Meet the Team

MA City Planning, LEED AP, Wild Earth Teacher Training, Certificate in Ecopsychology

Gwen is a climate and cultural repair activist. In addition to Wayfinders, Gwen consults with individuals and families working to reduce their carbon footprint, and to inspire and transform neighborhoods and communities. She spent 11 years managing Corporate Sustainability and ESG programs at Underwriters Laboratories (UL) working with REITs on strategic sustainability and culture change. She worked at Cushman & Wakefield as a Sustainability Strategist, Steven Winter Associates as a Sustainability Consultant, and at the New York City Department of City Planning in Environmental Review. Gwen's experience completing the Wild Earth Apprenticeship & Teacher Training - an in-depth experiential training on nature mentoring, wilderness living skills, & creating connective nature experiences - motivated her to fulfill her long-standing dream of developing Wayfinders. Gwen was Chair of the Aligned Center Mentorship Program, life cycles teacher at Slide Ranch, K-12 curriculum developer for the Service-Learning Waste Management Program, Training Director for Amigos volunteers in community organizing & Spanish, conference and protest organizer for the Native Forest Network, City Repair community organizer in Portland, OR, and developer and teacher of a UVM course on Ecopsychology. She completed her BA in Environmental Studies and Sociology from UVM and received her MA in Urban and Region Planning from PSU. Gwen strongly believes in Wayfinders mission to provide youth with the tools to prepare for and become leaders of their generation.

Source profile: /gwen

M.A Psychological Counseling, Ed.M Psychological Counseling & Education, Certified Nature Informed Therapist

Leah is a Certified Nature-Informed Therapist who spent fifteen years working As a School Counselor at Ardsley High School and Bard High School Early College in Manhattan. She taught elementary school through Teach for America. Her extensive experience working in schools is complemented by her work in a psychiatric hospital and substance abuse clinic. She currently works as the Program Director of Wayfinders & facilitates walk and talk counseling sessions in the woods with adults. Leah earned her Masters degrees in Psychological Counseling from Columbia University and a Masters of Education through National Louis University, and a BA in Psychology from the University of Vermont. Leah is certified in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (Step A) and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, and has received foundational training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. She is certified in child and adolescent yoga. Leah believes deeply in the mental health benefits of nature connection. She brings a wealth of experience in social-emotional learning, counseling, mindfulness, meditation, reflection, validation, group dynamics, and interpersonal relationships to foster a strong sense of self and a deeper connection to our community and the world around us.

Source profile: /leah

Mentor

Sayako is a Wayfinders Mentor who works with youth in Base Camp and early childhood educators in Wayfinders’ teacher trainings.

Sayako recently graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a degree in Geography and Economics. Her studies focused on human-environment relations and currently inform her interest in fostering meaningful connections between people and the environment. Sayako also brings her experiences from climate justice organizing spaces and her training as a Junior Master in Taekwondo to Wayfinders’ dynamic community.

She looks forward to learning with and from everyone at Wayfinders!

Source profile: /sayako-aizeki-nevins

MA Psychological Counseling, School Counselor, NOLS Instructor

Rebecca is Wayfinders Lead Mentor and oversees all of Base Camp. She is an experienced outdoor educator and trained school counselor. She is passionate about helping people gain confidence in themselves and connect with one another through outdoor experiential learning. She spent six years teaching and leading at the High Mountain Institute in Colorado, where she filled many roles, including French Teacher, Environmental Ethics Teacher, Wilderness Instructor, Student Advisor, and Dean of Students. She is a trained National Outdoor Leadership Instructor, and she has run pre-teen and teen empowerment programs such as Girls on the Run and Smart-Girl. Rebecca earned her Masters of Education in Psychological Counseling from Columbia University, and her BA in Education and French at Colby College. She has been leading young people in the woods for over 15 years and plans to do so for as long as she is able!

Source profile: /rebecca-dellia

Research Scientist, Ph.D.

Bryte Gordon is a Ph.D. research scientist who studied small molecule metal enzyme mimics and specialized in x-ray crystallography. For over 15 years she has been working in the realm of intellectual property law with cutting edge innovators in biotech and green tech. Through it all, Bryte remains a child at heart and her deepest love is to be in the woods with little people.

As a graduate student, Bryte was a founding member of Women in Science at Columbia, where she helped run the Saturday Science Starters program that hosted young girls from Harlem at the Columbia Chemistry Department to engage in fun and enriching science experiments.

Bryte has also been an active member of the Non-Violent Communication community for a number of years now and is excited to continue to cultivate opportunities for deep listening, empathic connection and awareness with nature, within herself, with the Wayfinders tribe and beyond!

Source profile: /bryte-gordon

Mentor

Sonjaia has an exceptional amount of experience working with children from being a camp counselor at an outdoors-based sleep away camp.

Sonjaia strongly believes that keeping the outdoors instilled in our everyday lives is very important; whether taking a quick walk or sitting outside to take in the environment around you, she prioritizes this herself and wants to bring that quality to children. Sonjaia enjoys taking walks and photographing nature during her free time.

Source profile: /sonjaia-mccrae

Mentor

Stacie brings more than 10 years of nature education experience to the Wayfinders team. For the past 4 years Stacie has been leading nature field trips, camps and partnership programs at Wave Hill Public Garden & Cultural Center. Prior to Wave Hill, Stacie was an Urban Park Ranger for NYC Parks. Valedictorian of her academy class, Stacie led guided camping, canoeing, fishing and survival programs for city residents, Facebook Live programs for thousands across the country and performed wildlife rescues of injured or abandoned animals. Originally from Colorado, Stacie first came to NYC in 2008 for an Americorp program and has never left.

Source profile: /stacie-bartolotta

MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, MA Early Childhood Education (in progress), Forest School Educator

Hannah has always had a deep love and appreciation for nature and the youngest learners. She joined the Wayfinders community after working as a first grade teacher in a public, dual-language (Spanish) program in Washington Heights. Hannah was a loved teacher at Little Leaf Forest Preschool over several seasons before having her son.

Prior to teaching in the NYC DOE, Hannah received a M.A. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages at Teachers College and is currently finishing her M.A. in Early Childhood Education at Bank Street College of Education. She has worked in day care and preschool settings with influences of Reggio Emilia and Montessori.

Hannah is inspired by and committed to the role of the natural world as children’s primary teacher, and cannot wait to see how children’s worlds expand with experiences in the dirt, sun, and forest. When she is not teaching, she loves to hike with her rescue pup, Junie, throughout New York State. Hannah also enjoys reading, exploring art and theater, and spending lots of time with her family and friends.

Source profile: /hannah-van-dolsen

The Team page currently lists Emily Orr and links to /emily, but that public profile returns 404. Her role, biography, and current affiliation require an owner decision.

Source profile: /emily

B-Mitzvah Guide, Youth Mentor, Interfaith Minister, and the Creative Ritual Director of Wayfinders.

For the past 6 years, Miriam served in the roles of Director of Programming, and Director of Membership at Romemu, NYC’s largest Jewish Renewal community. Miriam has been trained as a Purpose Guide™, Environmental Educator, and Interfaith Minister. Over the past 15 years, she has guided hundreds of youth and adults in deepening their connection to the earth, to their cultural history, and to the wisdom of their soul. Miriam was an outdoor educator for 7 years, where she guided hundreds of students to learn about their relationship with the earth, and designed unique rites of passage programs that supported adolescent development. Miriam is a Nature-based B-Mitzvah guide, she supports each of her students (youth and adults) in gaining their own personal and profound connection to the Hebrew language, to the wisdom of the tradition, and a deeper understanding of their own unique passions and purpose. Miriam sees nature connection, soul-growth, and the involvement of community, as critical practices for creating a meaningful and inspiring response to the urgent times that we're living in. Miriam earned her Bachelors degree at Barnard College in Environmental Science, where she studied the impacts of climate change on the relationship to pollen production in Northeast plant populations. She earned her Massage Therapy License in 2013 and specializes in Somatic Education, trigger-point therapy, and somatic-neural pathway re-education. After being guided through the Soul Purpose Discovery Process under the mentorship of Jonathan Gustin, Miriam found the work to be so profound that she decided to train as a Purpose Guide™. She is proud and humbled to serve as spiritual advisor for Wayfinders on the Hudson as it integrates her life's work.

Source profile: /miriam

Board Member

Jennie Brotman is a consultant working at the intersection of education and mental health to support organizations dedicated to youth and family wellbeing. She partners with nonprofits, foundations, and programs in areas such as strategic thought partnership, program design, learning & improvement, and professional writing.

Jennie has been working to promote quality and equity in the education field for over twenty years, as a nonprofit programmatic leader, professor, researcher, curriculum writer, coach, professional learning facilitator, and middle school teacher. She has designed and scaled programs that have impacted thousands of students and teachers (as Director of Service Design at Teaching Matters), secured multi-million dollar grants to bring creative, equity-centered initiatives to life (from institutions such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), and contributed to the learning of the field through published academic research (based on a PhD in Science Education from Teachers College, Columbia University). She is also a passionate advocate for mental health agendas and a peer support for struggling parents with Other Parents Like Me.

Jennie comes to Wayfinders as both a professional and a parent with firsthand experience of how nature connection, paired with social-emotional learning and community building, can powerfully support the mental health and identity development of young people.

Source profile: /jennie

Brand Therapist/Creative Director

Jaime Schwarz holds a BA in psychology and philosophy from Colgate University. He served at over a dozen agencies during his copywriting and creative direction career working on over 100 brands. He holds Cannes Lion, Clio, One Show, Webby, and B2B awards and has been published in industry magazines and books. In 2017, he founded Pro4Bono as a nonprofit-focused product development agency, but as those products became projects, Jaime became a serial co-founder, helping to launch startups focused on betterment, education, and web3 technologies. He served on the marketing advisory board of DoSomething.org from 2016-2019. In 2018, he began patenting systems and methods for certifying and empowering virtual objects in service of an open metaverse. In 2022, he founded Brand Therapy, a consultancy based on evolving brand strategy into brand consciousness so that brands can speak for themselves, helping with stakeholder alignment and authentic consumer connections. Beyond enjoying his board services for Wayfinders on the Hudson, Jaime is the Chief Brand Officer Parallel Worlds.us, the co-founder of TeamFlow.Institute, an advisor for DCarbon.solutions and XRSI.org, and an adjunct lecturer at City College's Branding and Integrated Communications school. He has been a Hastings resident since 2021 and is a proud 3rd year Wayfinders parent.

Source profile: /jaime-schwarz-1

Board Director

Aron Goldman is a Trainer/Advisor at ABFE. He is a nonprofit leader with a deep commitment to equity and social justice, and a track record of helping organizations, movements, and leaders make meaningful change. Trust-based relationships drive his work with grassroots organizations and larger systems, funders and grant seekers, professionals and lay leaders, and community stakeholders alike.

Aron is an experienced organizational development consultant, nonprofit manager, board leader, facilitator, trainer, thought leader and writer, educator, and activist focused on root causes, structural change, and long-term sustainability.

Source profile: /aron-goldman