We are excited to introduce the talented consultants who will be joining our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) for Consultants cohort, beginning September 11! This group brings a wide range of expertise, lived experience, and a shared commitment to fostering equity and belonging in organizations and communities. Check out their bios below!
Amanda Ashton has spent over a decade helping nonprofits turn bold ideas into lasting impact. Since 2013, she has worked as a nonprofit consultant, specializing in strategic planning, impact evaluation, and organizational growth. Amanda’s passion lies in working alongside nonprofit leaders—the visionaries and changemakers—helping them combine their drive with strategy to create real, measurable change.
As a consultant, Amanda partners with nonprofits to provide strategic planning, growth management, fundraising strategy, metrics and evaluation, and project management, equipping organizations with the tools they need to strengthen infrastructure, engage donors, and maximize impact. With over a decade of experience working alongside nonprofit leaders, Amanda focuses on building sustainable systems and measuring impact, ensuring organizations are positioned to grow, adapt, and thrive.
Before launching Change Better, Amanda trained young social entrepreneurs at DoSomething.org, the largest nonprofit for youth-led social change, and worked at the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, whose work focuses on taking risks to catalyze change and transform lives. Amanda lives in the Minneapolis suburbs with her husband, two kids, and their dog, Milo.
Antonia Johnson, Ed.D. is a joyful disruptor, equity champion, and seasoned education consultant with a passion for growing leaders and transforming systems. With over 25 years of experience, Antonia brings deep expertise in leadership development, coaching, and equity-centered design.
She is the CEO and Founder of CornerStone Professional Development for Educators, where she partners with organizations to build courageous leadership, equity-driven strategy, and impactful professional learning. She has also served as a Leadership Coach and Consultant with the Institute for Educational Leadership and as an Education Consultant with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction where she supported statewide initiatives that advanced educational equity and innovation.
Antonia’s work is grounded in the belief that courageous leadership and collective care are essential for lasting change. Whether facilitating a reflective coaching session or co-creating strategy with a team, she leads with curiosity, compassion, and a relentless commitment to justice. When she’s not championing equity in education, you can find her dancing and listening to good music, sipping strong coffee, or recharging in nature.
Dr. Ariel Morel is not your conventional executive – he is a servant and transitional leader, a mission-driven systems thinker, a bold innovator, and a resilient change agent who has made it his life’s work to create meaningful, measurable impact across government, nonprofit, tribal, and private sectors.
A first-generation college graduate and the first in his family to earn a doctorate, Ariel’s journey is rooted in perseverance, purpose, and service. With over two decades of experience, he has mastered the art of aligning people, processes, and programs to elevate organizational performance, scale impact, and foster cultures of accountability, equity, and innovation.
From leading cross-functional teams through multimillion-dollar transformations to designing scalable quality assurance systems that shift statewide policies, Ariel brings both heart and discipline to his work. His expertise spans executive administration, human resources, operations, performance and talent management, strategic planning, and quality improvement – all grounded in a deep commitment to equity and data-informed decision-making.
Catherine Drennan Lynn is a seasoned strategic communications and public affairs consultant with more than 15 years of experience working at the intersection of nonprofit advocacy, mission-driven storytelling, and policy change. She is the founder of Copp’s Hill Consulting, where she partners with nonprofits and socially conscious organizations to elevate their message, deepen stakeholder engagement, and advance initiatives that strengthen communities. Catherine brings a unique blend of expertise in media strategy, advocacy communications, donor engagement, and executive-level advising. Her consulting practice focuses on helping organizations clarify their voice, design integrated campaigns, and build the influence needed to shape public policy and drive systems change.
Prior to launching her consulting firm, Catherine served as Vice President of Communications, Marketing, and Public Affairs at The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB), where she led groundbreaking advocacy efforts that expanded access to school meals, addressed college hunger, and helped secure tens of millions in public funding. Under her leadership, GBFB more than doubled its communications reach and built enduring partnerships across government, media, healthcare, and education.
A trusted collaborator and storyteller, Catherine has worked across issues including food insecurity, homelessness, mental health and addiction, public health, and child nutrition. Her approach combines sharp strategy with deep empathy—ensuring communications are not only effective but rooted in equity and the lived experiences of the communities her clients serve. Catherine holds a Master’s in Public Administration from Northeastern University and a Bachelor’s in International Relations from Saint Anselm College. She lives in Boston’s historic North End with her husband and young daughter, where she is active in local community efforts and advocates for equitable access to opportunity for all Massachusetts residents.
Cynthia Moore is a nationally respected non-attorney special education advocate, disability rights leader, and systems strategist with over two decades of experience advancing educational equity. A person with disabilities herself, Cynthia brings lived experience, deep policy knowledge, and a collaborative, solutions-oriented mindset to every initiative she leads. As past President and Executive Director of the Special Needs Advocacy Network (SPaN), the organization was honored as a runner-up for the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network’s Small Nonprofit Excellence Award – a testament to its growing influence in the field of special education advocacy.
By profession, Cynthia is a dedicated special education advocate, supporting families through complex IEP processes and systemic barriers to FAPE. She mentors emerging advocates, trains parents and professionals, and advises nonprofit and for-profit teams on advocacy strategies that drive sustainable change. Her work is grounded in the belief that empowering equity in education requires more than insight; it demands infrastructure.
Cynthia is the founder of Ability Votes; a nonpartisan initiative focused on increasing civic engagement and leadership among people with disabilities. She actively serves on the Council of Advocates, Attorneys, and Parents’ Social Racial Equity Committee, as well as her town’s Elderly and Disabled Taxation Committee and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Committee, bringing a disability justice lens to local and statewide policymaking. Her core principle remains clear: solutions should enable – not just assist – and they must begin where others are excluded.
Eric Phelps is a Massachusetts native and has been a full-time nonprofit consultant for more than a decade. In this capacit,y he has worked with 175+ organizations throughout the U.S. on fundraising training, strategic planning, capital campaign design and implementation, executive coaching, board development, and other projects. Prior to consulting, Eric served as Vice President of Development for VentureWell, a national nonprofit supporting university inventors and innovators in commercializing their technologies. During his five-year tenure, he worked with the senior team to secure more than $50 million in new funding. Prior to VentureWell, Eric was Director of the Grinspoon Institute for Jewish Philanthropy (now JCamp180), a program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. This program provided funding and leadership development services to more than 90 overnight and day camps throughout North America. Eric has also served as Executive Director of the New Art Center (Newton, MA), Executive Director of VSA Arts of Georgia (Atlanta), and Development Director of IMAGE Film & Video Center (Atlanta). Eric has a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst and a Certificate in American Sign Language Interpreting from Georgia State University. Eric is an award-winning singer/songwriter and performs his original music with his band, Let It Rain, throughout the country.Â
Jennifer Phillips is a U.S. citizen and Canadian permanent resident with 15 years of experience helping people and organizations move through complexity with clarity. A queer, neurodivergent (AuDHD), first-generation graduate, she brings a lived understanding of navigating systems not built for everyone and a deep commitment to designing ones that are. Her work sits at the intersection of human behavior, structural change, and relational intelligence. Whether guiding a leader through a turning point or supporting a team in conflict, she surfaces what’s unspoken and helps people move forward with intention—rooted in self-trust, not performance.
Jennifer partners with mission-driven teams across nonprofit, agency, advocacy, and corporate spaces to lead change that supports both people and performance. She doesn’t separate strategy from equity or culture from operations. Instead, she guides organizations to name what’s no longer working and realign around shared power and purpose. Her approach blends systems thinking with trauma-informed facilitation to support culture shifts grounded in reflection and care.
After a career sabbatical focused on integration and reconnecting with values-aligned work, she’s stepping back in with a clear lens and renewed energy. She’s joining this cohort to sharpen her craft, deepen her facilitation practice, and connect with peers equally committed to transformative, equity-centered leadership.
Julia Ojeda has worked for over 30 years providing solution-based leadership consultation and training in the education, healthcare, and social services sectors. She is an experienced facilitator, trainer, coach, networker, and change agent. Her work is rooted in an equitable, people-centered, integrated approach to progressive change, system-wide reform, strategic management, and organizational development. From 2011 to 2020, she was an adjunct faculty at the Boston University School of Business, Nonprofit Management and Leadership Program working with nonprofit organizational leaders.
From 2013 to 2023, Julia oversaw Recovery Support Services for the MA Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Abuse Services (BSAS). She is a champion for Recovery Oriented Systems of Care (ROSC) and was instrumental in the development of peer recovery support centers (currently 39 centers). She created and managed the first statewide peer recovery coach training, curriculums, and trainers, where over 7,000 Massachusetts residents were served. Julia championed the first deaf and hard of hearing recovery coach team in the state, and managed the state contract for the nationally recognized MOAR (MA Organization for Addiction Recovery) for 10 years.
Julia is a champion for the peer recovery workforce movement and has worked with Prevention, Intervention, and Treatment locally and nationally. She is a person in long-term recovery and an active member of the Habla Hispana recovery community. In 2018, she was awarded the Commonwealth Equity in Governance Award from Governor Charlie Baker. She sits on the national Faces and Voices of Recovery, CAPRSS Council on Accreditation Committee for Peer Recovery Support Services. Most recently, she moved on from the Department of Public Health position and started a consulting company called Recovery Inspired Opportunities (RIO). As a champion for ROSC (Recovery Oriented Systems of Care), RIO provides capacity building through technical assistance, coaching, training, and retreats for individuals, communities, and organizations.
Lizzie L. Evans Martinez Alvarez is a first-generation college student pursuing a doctorate in applied research. While escalating from racial disparities and climbing to reach the pinnacle of corporate America, Lizzie realized the importance of “paying it forward.” Lizzie has overcome the barriers of systemic racism and workplace discrimination throughout her entire working career, ultimately peaking as a retired commissioned bank examiner at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Her servant leadership journey will expand in bridging a STEM pipeline for underrepresented minoritized students to achieve higher education, as postsecondary education enrollment has declined due to the lack of interest among recent high school graduates, a trend exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, an ineffective and inequitable high-school-to-college pipeline compounds the growing gap in the U.S. between higher education-privileged versus underserved students. Transformational STEM Pathways to Success is her doctoral mantra.
She plans to research structural change in educational institutions through the lens of social justice, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging while studying in the Ed.D. doctoral program in Organizational Leadership in Higher Education at Abilene Christian University. Dismantling racism in higher education is the key to unlocking the foundational freedoms that we all deserve and seek. It is time to heal the wounds from the past and enter the realm of equity, prosperity, and justice for all. To learn more about Lizzie’s passions, visit her alumni profile published at the University of Washington Evans School of Public Policy and Governance.
Lizzie Jameson is committed to helping mission-driven organizations and their members become more effective and aligned with their values. Prior to joining TSNE, Lizzie worked in training and development at Clover Food Lab tending to training materials, operational systems, and staff relationships. Before that, she worked in fundraising at Boston College and Demos, specializing in individual giving and stewardship. She brings proficiency with managing complex projects, increasing collaboration across functional areas, and building trust with open, inclusive communication. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and French Studies from Wesleyan University and a master’s degree in Organizational Psychology from William James College.
Mimi Brunelle joined TSNE in 2008 and has been instrumental in building the Executive Search and Transition (EST) practice within TSNE’s Consulting Program. With a background as a human resources generalist across both nonprofit and corporate sectors, Mimi brings a unique ability to bridge mission and management through an equity lens—always centering the client’s experience and needs.
As TSNE’s EST Consultant, she has led executive searches for more than 100 mission-driven organizations across the nonprofit landscape. Mimi holds a B.A. in Political Science from McDaniel College and a graduate certificate in Human Resources Management from Bentley University.
Originally from Baltimore, Mimi now calls Shrewsbury, MA home, where she and her husband have raised three children—two still at home, and one successfully launched. When she’s not connecting organizations with exceptional leaders, you’ll find her hiking in the White Mountains, experimenting in the kitchen, planning her next getaway, or quietly dreaming of a fully emptied nest.
Novelette DeMercado helps people and organizations transform their well-being by asking questions like Are you living into your fullest potential? Would you like to show up more fully for yourself and your aspirations? Does your organization’s culture truly reflect an equity-centered approach to well-being? Her mission is to provide high-touch, culturally responsive well-being frameworks to strengthen well-being for all, and she believes there is magic in the coaching process. By showing up for ourselves while remaining open to wonder, we can achieve anything we aspire to and influence our ecosystem.
For over 20 years, Novelette has had the honor of coaching thousands of individuals and organizations through journeys of health, well-being, inclusion, and transformation. She sees coaching and consulting as a shared voyage; one of learning, co-creation, and possibility. She meets her clients where they are, building a safe space to explore, reflect, test ideas, and challenge assumptions. They work with levity and laughter, curiosity and care, sincerity and intention—together discovering new paths forward. She is a lifelong learner, curious, grounded, and motivated by discovery. Her engagement style is rooted in deep listening asking thoughtful, sometimes provocative, questions that invite reflection and support transformation. She honors her clients’ wholeness, agency, and wisdom, and feels privileged to serve as a trusted companion on their journeys.Â
She’s the Founder and Chief Possibility Officer of BETA Coaching & Consulting, where she partners with clients to co-create inclusive well-being frameworks that support both human and business performance. Novelette holds a B.S. in Non-Profit Management from Pace University, an M.S. in Professional Communications from Clark University, and an M.S. in Exercise and Sports Science/Health Promotion from Springfield College. She’s completed the Inclusive Leadership program at Bentley University, participated in numerous professional development programs focused on inclusive leadership, and is a 2025 ESC Catalyst Fellow. She’s also an International Coaching Federation-Certified Professional Coach; Institute of Coaching Innovation-Certified Professional Diversity Coach; and National Board-Certified Health & Wellness Coach.
Ralph Knighton is an experienced urban planning, municipal management, and community development professional. He acts as a consultant and developer with proven ability to administer large agencies and projects. He is the Former Director of Housing and Community Development for the City of Hartford, was the past recipient of the HUD Blue Ribbon Best Practices in Decent Housing Award, published in HUD’s Spotlighting What Works, referring to the creation of House Hartford, a program that provides down payment and closing costs assistance to first time homebuyers.
A former Senior Community Planning and Development Representative for the U.S. Dept. of HUD, Ralph is a graduate of Weaver High School in Hartford, CT. He holds a B.A. from the University of Connecticut, and M.A. from the Educational Center for Human Development. Ralph was a Fannie Mae Fellow at Harvard University JFK School of Government, and Community Builder Fellow with the U.S. Department of HUD. He is the owner of Ralph Knighton and Associates Consulting, and lives in Bloomfield, CT. He is married with two adult daughters.
Régine Théodat is a strategist, former human rights attorney, and the Principal of Anana Consultants, where she partners with mission-driven organizations and social enterprises to design bold strategies for growth, sustainability, and impact. With 15 years of experience working globally—specifically in Haiti, the U.S., and the Caribbean diaspora—she brings deep expertise in strategic partnerships, operational design, and narrative development.
A serial entrepreneur, Régine has launched four ventures to date—including Isse & Lo, a children’s heritage brand that crafts playful learning tools to celebrate and preserve Caribbean culture. Her work sits at the intersection of innovation, culture, and justice, helping organizations and communities move from vision to execution with clarity and care.
Sara Greenfield is a Research Associate at McClanahan Associates, Inc. (MAI). Throughout her tenure, Sara has led and overseen numerous diverse projects at MAI. Her experience extends across a spectrum of sectors, including social, health, education, and environmental justice.
Sara also brings valuable experience in evaluating learning networks and communities of practice. Sara is a mixed-methods researcher and is committed to applying a racial equity lens and cultural humility to all of her evaluation work. She is dedicated to gathering nuanced, systematic information about program implementation, constituent voices and experiences, programmatic outcomes, and areas of opportunity.
Sara’s passion infuses depth and inclusivity into her evaluation work, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of diverse perspectives and advancing equity within her projects. She lives with her husband and two children, and together they enjoy exploring the outdoors, cooking and baking, reading, and doing puzzles. She carries a connection to her Puerto Rican heritage, which continues to shape her perspective in thoughtful ways.
Zipporah Keach is a strategic communications specialist with over a decade of experience leading campaigns in international development, sustainability, and social impact. She has worked with the International Labour Organization, the United Nations, and a range of advocacy and nonprofit organizations to amplify underrepresented voices and shape inclusive narratives. Zipporah holds an MSc in International Relations and a B.A. in Chinese and Linguistics, bringing both global fluency and a nuanced understanding of cross-cultural communication to her work. Her career spans Asia, Europe, and the U.S., reflecting a deep commitment to equity, storytelling, and systems change.
We’re honored to have such a dynamic group of professionals in this cohort and can’t wait to see the impact of their work. Please join us in welcoming these consultants as they embark on this learning journey together to advance DEIB in their practice.