Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, an award-winning Associate Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research focuses on racial literacy in teacher education, Black girl literacies, and Black and Latinx male high school students. A sought-after speaker on issues of race, culturally responsive pedagogy, and diversity, Sealey-Ruiz works with K…

Justis Lopez (also known as DJ Faro) is the founder and Chief Enthusiasm Officer (CEO) of Just Experience LLC, an organization that strives to educate, entertain, and empower communities across the world. As a community organizer he focuses on ways to create spaces of radical joy, justice, & healing through Hip-Hop and the arts. He is currently pur…

Maria Tan is an educator and consultant who works with organizations, schools and individuals who are committed to serving communities through healing-centered work and education. She is a former Bronx high school science teacher where she helped lead a school-wide shift towards equitable practices including introducing restorative circles as an ad…

Cory Greene is a formerly incarcerated co-founder and Healing Justice Organizer with How Our Lives link Altogether! (H.O.L.L.A!). He is invested in developing, leading and implementing an intergenerational, youth-led, citywide and nationwide Healing Justice Movement. Cory (39 years old) was born and raised by a single mother in East Elmhurst Queens…

Dolores Acosta M.A, is a sister, daughter, friend, aunt, wife and a wellness activist. She was born and raised in NYC and both her parents are from the Dominican Republic. She is currently the People Experience Manager at Kinly, Consultant at Acosta Consulting and the co-founder of NYC Healing Collective. For 10 years she has worked in social servi…

Dr. Ian P. Levy is an assistant professor and the director of School Counseling Programs at Manhattan College. He is a New York City native and former high school counselor. His research explores preparing school counselors to use hip-hop based interventions to support youth development. Most notably, Dr. Levy piloted the development, implementatio…

Luis Alejandro Tapia, a son of Dominican immigrants, serves as a social impact and equity consultant, a racial and restorative justice coach and trainer, circle keeper, social justice educator, and facilitator at the intersection of spirituality, justice, healing and liberation. Luis Alejandro is committed to supporting the power of communities of …

Angela Kariotis is an “artist as public servant." She is a community-engaged culture worker and educator building creative experiences serving the needs of cities, institutions, and students of all ages for public good. Kariotis integrates restorative practices with the pedagogy of play for a transformative learning experience. Angela is winner of …

Dr. Jen Gowers has been an educator and leader in New York City public and charter schools for more than 17 years. She believes the world will thrive when our youth thrive. Jen currently serves as the chief of schools management, instruction and professional development for the Brilla network, where she serves and supports six schools in the Bronx.…

Rashid Hughes is co-founder of the Heart Refuge Mindfulness Community and creator of R.E.S.T. - A Practice for the Tired & Weary. This contemplative practice supports us to settle into a sense of ease and invites us to release our efforting and striving, leaving a space for openness and awareness.Av Dr. Angel Acosta

Solana Booth, doula, traditional medicine keeper, indigenous wisdom keeper and historical trauma expert guides us through a practice of connecting with our guides and our expansive sense of self.Av Dr. Angel Acosta

In this episode we are joined by Quin Gonell, a doctoral candidate of educational leadership and policy studies and an educational consultant with a focus on restorative justice. He shares how his healing journey and the power of vulnerability influences the transformative work he does at the intersection of social justice education and healing-cen…

In this episode, we are joined by Vlada Bortnik, the CEO and co-founder of Marco Polo. She shares how maintaining relationships, building belonging and happiness were at the center of creating the Marco Polo app. Vlada’s ethos of putting emotional wellbeing first emphasizes how important it is to use technology that is good for you.…

Arlène Elizabeth Casimir, Brooklyn-based educator and owner of her own of educational consultancy, shares how she designs and facilitates culturally sustaining, healing-centered, and spiritually grounded personal and professional development. Operating from the values of freedom, community and love and guided by intuition, she shares her passion fo…

In this episode we’re joined by Maria Tan, the founder and director of House of Thriving and Thriving Teacher Project. We learn about her journey in education and her pivot to entrepreneurship, born from her desire to support educators’ wellbeing and her discovery of decolonizing her belief systems. She shares her Thriving Educator Model and how we…

Arawana Hayashi of the Social Presencing Institute guides listeners through an embodiment practice that allows us to cultivate gratitude for simply being in the body and belonging on the planet in this now moment.Av Dr. Angel Acosta

In this episode we are joined by Andre ChenFeng, researcher and teacher educator committed to amplifying the voices of teacher educators of color. He shares his doctoral work which looks at how teachers of color embrace and embody liberatory pedagogy and healing-centered practices. In this conversation, Andre invites us to reflect on our own healin…

In this episode, we are joined by the founder and executive director of Mobius, Aden Van Noppen. We learn about her mission to create a more responsible, compassionate tech sector by supporting technologists in the inner and outer work of transformation. By seeing technologists as caretakers and considering the grief and hope that accompanies build…

In this episode, we sit with Dr. Ian Levy, Director of School Counseling Programs at Manhattan College. He shares with us the restorative and healing potential of lyric writing and his journey of embodying that process himself. In his work, he collaborates with youth to create the container for hip hop to be what it is - healing.…

Director of the Teacher Education Program at Harvard University, Christina Villarreal, shares the legacy of ethnic studies - the joy, resilience, trauma, genius - as healing-centered engagement in action. Her annual symposium of ethnic studies reimagines final projects as an exercise in solidarity and vulnerability that produce powerful artifacts o…

Dr. Angel Acosta guides us through a contemplative practice that supports us in slowing down and tuning into the power of awareness.Av Dr. Angel Acosta

Educator, writer and performance artist Angela Kariotis shares her framework, Practicing for the Future, inviting us to envision ourselves as artists that ideate the sustainable future. Her love for art as a process and her energy for responsibility creates a brave space for radical imagination and critical hope.…

Drisana (Dru) McDaniel, mother-worker-activist and co-founder of the Transformative Teaching Collective, speaks to the power of sitting with paradox and how reorienting ourselves to the present moment can support us with integration and transmutation - what she calls becoming the everyday alchemist. Through sharing her lived experiences and her per…

In this episode, we explore Dr. Kia Darling-Hammond’s Bridge to Thriving Framework© as a pathway to healing and restoration. With a focus on vibrancy and joy, Kia shares the power of balancing surviving and thriving and how thriving is truly a return to the self.Av Dr. Angel Acosta

Educator, DJ and author, Justis Lopez, illuminates the DJ as healer and shares how his work strives to create spaces of healing and thriving through music. This conversation invites getting lost in music and sound to discover spaces of dreaming and possibility.Av Dr. Angel Acosta