Harvest of the Heart 2024

Speakers and Performers

It is with deep gratitude and joy that we introduce you to the remarkable speakers and performers who graced our Second Annual Harvest of the Heart celebration. Each one brought their unique voice, heart, and artistry to the evening, inspiring us all with their wisdom, passion, care, and creativity. We are honored to connect you with these extraordinary individuals, presented here in the order in which they shared their gifts with us during this unforgettable celebration.

Speakers

Belvie Rooks

Belvie Rooks is an essayist, educator and social justice activist whose pioneering work weaves social justice and healing with environmental restoration and community-building. Her understanding of and commitment to human and civil rights was profoundly impacted by a weekend with Martin Luther King, Jr. when she was teenager. During the anti-apartheid era, Belvie was one of the first women on national steering committees and Associate Director of the Third World Fund, for which she traveled throughout Africa and was honored to serve as an election monitor during the transition to majority rule in South Africa and attend Nelson Mandela’s inauguration. She was founding faculty at SUNY College of Social Justice, and faculty at Holy Names University and Naropa University’s Environmental Studies Program. She is also creator of Hey Listen Up, a groundbreaking urban eco-literacy project, and ConverZations That Matter, featuring thought leaders from around the globe. Belvie served on the Boards of Bioneers, Ella Baker Center and the Institute for Noetic Sciences, and as a founding staff member of Wild Trees Press with Alice Walker and Robert Allen. Her writing appears in numerous publications and anthologies, and she is co-producer (with Damani Baker, Danny Glover) of the award-winning film, The House on Coco Road. Belvie and husband Dedan Gills founded Growing A Global Heart. Belvie is Editor of I Give You the Springtime of My Blushing Heart, a poetic love story between her and Dedan. Belvie’s pioneering and visionary mentorship and work on educational programs like Hey Listen Up!, Journey of the Universe, and ConverZations That Matter, and Dedan’s poetry and counsel as Founding Board Member, have been the guiding influence for Pseads.

Mansa Gills

Bio coming soon.

Nikki Silvestri

Nikki Silvestri is, first and foremost, a mother of two, wife, and sci-fi nerd. Nikki is also a serial non-profit executive director and entrepreneur. She is currently the CEO and founder of the Soil and Shadow Firm, and an international keynote speaker.

Nikki’s wide-ranging career has taken her from presentations at the White House and negotiations with the Environmental Protection Agency to intimate workshops with local businesses and small retail organizing. SHe is the recipient of numerous awards, include ELLE Magazine’s Gold Award and OxFam America’s Act Local, Think Global Award, and she was named of the The Root’s 100 Most Influential African Americans.

Galen Silvestri

Galen Silvestri was Co-Founder and former Executive Director of United Roots, the first “green" youth center in Oakland, California, and also a media & tech center that was established in partnership with Black Eyed Pea and Adobe. He is a long-time community organizer, youth educator and media producer, and has worked with organizations like Men’s Stor yProject and the Y-Step collective for racial equity. He was also Co-Founder and Director of the Turf Unity Music Program and a Co-Founder of the Art in Action organization.

Galen has over two decades of experience developing campaigns, projects, and programs in partnership with local and national communities, including The California Endowment’s Alliance for Boys & Men of Color. As part of this work, he helped co-found Youth Impact HUB, a co-working office space and incubation program for youth doing social entrepreneurship and innovation. He also offers non-profit consulting services and provides media project management for things like filmmaking, graphic design and music production.

Rich Ciccotelli

Rich Ciccotelli is a middle school teacher and musician who has played in bands since he was twelve years old. He has taught middle school for over a decade, including six years at White Hill Middle School in Fairfax, California, where he hosted the Pseads poetry team in his classroom, along with all the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade English classrooms. He currently teaches English Language Arts at Kenilworth Junior High School in Petaluma, California.

Paul Devoto

Paul Devoto sprang into education to improve lives and to contribute something lasting to the world. He has taught in both elementary and middle schools in the Tiburon and Sacramento, California regions, and worked as a math coach at a middle school. He has a Masters in Education Media Design & Technology from Full Sail University.

Paul’s time in and out of the classroom has provided him with rich experiences in leadership, technology integration, curriculum design, management, and professional development. He has designed enrichment programs that have connected students with the earth and local communities. With the help of 43 teachers and students from around the globe, Paul facilitated the creation of a music video for one of the most epic cross-cultural education projects to ever take place. And since 2010, he has been delivering professional development workshops for Apple across the United States.

SenSaSheri Maasera

SenSaSheri Maasera is a senior at Dominican University of California, pursuing a BFA in Dance with the Alonzo LINES contemporary ballet program. When she graduates, SenSaSheri will be in a professional contemporary dance company where she hopes to travel and learn from many communities in the world. SenSaSheri was born in Saint Louis, and also spent a lot of her childhood in Bermuda. Her family is a part of The Organization for Black Struggle (OBS), which is committed to serving the oppressed communities within St. Louis. In elementary school she joined one of OBS’ programs called Youth Undoing Institutional Racism (YUIR). Through YUIR, SenSaSheri got the opportunity to serve many marginalized communities in St. Louis, Chicago, and Washington D.C. These communities suffer from harsh redlining, food deserts, and educational disparity. Participating in Freedom School, gardening, and school district reconciliation, SenSaSheri cultivated a driving passion for social and environmental justice, nature, and ethics. SenSaSheri’s family has a deep rooted spiritual practice that has influenced her love for the introspection of spirituality and mindfulness.

Amalya Rajparia

Bio coming soon.

Victoria and Eric Guarino of CASALMA

For the past seven years, Victoria and Eric Guarino have embarked on global journeys, immersing themselves in distant lands while embracing a rich tapestry of cultures, both familiar and foreign.

For Victoria, these journeys rekindled a connection to the rhythmic pulse that embodies Latin American cultures and the deep-rooted essence of her ancestral heritage in Argentina and Cuba — a profound reconnection to the wisdom of Mother Nature and herself. For Eric, these explorations signified a departure from his decade-long career in corporate real estate, which left him in pursuit of deeper meaning.

These travels left an indelible mark as he bore witness to the direct correlation between his profession and the undeniable impact on the world and climate. It was amidst these transformative journeys that CASALMA took root within their hearts. This vision aims to reweave humanity and nature. It stands as an offering: a space designed for the gathering of community — where food and fire act as unifying forces, fostering meaningful connections and invoking the poginant reminder that nurturing the world around us inherently nurtures the world within us. Read more about Victoria and Eric’s backgrounds here.

The partnership between Pseads and CASALMA was born out of a common commitment to creating journeys for learning, connection and community that inspire new relationships with ourselves, each other and the Earth. Pseads is proud to serve as the incubator and fiscal sponsor for CASALMA as it grows.

Sandra Bass, PhD

Dr. Sandra Bass currently serves as Executive Director & Associate Dean of the Public Service Center at UC Berkeley. Upon receiving her doctorate in political science, Dr. Bass was appointed as an assistant professor of Criminology and Political Science at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she integrated service learning into both her undergraduate and graduate courses. In 2002 Sandra joined the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and in 2010 she was selected to lead the Foundation’s girl’s education, women’s leadership, and reproductive health program in Sub-Saharan Africa, and later was appointed the executive director of Teach With Africa, an organization focused on cross cultural learning for K-12 teachers in the US and South Africa. Sandra has published numerous articles and essays in academic journals and on various platforms, and has co-edited three volumes. She currently serves on the regional board of Multiplying Good (formerly known as the Jefferson Awards Foundation), the UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Community Partnership Fund, the Osher Center for Lifelong Learning Diversity and Equity Advisory Board, and Co-Chairs the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Civic Engagement Advisory Board. She has also served as a “Wise Head” reviewer for the MacArthur Foundation 100 and change competition, on the steering committee of the African Grantmakers Affinity Group, and is the former Board Chair of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, among other appointments. She is also a nonviolence trainer and educator. Sandra holds a BA from San Jose State University, and an MA and PhD from UC Berkeley, all in political science.

Thomasina Williams

Thomasina Williams combines her decades of experience as an award-winning lawyer and nationally recognized philanthropy strategist to help families who own significant financial wealth build transgenerational legacies of success. She does that by helping them focus on their most precious asset – who they are individually and collectively as a family. Thomasina is described by her clients as “a gift” whose work with them has proven invaluable in helping them navigate the complexities of combining family and significant financial wealth. Other clients refer to her as their “high beams,” lighting the way and guiding them along the sometimes-uncomfortable path of generational transitions.

She is a member of a cadre of vetted family advisors for the Family Wealth Alliance, a family office network that is part of financial giant Charles Schwab. She was also Wells Fargo Private Bank’s first in-house Family Dynamics Consultant. Thomasina helped the bank’s ultra-high-net-worth clients manage generational wealth and leadership transitions. She also supported the bank’s wealth advisors to better understand family systems and be more effective resources for their clients. She’s been profiled on NASDAQ and Thrive Global, quoted in American Express Business Class, and been published by Crain’s Chicago Business, Enterprising Women magazine, and the National Association of Women Business Owners, among others.

Thomasina is the founder of Sankofa Legacty Advisors. The word “Sankofa” is a wisdom principle that epitomizes the concept of stewardship, which is the foundation of her work with families seeking to build and sustain legacies of generational success.

Steve Uzzell

Steve Uzzell is an operational precision specialist, inspirational speaker, and one of the top advertising and corporate photographers in the world. He started in the photography business over 40 years ago as the assistant to the editor of National Geographic and a member of their photographic staff before building his own corporation. Steve’s assignments have taken him to all 50 states and 30 foreign countries and led to an incredible portfolio of images, stories and experiences. His photographic work has garnered international acclaim and won numerous awards, including ten awards from Communication Arts. He has photographed multiple books and had his editorial work published in over 100 publications, including Newsweek, Smithsonian, TIME, and U.S. News. As an inspirational speaker, Steve’s travels are also global — in the past 25 years he has given the presentation that became his book Open Roads Open Minds — An Exploration of Creative Problem Solving to over 500 organizations in all 50 United States, as well as three Canadian provinces and five other countries, including India and China, to a combined audience of more than 600,000 people.

Ayana Morgan-Woodard

Ayana Morgan-Woodard is a Marin County-based community organizer. She works as a Resource Coordinator for Homeward Bound of Marin; a Project Director for Growth Circle, a nonprofit project of volunteers who encourage low-income middle and high school students from Marin City to learn through educational travel; and a Project Specialist for Hope Housing of Marin, a community land trust striving to create access to affordable, inclusive and equitable housing through ownership of land or acquisition of properties. She previously worked as a Site Coordinator for the Children’s Defense Fund. Ayana has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Government from Tuskegee University.

Bettie Hodges

Bettie Hodges is an activist, philanhropic professional, educator and community development specialist whose professional career spans more than thirty years. Bettie was founder and Interim Executive Director of the Marin City Community Development Corporation following conferment of her undergraduate and graduate education from the University of California, Berkeley. At this time, she also served as editor of the Congressional Black Caucus magazine, Point of View, and worked as staff to the Employment and Housing Subcommittee of Government Operations.

In 1987, Bettie returned home to Marin City as Program Officer for Housing and Community Development at the Marin Community Foundation. In 2006, she chartered The Hannah Project, a nonprofit that provides academic and cultural educational programs to Marin County at-risk youth. As Executive Director, Bettie has secured grant and donation support that has allowed her provide college scholarships to Marin City students, the majority of whom are the first in their families to attend college. The Hannah Project also offers weekly tutorial assistance to middle and high school students, as well as a college preparatory program from high school seniors.

At the second annual Harvest of the Heart, Bettie was awarded the inaugural Seeds of Transformation Award from the Pseads Institute.

Coumba Toure

Bio coming soon.

Youth Performers

With special appreciation for our youth poets:

• Leila Colbert, 9th Grade

• Wilfie Wild, 4th Grade

• Lily Wild, 7th grade
• Gracyn Gellert, 2nd grade
• Sailor Costello, 4th grade

• Lucy Bakowski, 12th grade

Performers

The Rajparia Family

Bio coming soon.

Amaryst Bauer and Leah Fairbank

Bio coming soon.