Neharika Dembla
Neharika Dembla is a facilitator, strategist, and social impact professional with international experience across the UK, Thailand, India, Guatemala, and other global contexts. Her work spans organisational culture, DEI, sustainability, innovation, entrepreneurship, customer experience, and community building. With a background in law and an MSc in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Management from Imperial College London, Neharika brings a strong human centred and entrepreneurial approach to her work. She has designed and delivered programmes focused on gender equity, employee engagement, behaviour change, wellbeing, and inclusion, working with organisations ranging from global companies to startups, NGOs, and community organisations. As a multiple time co-founder, Neharika has hands-on experience turning ideas into experiences, products, and communities. This includes co-founding Friends of Friends in Thailand, where she designed curated offline experiences for groups of up to 80 people, as well as developing ventures in education, wellbeing, and sustainable food. Her approach is grounded in curiosity, creativity, and understanding people before designing solutions. She draws on design thinking, customer journey mapping, stakeholder engagement, and her experience across different cultures to create inclusive and engaging experiences that help people connect, contribute, and move ideas forward.
Flynn Tan
Flynn Tan [they/them] is a service designer, UX designer and researcher, and facilitator who loves to help people connect, thrive, and move towards their dreams. Using a human-centered approach, design thinking, and expertise in UX, systems thinking, and accessibility, Flynn thoughtfully and meticulously designs experiences and processes which create a safe space for groups to nurture curiosity, deepen empathy, explore internal and external unknowns, practice different ways of thinking/doing, and develop skills. In recent years, Flynn has advised teams on human-centered innovation and process improvements in healthcare; advocated for accessible and inclusive design in the arts and entertainment; and facilitated reflective, collaborative, and personal development workshops. Flynn holds a BA in English Literature and Web Programming & Applications from New York University; a MS in Information Studies from the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in UX Design and UX Research; and a Facilitation Certification with Voltage Control. With roots in Florida and memories in Manila, New York, London, Virginia, and Colorado, Flynn is now exploring life in Texas. In their free time, Flynn loves to read, learn skills and explore new hobbies, make art and games, and hike with their dog, Iris. Every day is dedicated to their life’s mission to help grow a more intentional, creative, curious, and connected world.
Michael Fryer
Michael Fryer has been creating spaces in which people can explore the things that really matter for the past 29 years. His work has taken him all over the world and given him an opportunity to gain insights into the core ingredients of healthy teams and communities. He learned his trade in Northern Ireland with The Corrymeela Community, Ireland’s oldest peace and reconciliation center. Their focus on the importance of relationships, and on listening and intentionally creating a space in which new perspectives can emerge, resonated deeply. From 2018-2024 he taught applied skills-based courses as a Professor of Practice at the University of San Diego’s Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies. Accompanying and guiding a team as they journey from confusion, frustration and apathy through to engagement, clarity and enthusiasm about their next steps is always such a privilege. Michael focuses on highlighting the links between seemingly random and unrelated ideas, themes and perspectives and then connecting them with the challenges being explored with a team. Through asking better questions, Michael helps teams move past simplistic explanations for complex challenges and transform deeply rooted conflicts and change processes. He has most recently focused on helping senior leaders navigate the inevitable challenges of digital transformation initiatives. He lives in the beautiful mountains near San Diego with his wife Vanessa and young daughters Eloise and Lucette.
Danette Wilkins Marte
Danette Wilkins Marte (they/them, elle, elu) is an expansive strategist, intuitive facilitator, and liberatory changemaker with over 20 years of experience providing strategic, technical, programmatic, and operational support to diverse organizations and groups and implementing research, programming, and training across the globe (primarily Central America, North America, South America, and Southern Africa). Prior to consulting, Danette worked with U.S. government agencies (U.S Agency for International Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Peace Corps), consulting firms (Cultural Practice, Tetra Tech), international non-governmental organizations (Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs), and academic institutions (Emory University, Johns Hopkins University) addressing a wide range of health and development areas including agriculture and economic growth, democracy and governance, education, environment and natural resources, and health (e.g., animal disease preparedness and response, gender-based violence, mental health and psychosocial support, sexual and reproductive health). They also have demonstrated experience in gender mainstreaming and integration (e.g., men’s and boys’ engagement, women’s and girls’ empowerment), social and behavior change (e.g., entertainment education, gender transformative approaches, provider behavior change), and diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (e.g., gender equality, disability, and social inclusion, gender and sexuality diversity, and LGBTQI+ inclusion). Danette holds a bachelor of arts degree in Hispanic Studies and Government from the College of William and Mary, a graduate diploma in Gender and Development from the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) in Ecuador, and a master of public health degree in Behavioral Sciences and Health Education from Emory University. Outside of formal schooling and training, they pursue informal learning through popular education and self-directed learning. As an Afrodiasporic child of immigrants and working-class people, Danette’s approach to facilitation values the wisdom of lived experience and centers humility, curiosity, empathy, authenticity, and respect.
Elliot Corona
Elliot Corona. With over 15 years of experience supporting an industrial training ecosystem (Aramco), complemented by leadership development (QatarEnergy LNG) and leading virtual learning projects (U.S. Dept. of State), Elliot brings a unique combination of corporate and academic perspectives in developing competency-based learning solutions that address capability gaps and business goals. At Aramco, one hybrid learning project involved working with the Corporate Academy to co-design and implement a Sustainability Awareness Program targeting trainees – Aramco’s largest onboarding pipeline. As the lead designer, Elliot conducted a thorough needs analysis, co-developed the program’s learning framework with SMEs, and co-facilitated the pilot delivery. He subsequently trained 14 facilitators from seven training centers, enabling scalable implementation. Pre-COVID, he led the development of a behavioral change model for the “Quit & Win” smoking cessation program in collaboration with healthcare professionals, a smoke-free steering committee, and a dozen certified facilitators to consolidate data. In three years, these efforts resulted in 100 verified “quitters” kingdom wide. Across initiatives, Elliot has served as a bridge between learners, SMEs, facilitators, and operational stakeholders to ensure that development efforts tackle underlying performance needs rather than satisfying statistical requirements alone. More recently, Mr. Corona has broadened his talent development expertise as a Virtual Educator supporting four U.S. Department of State projects in Bangladesh. Designing integrated modules in job readiness and academic profile-building skills, Elliot scaled a synchronous VILT program from one to five in-person learning hubs. He engaged over 100 participants per cohort by linking EdTech, competency frameworks, centralized reporting, and partnerships with local support systems. In parallel, Elliot facilitated in-person workshops for QatarEnergy LNG via a regional training provider, challenging employees to apply leadership skills in emotional intelligence, creativity, time management, and technical writing in task-based simulations. Outcomes were evaluated through qualitative performance observations, L1 evaluations, and pre/post measures designed to identify competency gains and knowledge gaps using standardized methods. Elliot’s professional experience is backed by a master’s in management from Harvard University with an emphasis in organizational performance, coupled with certificates in L&D and project management. In short, Elliot is a versatile trainer who is ready to contribute to the co-design and development of learning solutions with evolving needs. He welcomes a discussion on how “we” could make a meaningful impact.
Keara Cormier-Hill
Keara Cormier-Hill is a dynamic, trauma-informed facilitator with over 15 years of experience creating inclusive, engaging, and strategically grounded learning environments. With a background in sociology, adolescent counseling, and design research, she brings a rare blend of warmth, critical inquiry, and systems thinking to every space she holds. Keara has designed and facilitated sessions with a wide range of participants, from youth in the Dominican Republic reimagining community service, to state leaders evaluating social programs, to health tech teams exploring user insights. She’s skilled at guiding groups through sensitive conversations, especially those involving vulnerable populations, equity, or lived experience. Her trauma-informed approach creates space for honest dialogue and deep reflection, while her ability to connect the dots between individual stories and systems-level change helps participants move from insight to action. Whether she’s helping a team develop a theory of change, leading a participatory design sprint, or facilitating a multi-stakeholder strategy retreat, Keara’s style is collaborative, friendly, and highly adaptive. She’s able to meet people where they are while gently pushing them to think bigger.She is also the founder of The South Design Research Studio, where she leads regionalco-design and research projects across the American South, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
Alexandra (Alex) Gaspar Martins Teixeira
Alexandra (Alex) Gaspar Martins Teixeira (she/her) is a collective intelligence enthusiast, master facilitator and technical strategist with over 25 years of experience designing and facilitating participatory meetings and convenings for high-performing teams and organizational collaboratives including FHI 360, Ipas, MSI Reproductive Choices, the Urgent Action Fund, the World Health Organization and UNFPA among others. Prior to consulting, Alex spent 11 years advancing access to safe abortion at Ipas where she partnered with global teams and led organization-wide initiatives as a Senior Advisor for Technical Innovation and Excellence, the Associate Director for Community Engagement and Policy Advocacy and as the Senior Advisor for Organizational Learning. Alex has also served as the Philanthropic Partnerships Officer for the Astraea Foundation, as a Global Research & Policy Advisor for the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (now OutRight Action International) and as a Program Fellow with the Global Fund for Women. She has served on the board of directors of the Safe Abortion Action Fund (UK), The Stone House (NC), the Third Wave Foundation (NY) and Resource Generation (NY). Alex has designed and led over 70 high-stakes participatory workshops, retreats and convenings for over 2000 stakeholders across Africa, Asia and North America. She is among the most seasoned facilitators, globally, of Abortion Values Clarification for Action & Transformation (VCAT) Workshops where she has led community members, activists, health care providers, ministry officials, multilateral donors and embassies—all with wide ranging positions on abortion—through a process that shifts their orientation from one of contentious debate to an opportunity for empathy and principled collaboration to advance bodily autonomy. She has trained and mentored over 150 emerging facilitators and team leaders globally on designing and facilitating inclusive, liberatory and participatory meetings. With two decades of experience advancing equity and justice through philanthropy and global health programming, Alex approaches facilitation as a strategic opportunity to practice high-impact, equity-based collaboration skills that live on beyond our convenings. Alex brings skillful attention to transforming personal, interpersonal and systemic barriers to meaningful participation. She is passionate about helping groups connect, navigate principled disagreement, prioritize, focus, and align towards powerful actions that advance justice, joy and wellbeing in the world. Alex is a recipient of the Wildacres Leadership Initiative William C. Friday Fellowship (2014-2016), holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and French Literature from Connecticut College and a master’s degree in International Affairs with a focus on gender, sexuality and international human rights from Columbia University. As the first member of her family to attend university, she is humbled to stand on the shoulders of self-taught entrepreneurs, savvy dissidents, survivors of Portuguese dictatorship and lovers of learning. She currently lives in Durham, North Carolina, in the Southeastern United States, in a beloved cross-class, multi-racial intentional community of gorgeously imperfect humans trying to build deep interdependence.
Victor Udoewa
Victor Udoewa is a Principal Service Designer in the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology at the CDC and a Senior Fellow at the International Computer Science Institute. Before that, he was the Chief Technology Officer, Chief Experience Officer, and Service Design Lead of the NASA Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Research (SBIR/STTR) Programs. Before NASA, he was Director of Strategy at 18F, a civic consultancy for and inside the federal government. He started the education business unit, developed a line of educational products and services, directed strategy, managed the digital strategists’ practice, and served as a designer and strategist on partner projects. Previously, as a Global Education Instructional Designer and Training Development Specialist at Google, he designed learning experiences for people in low-to-middle-income countries around the world. The education could range from experiences covering how to develop web applications and how to use the internet to improve teaching and learning, to experiences exploring how to use internet technologies in post-disaster emergency response situations as well as global digital literacy. As a part of that work, he also advised Google in global energy and access work. Prior to Google he served at USAID and DHS as a science & technology policy advisor and development engineer focusing on infrastructure, post-disaster reconstruction, climate neutrality and global health. Building on his time teaching in secondary schools, he sometimes teaches teachers as an educational specialist and adjunct professor of education focusing on science and math education through classes, workshops, and video series. He still conducts and publishes engineering, design, or education research and is a certified health crisis and trauma counselor focusing (HIV/AIDS, miscarriage, etc.). Pre-COVID, he enjoyed singing in his male a cappella group and teaching salsa classes on the weekend. He still enjoys time with his wonderful family and his local choir.
Anna Kompanek
Anna Kompanek is an experienced project manager, trainer, and facilitator with background in business strategy, democratic governance, and economic development. In her most recent role as Director of Global Programs at the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), a non-profit affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, she managed an extensive portfolio of programs spanning emerging and frontier markets focused on public-private dialogue, business integrity, political and economic empowerment, and strengthening transparent and inclusive entrepreneurship ecosystems. Her global experience in coaching and facilitation includes developing high-performing teams, organizational capacity building for non-profits and business associations, strategic planning, change management, fostering resilience, multi-stakeholder dialogue, and coalition building for policy advocacy. She is passionate about leveraging facilitation as a transformative tool for shaping inter-personal relationships in teams, driving organizational change, and achieving systems-level transformation. Anna serves as Program Advisor on Business and Governance at the Oxford Analytica Foundation, and in prior roles she worked as a management consultant in Central Europe and in the U.S. Anna holds a Master’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and an MBA from George Mason University. She is a Project Management Professional (PMP), a Certified Compliance & Ethics Professional-International (CCEP-I), and in her spare time a yoga teacher (RYT-200).
Azmiri Mian
Azmiri Mian is a dynamic facilitator, mental health and wellness coach, and leadership expert who thrives on empowering individuals and groups to achieve transformative outcomes. Rooted in a rich tapestry of global cultural experiences, Azmiri brings a unique perspective to her work, championing human connection and embracing diversity as the foundation of collaboration and growth. With a strong foundation as an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker, Azmiri seamlessly integrates evidence-based strategies with innovative approaches such as Polyvagal Theory, somatic healing, and breathwork. Her expertise enables her to meet people where they are, guiding them through life’s complexities with empathy and clarity while fostering resilience and authentic connection. Guided by UFacilitate’s principles, Azmiri embodies the belief that “Relationships are the way.” She prioritizes creating safe, inclusive spaces where individuals and groups can navigate the “messy human stuff” with trust, vulnerability, and confidence. Her facilitation style is both compassionate and empowering, enabling participants to embrace their uniqueness and contribute meaningfully to shared goals. As a workshop leader, Azmiri excels in designing tailored group programs that inspire collaboration and transformation. Her signature offering, Reset Your Vagus Nerve and Live the Life You Want, empowers participants to build emotional regulation, resilience, and connection. Her ability to “nudge mountains” aligns with UFacilitate’s emphasis on sustainable change through small, consistent shifts, ensuring lasting impact for individuals and teams. Azmiri’s journey across Bangladesh, Greece, and Australia has cultivated a deep appreciation for diverse perspectives and a commitment to fostering belonging. Her mission to help others “embrace their weird” reflects her belief in the power of authenticity and the value of every voice in creating innovative, inclusive solutions. Currently training as an internationally accredited Breathwork Facilitator, Azmiri is continuously expanding her toolkit to ensure her clients have access to cutting-edge modalities. Whether coaching individuals or facilitating groups, Azmiri’s approach is rooted in empathy, cultural awareness, and an unwavering dedication to unlocking human potential. Azmiri Mian is a transformational guide who helps individuals and organizations achieve meaningful change by aligning purpose, connection, and action. Her work is a testament to the power of collaboration, resilience, and embracing the unique strengths that make us human.