Below are some of the lead trainers. Other trainers are brought in, based on the needs of your particular goals and to better match the needs of your group.
See thumbnail bios of others in the True Story team.
Tonia Pinheiro, M.A. Org.Mgt., is founder of Wake Up! Works. She leads trainings to support people to move past social identity conditioning to claim their power. She is a lead trainer in active bystander intervention skills.
Franci DuMar, M.A., graduated from Lesley University with a Masters in Mental Health Counseling and Drama Therapy. She has been training youth leadership groups in the Greater Boston area, and trains middle and high school youth in active bystander intervention skills.
Anne Ellinger, M.S.W., and
Christopher Ellinger, M.A.,
co-founders of Bolder Giving and True Story, Inc., have designed and led interactive workshops for 40 years. During their decades together Anne and Christopher have built several social benefit organizations, published a journal for 12 years, and written six books.
Maria Tereza Schaedler-Luera, M.A.
is a Brazilian-born educator and artist with extensive work experience and knowledge in theater, music, arts and literacy, mindfulness, meditation, and cross-cultural engagement. She is a National Arts Integration Consultant at Focus 5 Inc. and has served as the Manager for Arts Integration for Any Given Child Sarasota at Sarasota County Schools.
Zhaleh Almaee (she/they) is a multi-racial theatre artist, social justice educator, and cultural organizer residing on the colonized lands of the S’Klallam (Nəxwsƛ̕áy̕əm̕) and Chemakum (Čə́məq̓ əm) in the Pacific Northwest. Co-Director of the Mandala Center for Change, they draw on restorative practices, applied theatre, and liberatory modalities, to support lifestyles of connection that foster a culture of possibility.
Cat Gilliam, MA, brings Nonviolent Communication, Restorative Circles, and other dialogue and conflict resolution skills to groups, focused on equity and inclusion and other important issues.
