerability Network. Kazu is also a Jam facilitator and the author of Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm. He and his family are residents of the Canticle Farm community on Lisjan Ohlone land, Oakland, CA.
Visionary and expressive culture is a queer lineage that thrives across the expanse of time, even as we enter an era of emboldened prejudice against the LGBTQ2SIA+ community. Despite this, we know that we have the opportunity to contribute to the histories and legacies of our movements: whether it is defiance against erasure, resistance to pacifying our power, and celebration of our self-expression and existence. Come join this intergenerational mixer to connect with like-minded LGBTQ+ community, with optional prompts to guide reflection and protection for those most vulnerable among us. As a mixer meant to meet the moment, we offer this event as a place to empower one another, to grieve, to connect, to dream, and to move in formation to free our wings in order to reach the sky. This is a space dedicated for LGBTQ2SIA+ folx, but allies are welcome. Hosted by Orion Camero, former Brower Youth Awards winner, Spiritual Ecology Fellow and Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow.
March 27th | 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm | Tamalpais Room, Brower Center
Panelists
Orion Camero
Action Lead Program Manager | Narrative Initiative
Orion Camero, a queer visual storytelling educator and cultural organizer of Filipinx ancestry with roots in California’s Central Valley, is the Action Lead Program Manager for Narrative Initiative, a story-based social change organization focused on maximizing opportunities to nourish and grow narrative power, equip narrative changemakers, and bond communities to pursue long-term progress for social justice. Orion, a former Brower Youth Awards winner, Spiritual Ecology Fellow and Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow, also stewards the California Allegory, an epic collaborative image that acts as a centerpiece for intersectional justice education and cross-movement pollination.
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.
The BIPOCC Youth Caucus is a safe and brave open forum where youth of color have an opportunity to listen to one another and share the real issues that come with holding their identities in social and environmental movements as well as in the world at large. Facilitators will help youth deal with their struggles and aspirations and have an opportunity to move toward healing. Facilitated by Brandi Mack, Minkah Taharkah, and Alondra Aragon.
March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Tamalpais Room, Brower Center
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.
Alondra Aragon
Member | Hummingbird Farm Collective
Alondra Aragon, a community organizer since she was 15, has dedicated more than a decade working with environmental and youth justice movements. As a member of the Hummingbird Farm collective, she seeks to: create a space for the community to reconnect with the land and traditional local ecological knowledge; move toward a just transition by growing healthy food, restoring local ecosystems, practicing herbal healing, and providing job training; and build alternative community governance structures.
Minkah Taharkah
Coordinator | California Farmer Justice Collaborative
Minkah Taharkah is a multidisciplinary artist, environmental justice advocate, land steward, and designer from Leimert Park in Los Angeles, CA. She is the Coordinator for the California Farmer Justice Collaborative, where she supports BIPOC growers across the state to get access to resources and build connections, as well as Director of Land + Programming with the Butterfly Movement and a co-facilitator with the B Healthy B Holistic Consultancy.
Join us in a guided, reflective, interactive space designed to help us unravel the threads of whiteness and colonialism that live within us, our families, our ancestral lineages, and our communities. Through honest reflection, embodied practice, and mutual support, we will seek to move beyond guilt and isolation toward accountability, connection, and healing. We will create a space where we can begin to release harmful conditioning, compost inherited patterns, and step into more authentic, liberatory ways of being. Together, we will explore what it means to show up in the world with humility, courage, and a commitment to transformation. In doing this work, we take steps toward rejoining humanity, repairing our relationships with people and the planet, and cultivating meaningful, trust-filled connections with BIPOC communities. Facilitated by Hilary Giovale and Lauren Gucik.
* This session is offered as a youth-centered space. Non-youth participants are invited to attend as supportive witnesses.
March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Conference Room in Magnes Museum
Panelists
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.
Lauren Gucik
Facilitator, Educator and Activist
Lauren Gucik is a facilitator, event coordinator, educator and food sovereignty activist dedicated to weaving connections between people, land, and ancestral wisdom and designing experiences that nourish joy, deepen reflection, and cultivate liberation.
Bioneers is inherently a community of mentors—people eager to learn, share, explore and create together. The “Community of Mentors” space at Bioneers is an intergenerational container that offers youth the opportunity to be in small group mentoring sessions with Bioneers presenters. The presenters will share their life experience in an interactive dialogue with youth who are seeking guidance on their path to activism.
We are delighted to welcome Asa Miller, coral reef restoration specialist, poet, and filmmaker, to the Community of Mentors space as an 18-year-old peer mentor to his fellow youth gathered at Bioneers. Asa’s unique combination of work and experience in both the sciences and the arts speaks to the interdisciplinary approach that so many young people today feel we must take to tackle the wide-ranging problems confronting us. We welcome all interested youth to come join the conversation with their thoughts, questions and curiosities. Hosted by Sam Burris-Debosky and justine epstein of Weaving Earth.
March 28th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Upstairs in The Marsh
Panelists
Asa Miller – Youth Keynote
Marine Science Researcher
Asa Miller, 18, a marine science researcher and Greenburgh, NY’s Youth Poet Laureate, is an international leader in marine conservation who combines an acute knowledge of the issues facing marine ecosystems with the sensibility and creativity of a poet. He has conducted coral reef conservation in both his native Cuba and in Israel, each time working with teams whose collaborations transcended conflicts and borders. His documentary short “Coral Reef Restoration” has screened and won awards at 26 international film festivals. He is a winner of the Brower Youth, National Marine Educators Association Youth Leadership in Marine Conservation, and Blue Hatchling Youth awards.
Sam Burris-Debosky
| Weaving Earth
Sam Burris-Debosky, a farmer, carpenter, and rites-of-passage guide dedicated to imagining and building resilient, flourishing communities, co-founded and directed Village Farm at Stanley, in Aurora, Colorado, an urban farm dedicated to food-justice and education. Sam is working at this year’s Bioneers Conference as part of the Weaving Earth team to help host the Community of Mentors sessions.
justine epstein
| Weaving Earth
justine epstein, a guiding council (board) member and 3-year graduate of Weaving Earth and a co-facilitator for the Ancestors & Money coaching cohort, is an organizer, facilitator, rites of passage guide and naturalist dedicated to transmuting legacies and systems of ancestral harm through wealth redistribution, social justice movement organizing, ancestral healing, cultural rites of passage, embodied community, and deep ecology.
Relief printing is a form of printmaking that cuts, carves, or etches a surface until all that remains is the design that will be printed. This is most commonly done with linoleum, wood, rubber, and metal. Relief printmaking has been used throughout history as a fine art, a craft, and way to disseminate information. Across cultures, relief printmaking has been a staple for peoples protesting injustice. Through relief printmaking, artists and activists are able to connect to broader communities and organize collectively.
March 28th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Tamalpais Room, Brower Center
Panelists
Devin Lee
Visual Artist
Devin Lee is a visual artist with a focus on tattooing whose work reflects a keen interest in plants, ancestral communication, healing across generations, and connecting to our diverse lineages and visions for collective liberation.
Hosted by the Young Leaders Program at Bioneers, this evening provides a space for Bioneers Youth to recharge, connect, build community beyond the conference sessions, shake off the weight of the world, and fuel the fire for change. Expect decompression activities through movement, a variety of interactive stations, and plenty of time to simply chill out and be together. There will be light snacks, but dinner won’t be provided. Youth are welcome to bring simple-to-carry food with them, if they wish, or can eat beforehand, and we ask chaperones to grab dinner or step out during the session, so it can be a youth-only space.
March 28th | 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm | Tamalpais Room, Brower Center
Saturday, March 29th
Bioneers is inherently a community of mentors—people eager to learn, share, explore and create together. The “Community of Mentors” space at Bioneers is an intergenerational container that offers youth the opportunity to be in small group mentoring sessions with Bioneers presenters. The presenters will share their life experience in an interactive dialogue with youth who are seeking guidance on their path to activism.
We are honored to have three accomplished activists and dynamic presenters who weave Restorative Justice, Biomimicry, and ecological wisdom into the work of advancing youth justice—Cymone Fuller, Kristen Rome and Ghani Songster—join the Community of Mentors space this year. We welcome all interested youth to come join the conversation with their thoughts and questions. Hosted by Sam Burris-Debosky and justine epstein of Weaving Earth.
March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Upstairs in The Marsh
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.
Sam Burris-Debosky
| Weaving Earth
Sam Burris-Debosky, a farmer, carpenter, and rites-of-passage guide dedicated to imagining and building resilient, flourishing communities, co-founded and directed Village Farm at Stanley, in Aurora, Colorado, an urban farm dedicated to food-justice and education. Sam is working at this year’s Bioneers Conference as part of the Weaving Earth team to help host the Community of Mentors sessions.
justine epstein
| Weaving Earth
justine epstein, a guiding council (board) member and 3-year graduate of Weaving Earth and a co-facilitator for the Ancestors & Money coaching cohort, is an organizer, facilitator, rites of passage guide and naturalist dedicated to transmuting legacies and systems of ancestral harm through wealth redistribution, social justice movement organizing, ancestral healing, cultural rites of passage, embodied community, and deep ecology.
Come work with vegan chef, urban ecologist, music educator, and widely traveled, Grammy-nominated “eco-hip-hop” artist, DJ Cavem to learn how to produce music, generate beats, compose songs, sample, and write lyrics, all to raise awareness about environmental sustainability, community-building, climate change, food justice, health, and wellness.
March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Tamalpais Room, Brower Center
Panelists
DJ Cavem
Music Educator, “Eco-Hip-Hop” Pioneer and Vegan Chef
Ietef “DJ Cavem” Vita, PhD., a Grammy-nominated music educator, “eco-hip-hop” pioneer, and celebrity vegan chef with a doctorate in Urban Ecology, fuses hip-hop with sustainability, using music as a catalyst for social and environmental change. He has performed at the White House; shared stages with Mos Def, Public Enemy, Snoop Dogg, and Wyclef Jean; delivered six TEDx talks; and been profiled in many publications, including Oprah Magazine, Forbes, and People. His albums include The Produce Section, BIOMIMICZ and KONCRETE GARDEN.
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.
True to a rainbow, queerness carries a spectrum of perspectives, with many gradients of experience. Alongside the inherited magic and joy of our liberated identities, we are often also moving with our wounds, questions, thoughts, and processes that can be challenging to navigate alone. This space is dedicated to making sanctuary for discussions, witnessing, and peer support as we work through and with who we are — especially in the current moment we find ourselves in. Come as you are (all emotions and experiences welcome) to speak, be heard and to hear, so we can make medicine for each other in the shared journey of being queer. This space is dedicated to the LGBTQIA+2S experience and those respectfully honoring that intention. Facilitated by Orion Camero, former Brower Youth Awards winner, Spiritual Ecology fellow and Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow.
March 29th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Upstairs in The Marsh
Panelists
Orion Camero
Action Lead Program Manager | Narrative Initiative
Orion Camero, a queer visual storytelling educator and cultural organizer of Filipinx ancestry with roots in California’s Central Valley, is the Action Lead Program Manager for Narrative Initiative, a story-based social change organization focused on maximizing opportunities to nourish and grow narrative power, equip narrative changemakers, and bond communities to pursue long-term progress for social justice. Orion, a former Brower Youth Awards winner, Spiritual Ecology Fellow and Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow, also stewards the California Allegory, an epic collaborative image that acts as a centerpiece for intersectional justice education and cross-movement pollination.
Join us for the grand finale of the weekend—an Open Mic session that celebrates the vibrant voices and talents of our youth. This event creates a sacred and empowering space for truth and healing, where young folks are invited to share their thoughts and talents. This Open Mic welcomes all expressions. Guiding us through the evening is the Hip Hop and R&B artist and activist, Jada Imani, who will add her unique flair to make it an unforgettable experience.
March 29th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Tamalpais Room, Brower Center
Panelists
Jada Imani Carter
Hip-Hop artist and Community Organizer
Jada Imani Carter, a hip-hop artist, community organizer, and longtime member of the Bioneers Youth Program, has deep roots in the East Bay arts and activism scene, in which she often curates transformative spaces where young people can share their voices, connect, and build power through creativity. Jada has spent over a decade leading workshops, curating events, and fostering intergenerational dialogue through music and storytelling. At Bioneers 2025, she is on the Youth Program Design Team co-hosting the Youth Orientation and hosting the Bioneers Open Mic to provide a platform for self-expression and connection.
