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American International School of Vienna
I am grateful for the thoughtful engagement and for the shared commitment to belonging grounded in dignity and respect.
A few moments I’m still smiling about:
Chef Sabine’s daily vegan magic (zucchini, couscous, vegan feta, and tzatziki… unreal);
The 6th grade boys approached me after the MS assembly to speak with me in French, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, and German;
The 8th grade girls and high schoolers who shared that they appreciated the talk because it reflected real student insights and that they felt included in the presentation;
The lower school classroom where a student wore a Micheal Jordan jersey. When I mentioned I’m from the same town, he made a point to come tell me the very next day.
The acknowledgement in the faculty meeting of the intercultural clashes that occur daily in an international school-- and the power of building personal and institutional intercultural competency to drive belonging.
I am looking forward to continuing the partnership in 2026–27 and I can’t wait to return!
Ruamrudee International School
I am grateful to return to Ruamrudee International School (RIS) for year two of evidence-based intercultural learning and belonging work.
During this consultation, we convened all employees, faculty and staff, because the research is clear that every adult on campus shapes students’ sense of belonging. In the morning, participants examined our individual and collective cultural lenses and how they intersect with Thai norms, which is especially important given RIS’s geographic context in Bangkok, Thailand. In the afternoon, participants worked on particular problems of practice and designed solutions.
I was also delighted to meet with parents and students across elementary, middle, and high school for a second time to reinforce an intercultural competency lens and what that looks like in an international school.
Thanks to Dr. James O'Malley for his leadership and partnership.
Merit School of Music
I am grateful for lunch today with Charles Grode and Meredith Barber and for the chance to hear what’s ahead at Merit School of Music.
Merit’s mission is clear and urgently important: to transform the lives of Chicago-area youth by removing barriers to high-quality music education.
As a Merit alum and current board member, I’m proud to support and spotlight the school’s expanding reach and excellence across Chicagoland.
A few highlights worth celebrating and sharing:
Gala 2026 at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago, Merit’s largest annual fundraiser, honoring Caroline and Charlie Huebner and D-Composed. The Huebners will receive the Alice S. Pfaelzer Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts, and D-Composed will receive the Merit School of Music Award for Citizen Artistry.
Congratulations to Merit students in the Phoenix String Quartet and Bone Rangers Trombone Quartet for major wins last weekend at both the MYA and Rembrandt chamber competitions.
An upcoming cello masterclass led by Klaus Mäkelä, CSO Zell Music Director Designate.
An open rehearsal with the Merit Philharmonic led by Enrique Mazzola, Music Director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, an extraordinary learning opportunity for young musicians.
I am proud of this work and of the students, faculty, families, and supporters who make it possible.
A Circle of Care
I’m grateful for the continued opportunity to collaborate with Sesame Workshop’s Rosemarie Truglio, PhD , most recently at the Hong Kong International School's Early Childhood Conference and again in Shanghai with Shanghai American School.
Across both engagements, we returned to a core idea we’ve built over years of shared work: belonging begins with dignity, and dignity is what allows play, curiosity, awe, inquiry, and collaboration to flourish. In our “Circle of Care” framing, the everyday moments across home, school, and community answer a child’s most important question: Do I matter here?
In Shanghai, we had the chance to work alongside parents as well as early childhood and lower school educators, exploring how belonging and well-being shape the way young children play, connect, and learn. Grounded in Sesame Street: Ready for School! and Sesame Workshop’s decades of research and learning design, our conversation translated evidence into practical, playful approaches that strengthen school readiness through ordinary routines: social-emotional skills, self-regulation, language, and early math.
Dr. Truglio and I first met nearly a decade ago when I delivered a keynote at the Wonderplay Conference at the 92nd Street Y. Since then, we’ve partnered through my work as Senior Content Advisor, helping shape content aligned to Sesame Workshop’s mission to help children everywhere grow smarter, stronger, and kinder.
We look forward to continuing this work with international school communities around the world. If this resonates with the questions your community is holding, please feel free to reach out.
Inclusive Leadership Cohorts 2025-2026
We’ve concluded our final session for Cohorts 1 and 2 of the Inclusive Leadership Cohort, an applied, multi-year professional learning experience with educators and school leaders across Latin America.
Over three years (Cohort 1) and two years (Cohort 2), participants engaged in a structured sequence designed to strengthen inclusive leadership capacity and cultivate inclusive school communities grounded in dignity and respect.
At the core of the program were five interlocking components:
Intercultural introspection, including benchmarking and reflection using the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI)
Anchor texts to establish shared conceptual frameworks and a common language for practice
PLC case study application to examine dilemmas of practice, surface assumptions, and test inclusive responses in context
Policy design and review to align values with institutional structures and decision-making
School-based action plans to translate learning into implementation through design, enactment, and iteration
Each year, our 2.5-day on-site sessions were hosted at International School of Panama, with deep appreciation to our gracious host, Dr. Audrey Menard, for her partnership and leadership. Throughout the year, participants convened their PLCs to review case studies in addition to attending virtual sessions.
To all participants: thank you for the graduate-course-level investment of time, intellectual engagement, and applied work, advancing from intention to the practices and policies that enable all students to thrive and flourish.
Early Childhood Conference at Hong Kong International School
I am thrilled to deliver the opening and closing keynotes with Rosemarie Truglio, PhD, Senior Vice President of Global Education at Sesame Workshop, at the HKIS Early Childhood Conference, alongside more than 250 early childhood educators.
In our keynotes, The Circle of Care: Where Belonging Begins, we ground the theme in a simple truth: belonging begins with dignity, and dignity is what allows play, curiosity, awe, inquiry, and collaboration to flourish. We focus on the small moments across home, school, and community that answer a child’s most important question: Do I matter here?
Dr. Truglio and I first met nearly a decade ago when I delivered a keynote at the Wonderplay Conference at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. Since then, we have partnered through my work as Senior Content Advisor at Sesame Workshop to help create content that supports Sesame Workshop’s mission to help children everywhere grow smarter, stronger, and kinder.
I am grateful for this long collaboration and for every educator who widens the circle of care for young children, one interaction at a time.
American School of Barcelona
I am grateful for my collaboration with The American School of Barcelona as we continue deepening belonging and strengthening a culture of dignity and respect.
I was especially encouraged that capacity building included the full adult community across teaching and staff teams, and that we supported access through professional learning facilitated in both Spanish and English.
I also appreciated the opportunity to facilitate a full day retreat with the leadership team on inclusive leadership, leveraging the Intercultural Development Inventory as a practical tool for sustaining this commitment schoolwide.
I look forward to our ongoing work during year three of our partnership.
2025 in Review: Operationalizing Intercultural Competency and Change Management
This year reinforced a hard truth: awareness and good intentions are not enough. Without the capacity, strategy, and implementation discipline to operationalize the insights, belonging goals remain aspirational rather than realized.
I am grateful and humbled by the opportunity to partner with organizations committed to deepening intercultural competency, strengthening belonging, and cultivating inclusive communities grounded in dignity and respect.
In 2025, the work included:
Engaging 60,000+ participants
Spending 101 days onsite in consultation
Partnering with 48 businesses and schools
Working across 25 cities (and at least 20 countries)
Delivering learning in 4 languages: English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish
Contributing to 9 events and conferences and leading five executive leadership cohorts
Thank you to every organization that trusted my leadership and partnership and chose to move beyond intention into sustained practice.
I look forward to building on this momentum in 2026 and I welcome conversations with leaders who are ready to invest in the strategy, capacity, and follow through that make belonging measurable and sustainable.
Early Childhood Conference at HKIS
I am grateful for this thoughtful highlight from Hong Kong International School. I look forward to keynoting the Early Childhood Conference in January with Rosemarie Truglio, PhD as we explore belonging, play, and children’s perspectives in learning.
I invite early childhood colleagues across the region to join us in Hong Kong for this meaningful professional experience. Register to deepen your capacity to support our youngest learners grow " kinder, stronger, and wiser."
American School Foundation of Guadalajara (ASFG)
Fostering Cultures of Dignity and Respect at American School Foundation of Guadalajara (ASFG)
I was delighted to return to Guadalajara for my eighth visit to the The American School Foundation of Guadalajara to continue our ongoing efforts to foster an inclusive school community grounded in dignity and respect for all.
The intercultural competency work focused on cultivating shared language around the knowledge, skills, and competencies that we all need in an international community to engage with one another with empathy, respect, and adaptability. This included parent education, student assemblies, board conversations, and strategic planning to inform the next phase of data guided belonging and wellbeing work that strengthens a coherent and inclusive school environment.
Before leaving campus, I paused at a set of elementary murals that echoed these commitments. Their messages served as a simple and powerful reminder of the values the community is intentionally nurturing.
I look forward to returning in the spring.
Cultivando culturas de dignidad y respeto en el American School Foundation of Guadalajara (ASFG)
Me dio mucho gusto regresar a Guadalajara para mi octava visita al The American School Foundation Guadalajara y continuar con nuestros esfuerzos para cultivar una comunidad escolar inclusiva, basada en la dignidad y el respeto para todos.
El trabajo de competencia intercultural se centró en cultivar un lenguaje compartido sobre los conocimientos, habilidades y competencias que todos necesitamos en una comunidad internacional para relacionarnos con empatía, respeto y adaptabilidad. Esto incluyó sesiones para familias, asambleas para estudiantes, conversaciones con la junta directiva y planificación estratégica para orientar la siguiente fase del trabajo en pertenencia y bienestar, guiado por datos, que fortalece un entorno escolar coherente e inclusivo.
Antes de salir del campus, me detuve ante un conjunto de murales en la sección de primaria que reflejan claramente estos compromisos. Sus mensajes ofrecen un recordatorio sencillo y poderoso de los valores que la comunidad está cultivando de manera intencional.
Espero con entusiasmo regresar en la primavera