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We make cross-cultural collaboration work
We help purpose-driven teams navigate the messy human dynamics that block results: egos, cultural differences, and miscommunication that create silos and slow progress.
Our facilitators come from around the world, united by shared commitment to making collaboration work in complex, cross-cultural contexts.
We partner with nonprofits, philanthropic institutions, and multilateral organizations to help leaders unlock the full potential of their teams. When people feel seen and heard, they connect more deeply with each other and engage more fully with their mission.
Our work is deeply human, grounded in strategic clarity, and designed to meet complexity with confidence.
What grounds our work
Our methodology blends insight, empathy, structure, and presence. We meet your team where it is and open new possibilities for how you work together.
Brain
Systems thinking and practical strategy that make sense of complexity and move teams toward shared outcomes.
Heart
Space for the emotional realities of how people show up. Trust is built, not assumed.
Hands
Tools for participation and clear decision-making, flexible and informed by research and experience.
Soul
Attunement to culture, power, identity, and purpose, with intention in every space we hold.
Our process
Our methodology blends insight, empathy, structure, and presence. We meet your team where it is and open new possibilities for how you work together.
We start by listening deeply to your context, relationships, and goals. The first step is always understanding.
We connect you with facilitators who reflect your team’s culture, understand your content, and are experienced with processes that you need at this moment.
We create and lead human-centered, culturally aware, and highly engaging off-sites, meetings, and training opportunities.
We close with care, gathering insights, celebrating progress, and ensuring momentum continues long after the session ends.
The values that shape our practice
We believe transformation begins with relationships, that small nudges can move mountains, and that embracing our full, authentic selves makes collaboration stronger. We lead with courageous curiosity, ask hard questions with care, and see facilitation as a healing act in a fractured world.
Our work challenges command-and-control leadership, which too often causes harm. We create spaces where people feel they belong, spaces that unlock cooperative action and ultimately help heal the world.
Our logo reflects these commitments: the star at its center represents the facilitator, the pentagon symbolizes growth and structure, the fuchsia stands for unapologetic expression, and the open edges honor silence and what remains unsaid. Its design draws inspiration from Māori visual traditions, a nod to the wisdom and relational artistry of Indigenous cultures.
In the words of our clients
Real-world results from our facilitation work across sectors and continents.
“Other consultants only offered theory. UFacilitate understood the cultural layers, and knew how to work within them.”
— Country Representative, Multilateral organization
“We came away from the retreat energized, with a newfound sense of connectedness to each other and our mission, and looking forward to the organization’s future.”
— Senior Leader, Global nonprofit
“It wasn’t just a workshop: it was a cultural reset.”
— Nonprofit CEO
“I am a better facilitator as a result of this training. I have learned tools and tips that enable me to hold more equitable conversations.”
— Participant, Leadership Development Program
“Through this facilitation process I learned a lot about myself, my values, and what I look for in an event and how impactful an event can be.”
— Senior Leader, Justice sector organization
Meet the team
Andrés Marquez-Lara
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Andres is the Founder and CEO of UFacilitate, a global company that helps leaders and teams make cross-cultural collaboration work. He and his team specialize in addressing the “messy human stuff”—egos, cultural differences, miscommunication, and conflict—that can derail even the most purpose-driven organizations. UFacilitate has supported groups like the World Food Programme, The Nature Conservancy, Easterseals, the Gates Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation.
Beyond UFacilitate, Andres teaches leadership development at Georgetown University, is a Senior Fellow at George Washington University’s Center for Excellence in Public Leadership, and serves as an Advisor to Stanford University’s Emergence Project. He has been recognized by Ashoka and the American Academy of Certified Public Managers. A psychologist by training, Andres lives in North Carolina with his wife and two young children.
Aparna Bhat
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Aparna leads UFacilitate’s global facilitator community, ensuring that every partner is matched with facilitators who bring the right cultural, process, and subject-matter expertise. She has spent the past seven years working with early-stage impact startups across India, South Africa, and Latin America—supporting business model design, growth strategy, fundraising, and impact measurement. Her work with education nonprofits in India revealed the critical role of facilitation, inspiring her to train with the Facilitators Network Singapore and to create a handbook for facilitators in Latin America. At UFacilitate, Aparna builds on this foundation to help leaders innovate, align diverse stakeholders, and design collaborations with lasting impact.
Melina Papadopoulos
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Melina is a strategist, facilitator, and storyteller with over a decade of experience helping mission-driven organizations clarify their voice, scale their impact, and reach the audiences they are here to serve. She brings a rare blend of rigorous business training and deep human insight to her work, shaped by years advising startups, nonprofits, and global initiatives navigating complexity, transition, and growth.
Melina is a trained facilitator, certified in the WeFlow method (https://www.we-flow.net/), which deepens her ability to design and communicate experiences that support collective intelligence, presence, and meaningful collaboration. This dual lens as both a strategist and practitioner allows her to bridge inner and outer work seamlessly. She is also a retreat leader, coach, and teacher who designs and guides spaces for reflection, growth, and shared insight.
At UFacilitate, Melina supports the evolution of the organization’s narrative, marketing systems, and movement-building strategy, helping translate the “messy human stuff” into language, pathways, and experiences that resonate with leaders across nonprofits, philanthropy, and multilateral institutions. She is particularly passionate about building platforms that invite reflection, connection, and meaningful action at scale.
Lesley-Ann Welsh
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Lesley-Ann is a storyteller, educator, and project manager with 15 years of experience across sustainable development, cultural, and creative sectors. She has led multinational projects in agriculture, climate justice, education, entertainment, and youth development—always with a focus on driving culture and communities forward. With a background in media production and advertising, she honed her natural gift for engaging people through storytelling. Today, she channels that expertise into coaching and facilitation, working with youth, community organizations, and international development agencies. As the founder of Anubis Communications, a boutique agency specializing in cause-related communication, and co-founder of Manifesto Jamaica, an NGO using arts and culture to teach 21st-century skills, Lesley-Ann brings both visionary creativity and grounded execution to every project she leads.
Argyl Hazel Lindio
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Argyl is the engine behind UFacilitate’s sales and marketing systems. She manages the CRM, tracks analytics, and supports strategic decisions with data-driven insights. She also contributes to proposal development, client-ready submissions, and marketing collateral—ensuring that UFacilitate’s story is told with clarity and impact. With a background in project coordination and virtual assistance, Argyl brings creativity, organization, and adaptability to her work. She plays a key role in keeping UFacilitate’s sales and marketing efforts aligned with its mission: helping teams break down silos and collaborate across cultures.
Let’s co-create what's next
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