Stacie Aamon Yeldell is the founder of Amöntra and the best-selling author of the workbook, “Choose Yourself: A 12-week Journey to Becoming the God of Your Own Heart”. She is an award-winning vocalist, speaker, and music psychotherapist with over 15 years of experience in mental health treatment. As a consultant, Stacie has worked with a range of organizations, including The Grammy Foundation, LA Opera, GoogleArts and Culture, Netflix and YoungArts. In addition to being a faculty member for Arts & Healing Initiative and California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), she has spoken at events like Women In Music, National Arts Policy Roundtable and Sound Health Summit. She has also appeared on CBS News, in Renée Fleming’s "Music and Mind Live," and is featured in the documentary "Proven." Stacie holds a Masters degree in Music Therapy from New York University, and certifications in Sound and Music Healing from the Open Center, and Vocal Psychotherapy (AVPT) from the Vancouver Vocal Psychotherapy Institute.

Lazaro (Tongva-Gabrieleno) is an Indigenous artist, educator, musician, and researcher dedicated to the culture of the first people of Los Angeles. Born in the Los Angeles Basin, he is knowledgeable of the landscape and cosmology of the Gabrieleno culture. He has worked for over 20 years facilitating creative and meaningful cultural experiences to people of all ages and walks of life, in many venues.

Rosalinda Barcellona has been a part of Tools for Peace since she was 12 years old. She pursued a degree in Applied Mathematics and began facilitating Tools for Peace in 2022. Rosalinda currently teaches TFP at Thomas Starr King Middle School.

Samara Bay is the author of Penguin Random House 2023 bestseller PERMISSION TO SPEAK, a love letter to anyone about to open their mouth – available in 15+ countries and 5 languages. She's an LA-based speech coach whose clients range from candidates for Congress to business leaders, changemaking entrepreneurs, Hollywood celebs, and kids who want to make a difference. Visit samarabay.substack.com to join her community HOW TO SHOW UP, and connect!

Born to a children’s book author/illustrator and a social worker, it seems natural that Jessica would become an art therapist. Before discovering art therapy, Jessica began her career as an elementary school teacher. While teaching Jessica used her art making to teach every subject- from Math to Social Studies. Additionally, Jessica used art making as a means to connect with her students. Seeing the power of art to support social, emotional, and academic growth Jessica pursued a Masters in art therapy and later a Doctorate in Education for Social Justice - focusing on how therapeutic art making might increase students' resilience and protective factors for adversity later in life. Jessica worked for 10 years in community mental health with adolescents and families. Currently, Jessica lives in Los Angeles with her family and is a professor at Loyola Marymount University in the Department of Marital and Family Therapy with Specialized Training in Art Therapy and the Director of the Departments Helen B. Landgarten Art Therapy Clinic.

Emily Spokes, Blanca Alvarez, Yzzy Mangalili and Lupita Cabanillas serve as California Climate Action Corps Members at CalCreative. Previous to this posting, Emily Spokes served with the Garden School Foundation on a one acre garden site at 24th Street Elementary in West Adams. She has served as the Environmental Director of the Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council for over three years, and previously worked in the kitchen at Chez Panisse in Berkeley. She first became passionate about growing food while in the Future Farmers of America as a young student in Texas. Blanca Alvarez is the Garden Manager at CalCreative, where she previously served for nearly a decade as a Teacher's Aide. Lupita Cabanillas has an MSC in Global Environmental Change and Policy from Imperial College in London and a BA Degree in Environmental Studies from Hamilton College.

First and foremost, Amber sees herself as an artist. It wasn’t until later in life that she realized she had been practicing her own version of art for SEL well before she chose art education as her area of focus during her undergraduate studies. Her path as an artist and educator eventually led to the “aha moment” when she discovered the field of art therapy. She has had the honor to work with young people of all ages and abilities and their families within a variety of settings including Los Angeles and surrounding area school districts, community outpatient centers within the Department of Mental Health, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Loyola Marymount University Helen B. Landgarten Art Therapy Clinic, residential care for adolescents and families, and a host of non-profit organizations. All of which have affirmed an alliance towards a social justice perspective, a passion to utilize art as a means to equity, and a mission to champion a community approach to mental health. 

Mayme Donsker is the Executive Director of Tools for Peace.  She graduated from the Mindful Schools’ Mindful Teacher Certification Program. Mayme received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. She has extensive experience teaching mindfulness and art to people of all ages and backgrounds. She worked as an Assistant Professor of Painting and Printmaking at Virginia Commonwealth University in Doha, Qatar. She has taught under-resourced youth in Los Angeles for over ten years through Tools for Peace, LACER After-School Programs, and Inner-City Arts. At Tools for Peace, Mayme has developed content for the Stop, Breathe & Think curriculum, worked with the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, and directed facilitation for our camps, workshops, and training programs. 

Paola Escobar is a Colombian choreographer, performer and educator whose work bridges diverse traditions and disciplines at the intersection of rhythm and movement. Her practice interweaves her Latin American background with her interest in the flamenco tradition, African culture, and contemporary art, and reflects on cultural identity, hierarchies of power, cultural perception, sustainability and the iterative search for a place of belonging. Escobar designs inclusive experiences and programs that offer multiple access points to activate individuals and communities through the body in movement. As a choreographer Escobar got the National Award from the Columbian Ministry of Culture (2005) and the Annenberg Beach House Residency (2019) among other recognitions. Escobar has created more than 30 choreographic works, 6 dance films, and has performed in Spain, France, Portugal, Canada, US, Cuba, Colombia and Brazil. She has extensive experience as a dance educator in schools, dance studios, community centers and probation institutions. Since 2019 Escobar has worked at CalCreative as the dance specialist providing movement instruction to hundreds of students every year. Escobar obtained an MFA in Choreography at CalArts in 2017, and her BFA in Performance at the University of Florida, 2012.  www.borderlinemovement.com 

Linda Lee has over 25 years of experience as a public educator serving diverse communities and student populations in Los Angeles. She has served as a bilingual classroom teacher, technology coordinator, administrator, university field supervisor, and adjunct faculty member, in district, charter, and laboratory school settings. She serves as the Executive Director and Principal at California Creative Learning Academy.

She is a native of Los Angeles and a graduate of the Los Angeles Unified School District.   She has a Bachelor of Science in Psychobiology from the University of California, Los Angeles; a Master of Arts in Curriculum and Instruction with an Urban Education focus and Master of Arts in Computer Education from California State University Los Angeles; and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership, with an emphasis on School and System Redesign, at California State University Los Angeles.

Born in Syria, Siron immigrated to the United States while adapting to a new culture as a young person in Los Angeles. Siron joined Tools for Peace as a camper in 2015 and worked as a TFP Summer Teen Camp counselor. Siron graduated with a degree in Biology from California State University, where she held Tools For Peace clubs. Today, Siron imparts her wisdom to youth as a Tools for Peace Facilitator at Irving Middle School. Tools for Peace has an enduring influence on her life, which she inspires in the students she serves.

Recipes for Connection "cooks up" art-based social and emotional strategies to support student mental health, strengthen relationships and create positive school communities. They offer art-based social and emotional strategies through professional development, experiential training, curriculum materials, workshops, and individualized consultation.  

A certified yoga teacher, Carlos received his 200-hour training from the Long Beach School of Yoga in the style of Integral Yoga. He is certified in the Yogic Studies Advanced Certificate Program, a 500-hour curriculum focused on scholarly yogic studies. Carlos has also trained with the Yoga International’s Warriors at Ease program, centered in teaching yoga in a research-based and secular approach to military veterans dealing with PTSD, and Traumatic Brain Injury. Carlos has been trained as a Tools for Peace facilitator and currently facilitates at Sammy Lee Elementary, connected with the Children’s Hospital.

Melissa started working for Tools for Peace Summer Teen Camp in 2014 as a sports counselor. In 2018, Melissa officially became certified as a Tools for Peace mindfulness facilitator. With over 12 years of sports coaching experience, Meli seamlessly incorporates the Tools for Peace curriculum into her teams.  Today, she serves as the Director of Operations and Programming at Tools for Peace. She holds the role of Area Program Supervisor at the Los Angeles Unified School District's Beyond the Bell program. Meli's dedication is instrumental in promoting mindfulness and peace within these organizations. Melissa Ruiz is the Director of Operations & Programming for Tools for Peace. 

Gurnoor Singh is a neuroscience student and a published undergraduate researcher at University of California, Los Angeles. With experiences in neurosurgery, cardiovascular and bioengineering research, he plans to incorporate research-backed techniques in modern day learning with technology. He also plans to transition to medicine and find elaborative ways to incorporate scientific methods to understand the role of brainstem circuitry in attention and consciousness.

The mission of Tools for Peace is to inspire kindness and compassion in everyday life. Our mindfulness-based social-emotional learning programs support mental health, academic and professional success, and community health and wellbeing. Studies show that the Tools for Peace curriculum improves focus, conflict resolution skills, and confidence, and reduces stress in participants. 

Johanna has worked in the education sector for over 15 years and has spent most of that time working with charter schools to help them build robust communication systems. Johanna is passionate about working closely with teachers, administrators, students, and parents to grow their connections to one another and the school communities they belong to. As a daughter of Cypriot refugees and an immigrant herself, Johanna is incredibly passionate about collaborating with diverse communities to help them feel represented.  Johanna holds a degree in Communications from Richmond University in London, UK, and a Film and Television degree from New York University.