● Our Team
Movers and shakers
Our community is chock-full of the most talented, creative, changemakers from around the world.
The Plenary, Co. is an ever-growing community of multidisciplinary leaders and changemakers committed to creativity, informed futures, and the constant re-imagination of what's possible. From our full-time staff, to our advisors, directors, creatives, contributors, partners, patrons, volunteers, community members, and more — our work is fueled by collaboration.
The Plenary, Co. is run by a small, core team of staff, interns, and volunteers who work closely with the organization’s leadership to drive our programs forward.
⬤ Team
As a small-but-mighty organization, our incredible team of part-time staff, interns, and core contributors provide support, wear many hats, and play active roles in every project.
Storytelling Associate
Amy is an incredibly talented writer and changemaker who has worked across journalism, human rights, museums, and food storytelling, among others. She contributes to our I Am A Scientist program.
Program Specialist
Danielle crafts our I Am A Scientist Field Guides, content creation, story building, and more.
Community Director
Deena is shapes our community engagement, membership, and communications strategies. She leads the development of materials and offerings to make sure our wonderful community stays looped into and supported through all of our happenings.
Creative Strategy Director
Esther drives creative strategy to ensure that our transmedia initiatives are engaging and inspiring. She leads conversations on how to craft world class digital spaces and innovations to make our work as expansive, beautiful, and thoughtful as possible.
Design Director
Sam is an artist and designer with multifaceted experience on both the creative and engineering sides of production. In addition to contributing original works as a collaborating artist, Sam leads the team’s development of world class standards for design processes, visual impact, built spaces, and creative engagement strategies.
Community Engagement Manager
Samar supports our community engagement and marketing efforts through mission-aligned partnership relations, community gatherings and happenings, and managing our Educator Ambassador and RISE communities.
Managing Director
Tresa supports our team’s internal processes, operations, administration, and communications, as well as supporting our donor relations strategy. She makes sure our team and supporters stay connected with each other and our mission.
Director of Partnerships (ahem, Pawtnerships)
As a particularly fluffy member of the team, Rosie is our go-to for facilitating intros, making people laugh, and making sure that any ball that gets dropped is quickly picked up.
⬤ Contributors
The following individuals (and in some cases, their teams) play critical roles as project-specific contributors, key partners or contractors, recurring creative collaborators, and/or ongoing organizational support.
Strategic Advisor
Akta is an established leader and founder who has worked across sustainability and community spaces. At The Plenary, Co. she is supporting our team in building a foundation for growth and establishing a strong presence in San Francisco.
Program Associate
Denise helps with the operations and admin side of I Am a Scientist, making sure that we have what we need from scientists, and that our creative collaborators have what they need from us.
Research Associate
Astrid supports our research and evaluation efforts. She reviews and synthesizes evidence to co-build usable frameworks, guides internal evaluation strategy, and identifies ways to expand the role of multidisciplinary evidence in our programs and growth.
Strategist + Program Specialist
Michelle leverages her multidisciplinary skills and experiences to support our team’s strategy, growth, and operations. She works across teams to keep our processes on track, explore new opportunities and partnerships, and support the development and implementation of new initiatives.
Program Associate
Maria supports the I Am a Scientist initiative through technology, content, and web management.
HR Associate
Rachael supports our team and operations through network and software management, HR, and administrative tasks.
Bookkeeper
As our remote bookkeeper, Jasmine and her team at Good Steward Financial, Co. help keep our operations and finances running smoothly.
Creative Collaborator
Melissa brings her experience bridging the worlds of art and science to the Illuminations team through hands-on collaborations, concept workshopping, and facilitating an original installation with the ECOS team.
SEO & DIGITAL STRATEGY
The Intuitive Digital team have been an important extension of our team, offering ongoing probono assistance in our digital presence and reach.
⬤ Key Advisors
Our initiatives are informed by research, popular media, community conversations, and of course, the wisdom and insights of our advisors. While we work with subject matter experts on each initiative, our key advisors further inform our projects or guiding principles through shared knowledge and feedback.
Note: while valued advisors, these individuals do not have final say over – and cannot be held responsible for – the content produced by The Plenary.
Strategist + Program Specialist
Michelle leverages her multidisciplinary skills and experiences to support our team’s strategy, growth, and operations. She works across teams to keep our processes on track, explore new opportunities and partnerships, and support the development and implementation of new initiatives.
Game Designer
Jessica Creane is a game and immersive experience designer. She is the founder of IKantKoan, and has worked with our team on developing the “Food City” game.
Science & Technology
Dr. David Kelley is a leading computational biologist who develops machine learning methods to understand how cells regulate gene expression throughout their lifespans. He advises on theme related to artificial intelligence and biotechnology.
Human Systems
Daniel Aguirre is a community advocate, facilitator, and founder of Pueblo. His principles for community listening and responsive engagement continue to provide a critical foundation for The Plenary’s approach.
Advisor, Nature of Knowledge
Charles Fadel is a global education thought leader and futurist, author, and inventor. He is the founder of Center for Curriculum Redesign and has been a long time thought partner for The Plenary’s team.
Ecosystems Ecologist & Biogeochemist
Suzanne’s insights and expertise informed The Plenary’s approach to initiatives at the meeting point of ecological and human wellbeing. She advised our The Green Gap initiative.
⬤ Past Contributors
At The Plenary, Co., there are no small roles or expiration dates on meaningful contributions to our mission. We deeply appreciate the support, time, and energy provided by our volunteers, interns, and part-time contractors over the years and are proud to continue to celebrate their contributions to making our initiatives possible.
Storytelling Associate
Tobi contributed his writing expertise for stories featured in our I Am A Scientist program.
Community Director
Patricia led programming and supports for our nationwide community of educators through the I Am A Scientist program.
Content Creator
Christine was our in-house photographer, social media creator, and product partnership manager. She brought her creative lens to gathering and sharing the stories of The Plenary and members of our community.
Organizational Assistant
Jessica helped support operations of The Plenary, Co.'s multiple projects and programs.
Web Developer
Anit helped launch our first online home under The People’s Science name, and played an important role in establishing our approach to web design.
Event Co-Lead
Lauren was part of the original It’s Only Human team, helping to shape the event and playing an important role in producing it.
Ethnographer
Hillari created the theoretical framework for our approach to interviews and provided invaluable support in the production of the original I Am a Scientist materials.
Program Associate
From writing field summaries to finishing educational decks, Joan played an important role in getting the I Am A Scientist materials refined and ready for distribution.
Program Associate
Emily led the development of toolkits, educational resource, and career support libraries for the I Am A Scientist program.
Program Manager
Monique co-led our multi-city science communication training initiative, #ShareYourScience, which brought free workshops on public engagement to hundreds of scientists.
Community Intern
As an apprentice for the I Am A Scientist program, Genevie co-built the RISE community and helped launch the program nationwide. She also co-created the “Ok, But Why?” series as part of the Illuminations project.
Community Intern
As an apprentice for the I Am A Scientist program, Alicia co-built the RISE community and helped launch the program nationwide.
Community Intern
As an apprentice for the I Am A Scientist program, Keimahney co-built the RISE community and helped launch the program nationwide.
Program Manager, LX Design Team
Supraja led the development of classroom learning experiences for the I Am a Scientist program in 2021.
Program Manager, LX Design Team
Fay worked with scientists, creatives, and the LX Design Team to manage the production of the I Am a Scientist program throughout 2021.
Clubhouse Director
Ashley is an artist, biologist, and educational event manager who led our Clubhouse community in 2023.
2022-2023 Special Projects Intern
Korey provided communications and operational support across projects while developing her event planning chops.
Storytelling Lead, LX Design Team
Krystal supported the writing, voice, and narrative for the I Am a Scientist program’s Spotlights.
Design Lead, LX Design Team
Lotus supported the conceptual and aesthetic design of I Am a Scientist materials.
⬤ Shout-Outs
From advising project directions to helping to run our events to providing feedback on new initiatives, our volunteers help keep us going strong.
Damien Fair, PhD
David Rose, EdD
Kathryn Mills, PhD
Mahsa Ershadi
Matthew Sample
Ralph Bouquet
Todd Rose, EdD
Alex Collins • Amanda Vera • Ana Ostrovsky • Andrew Graves • Athina Chartelain • Barbara Braams, PhD • Bo Bradrich • Brooke King • Chantei Alves • Connor Vance • David Kelley • Elizabeth Ricker • Garth Coombs • Hillari Fine Sasse • Jimmy Maley • Katie Insel • Kim Pedersen • Kim Tereco • Liza Bialik • Marques Jackson • Mauri Sanchez • Melissa Pappas • Michael Sasse • Natalie Koscal • Negin Hemati • Pamela Pedersen • Sandy Delgado • Spencer Kerber • Su Chon • Sukriti Dabral • Tracy Silver • Victoria Becker • Zoe Austin
Amy Williams
Anna Lorenz
Ashley Scherman, PhD
Breanna Draxler
Decatur Foster
Elisa Bonnin
Natalie Jones Slivinski
Samantha Jones
Sarah Shires
Sydney Weber Boutros
Tiffany Fox