Mentors & Staff

Each year, we invite a collective of academic teachers, active practitioners and community leaders to serve as mentors for our fellowship program. Some join us for a few hours, while others are a part of the whole week. Read about our core mentors below, or click here to read about mentors from past programs.

Gabriel Grant

Co-Founder & Executive Director

Michaela Cisney

Program Director

Mark Boyce

Co-Founder & President

Fellows

Emerging leaders from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, making a difference around the world.

Fellowship Alumni

Years of Byron Fellowship

Academic Fields Represented

Interested in Joining Our Community?

Find out more about becoming a Byron Fellow.

Meet Our Fellows

2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025

Janet Xiao

Janet Xiao

Janet Xiao (she/her) is committed to helping purpose-driven teams and organizations thrive through relational care, clarity, and authenticity. Janet serves as the Operations Director at the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA), an equally-governed...

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Marina Christo

Marina Christo

Marina Christo (she/her) is an entrepreneur from Brazil committed to transforming healthcare and creating a more inclusive future for women in tech. As the founder of Lina Saúde, she spent six years building one of Brazil’s most innovative health tech startups, driven...

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Marcus Kornegay

Marcus Kornegay

Marcus Kornegay (he/him) is committed to transforming lives through affordable housing development and community empowerment. As an executive at Novant Health and the driving force behind Prosperity Alliance, he is dedicated to expanding homeownership opportunities as...

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Molly Josephs

Molly Josephs

Molly Josephs (she/her) is committed to helping young people feel seen, heard, and empowered to express themselves authentically. As the founder of This Teenage Life (TTL), a youth dialogue and storytelling program, she has created a platform where teens transition...

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Hatim Hussain

Hatim Hussain

Hatim Hussain (he/him) is committed to bridging social and economic inequalities through education, legal reform, and financial inclusion. Growing up in one of India’s largest Muslim minority ghettos, he witnessed firsthand the struggles of marginalized communities,...

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Karina Nagin

Karina Nagin

Karina Nagin (she/her) is the Executive Director of Bridging Voice, a nonprofit that is committed to ensuring that people with ALS regain their voices and connections through assistive technology. Her work is driven by a deep passion for collaboration, advocacy, and...

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Loris Adams

Loris Adams

Loris Adams (she/her) is a dedicated educator and advocate for youth empowerment, diversity, equity, and ethical leadership. As the Head of DEI and Ethical Leadership at a girls' school in Washington, D.C., and a long-time leader in independent schools, she is...

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Gerry Sikazwe

Gerry Sikazwe

Gerry Sikazwe (he/him) is a Zambian social accountability activist, poet, and creative curator committed to using art as a catalyst for civic engagement and democratic change. Through protest poetry and advocacy-centered performances, he amplifies the voices of...

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Mariah Hachmeister

Mariah Hachmeister

Mariah Hachmeister (she/her) is committed to cultivating spaces where relationships, sustainability, and personal growth thrive. As the People Operations Manager at CompostNow, she fosters a workplace culture where individuals feel supported, valued, and connected,...

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Kane Jackson

Kane Jackson

Kane Jackson (he/him) is committed to reshaping the financial industry into a force for collective good. As the founder of Maslow, an Australian social impact startup, he is working to transform consumer finance into the world’s largest collectively owned utility,...

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Oluwapelumi Alesinloye-King

Oluwapelumi Alesinloye-King

Oluwapelumi Alesinloye-King (she/her) is a passionate advocate for women's sexual and reproductive health, committed to breaking taboos and challenging societal norms. As a feminist, researcher, and holistic sexuality educator, she creates spaces for Black...

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Gerald Hodges

Gerald Hodges

Gerald Hodges (he/him) is a changemaker, builder, and connector dedicated to empowering individuals and transforming communities through education and entrepreneurship. Gerald has spent over 14 years leading initiatives in Liberia that support youth development,...

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Truzaar Dordi

Truzaar Dordi

Truzaar Dordi (he/him) is a sustainability transitions scholar and changemaker committed to catalyzing systemic transformation. As an Assistant Professor and Director of Partnerships and Engagement at the University of York, UK, his work explores how networks of power...

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Genevieve Patenaude

Genevieve Patenaude

Geneviève Patenaude (she/her) is the CEO and co-founder of Earthblocks, where she works to build a more sustainable future for both nature and society by making it easier for companies to understand their environmental impact and risks. A former academic with a PhD...

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Yash Garje

Yash Garje

Yash Garje (he/him) is dedicated to transforming engineering education into an inclusive, interdisciplinary, and accessible space for all learners. Pursuing a Ph.D. at Purdue University, he is committed to designing informal education programs that integrate arts,...

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Abubaker Sekatuka

Abubaker Sekatuka

Abubaker Sekatuka (he/him) is a dedicated advocate for youth empowerment and mental health, committed to creating inclusive opportunities for young people, particularly those with disabilities across Uganda and beyond. As the founder of Sharing Circles, he leads...

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Lové Lemon

Lové Lemon

Lové is deeply committed to bridging social justice and healing by ensuring that every person has access to community healing centers.

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Braxton Allen

Braxton Allen

Braxton is an Operations Manager for CompostNow, where he draws from a diverse background in community outreach, urban farming, and AmeriCorps to drive the company’s mission of recycling food waste nutrients back into the soil.

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Kai Cash

Kai Cash

Kai envisions a world where human collaboration mirrors the symbiotic relationships in a rainforest, fostering support and growth across diverse communities.

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Alejandro Baquero-Sierra

Alejandro Baquero-Sierra

Aspiring to create more equitable and inclusive classrooms, Alejandro hopes to collaborate with educators and institutions to combat racism in schools and promote compassion and collaboration.

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Yom Fox

Yom Fox

Yom seeks to transform independent schools into environments where students can thrive and actively contribute to society.

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Arpitha Peteru

Arpitha Peteru

Arpitha is committed to leveraging collaborative policy and governance to address complex challenges, especially at the intersection of emerging technologies, security, and harm mitigation.

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Abigail Steinberg

Abigail Steinberg

Abigail is the executive director of the Eyeglasses Initiative of the Livelihood Impact Fund focused on providing reading glasses to 800 million people who need them.

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Aonghus Kelly

Aonghus Kelly

Aonghus Kelly is a lawyer who focuses on the rule of law, international criminal law, human rights and the intersection of those areas with climate justice.

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Laura Lasuertmer

Laura Lasuertmer

Laura is a writer, a mother, a co-founder of Common Home Farm (an interfaith Catholic Worker farm) and assistant creative director for Women Writing for (a) Change in Bloomington, Indiana.

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Noah Marsh

Noah Marsh

Noah is the vice president of operations at CompostNow, making it easy for households to turn waste into nutrient rich soil in Raleigh, Durham, Atlanta, Asheville, and Cincinnati.

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Bree Jones

Bree Jones

Bree is the founder and CEO of Parity Homes, an equitable development company proudly headquartered in West Baltimore that acquires and rehabilitates abandoned properties by the block to create affordable home ownership opportunities.

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Mahima Rai

Mahima Rai

As a scholar-activist in the field of Sociology of Religion, Mahima is committed to being curious about things she does not agree with.

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Jeff Stoike

Jeff Stoike

Jeff is the co-founder of Blue Action Lab, a network developing solutions for coastal communities and marine ecosystems to thrive in the face of climate change.

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Kyla Sokoll-Ward

Kyla Sokoll-Ward

Kyla is committed to creating inclusive and connective spaces of belonging for adults to explore their inner landscape through ritual, introspection, and spirituality.

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Paris Price

Paris Price

Paris recently started the Harriet Tubman Liberation Foundation to empower youth and young adults to take part in community building and responsibility.

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Kelley Van Dilla

Kelley Van Dilla

Kelley is a commitment to vulnerability and inner peace, and through this commitment is creating a world where making films is a healing, care-centered, accessible, and community building art-form.

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