Who We Are: Staff and Consultants

Laura Talmus, Executive Director and Co-founder

Laura Talmus founded Beyond Differences along with her husband, Averell “Ace” Smith, following the unexpected death of their daughter Lili Rachel Smith in October 2009. Laura has run the day-to-day operations of Beyond Differences as a volunteer since its founding and was hired by the Board of Directors as its first Executive Director in August 2015. With over thirty-five years experience in running and consulting to non- profit organizations, she is passionate about bringing awareness to the issue of adolescent social isolation. Ace and Laura have a 25-year old son, Abram. They live in Marin County. Contact Laura at [email protected]

Grace Alexander, Director of Finance and Operations

Grace Alexander has worked for over 25 years as a consultant and Board Member, primarily for nonprofits serving youth. While her service has included work in fundraising, governance, strategic planning, finance, and capital project planning, her consulting focus has been developing dynamic financial forecasting models to inform planning, operations, management, and policy decisions. Grace received her Bachelor of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering at the University of British Columbia, and a California Teaching Credential in high school Mathematics and Physics from the University of San Francisco. She moved from her home in Victoria, British Columbia to California in 1986. She lives with her husband, Josh Brier, in Mill Valley. She and Josh have two sons, Jared and Adam. Contact Grace at [email protected]rg.

Sally Kuhlman, Director of National Programs

Sally Kuhlman comes to Beyond Differences with over 20 years of leadership and communications expertise. For many years, she ran her own consulting business providing support to small businesses, nonprofits and entrepreneurs in online marketing, business development, and project management. Sally is passionate about the mission of Beyond Differences to end adolescent social isolation. She, along with her wife, Celia Graterol, raised three children in Marin County. Through her children, she witnessed what social isolation felt like prompting her to join the middle school’s diversity board to help problem solve around the issues some of the students were facing, social isolation being one of the big issues. Sally majored in Social Ecology at UC Irvine and studied Project Management at UC Berkeley. In her free time, Sally enjoys roller skating, reading, social media, blogging, taking photos and hiking on the beautiful trails in Marin County. Contact Sally at [email protected]

Air Gallegos, Director of Student Programs

Air Gallegos began her career as a middle school English teacher at Strive Preparatory Schools in Denver, Colorado. She lived in Denver for five years and served as a member of a curriculum design team and as a cultural responsive teaching lead, where she dedicated her energy to bringing culturally responsive teaching methods into classrooms. In 2014, she transitioned to Smart High School where she continued teaching literature to 9th-11th grade students as well as serving her school as an instructional coach and professional development lead. She is trained in non-violent communication and stress resilience and has worked as a social justice advocate within education for the last ten years.

Air is extremely honored to have the opportunity to work for Beyond Differences. She is deeply passionate about Beyond Difference’s mission to end social isolation. As a middle school and high school teacher, as well as on a personal level, she has seen the intense and unnecessary effects of social isolation. Air enjoys connecting with students and believes strongly in students developing their own voices and learning to advocate for themselves and their community. Contact Air at [email protected]

Laurel Druke, Special Projects Coordinator

Laurel Druke comes to Beyond Differences with over six years in international education where she specialized in serving students learning English and creating a sense of belonging for those new to the American culture. As a student and professional at Dominican University of CA, she worked to extend the student community to include the ELS international students. With her dynamic personality and background, Laurel brings a new energy to the team. With a double degree in Business/Accounting and Political Science from Dominican University of CA and a Masters in Public Administration from University of San Francisco, she hopes her work through Beyond Differences will make diverse changes in social justice in the world. Contact Laurel at [email protected]

Dr. Louise Malandra, Oakland Unified Regional Programs

Dr. Malandra brings over 30 years of experience in the field of education as a teacher, school and program administrator. She is nationally recognized as a consultant with a reputation for inspiring educators to foster the potential of children and young adults. She has spent most of her career working with parents, teachers, school and district administrators to promote and support rigorous, and transformational learning environments that recognize the negative effects of student isolation incorporates the diversity of student learning styles, promotes cultural competency, student advocacy, and collaborative learning communities. Dr. Malandra has both undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of California, Berkeley and an EdD degree specializing in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of San Francisco. She lives in Oakland with her husband Lewis and son Darian. She is honored to be a part of the Beyond Differences community and will focus her work with the Oakland Unified School District. Contact Louise at [email protected]

Sheri Louis, Portland, Oregon Regional Programs

Sheri Louis has worked with hundreds of parents and children through Mindful Parenting PDX, a business which she created to teach parenting and social skills in order to transform the culture of classrooms and student social dynamics. Prior to that she taught Special Education and Elementary Education in Quito, Ecuador and in Maine for 13 years. She received a Bachelor of Arts in both Elementary Education and in Special Education from Lesley University as well as a Masters in Science in Elementary Education from the University of Alabama. She lives in Portland, OR with her husband and two children.

Sheri feels privileged to be working for Beyond Differences to help bring attention to social isolation in middle schools in Portland, OR. Having worked with children for over 20 years and now having a middle school child of her own, she is passionate about empowering students to create a community where they feel acknowledged and accepted. Contact Sheri at [email protected]

Rosie Platt, Development Coordinator, Portland, OR

Rosie Platt joins the Portland team as the Development Coordinator and brings with her over a decade of experience working in the non-profit sector. She received her Masters degree in Public Health from SDSU with an emphasis in Health Promotion and completed her undergraduate degree at UC Davis in International Relations, with a minor in Spanish. Rosie has devoted herself over the past 6 years to school improvement efforts through grant writing and leadership positions. She coordinated the school garden program for 3 years, teaching gardening classes and raising funds to create the Native Wildlife Garden and a handcrafted garden shed. She was the PTA President for a 2 year term and successfully organized volunteers, planned events and raised funds. In the spring of 2017, Rosie was awarded the Heritage Excellence Award, for the work that she did with coordinating a conservation project to restore a WPA wood marquetry mural at Chapman Elementary School. Rosie looks forward to joining Beyond Differences and leading fundraising efforts at the Portland branch.

Maya Robinson, Grant Writer

Maya Robinson is a grant writer who works with Beyond Differences as a consultant, securing small and large-scale funding support, through grants and other fundraising opportunities.

She currently resides in San Diego, CA where she has worked in similar capacities with arts and education-based youth organizations.

She is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College (B.A., cum laude, Film Studies) and a native Tennessean.

Kari Chisholm, Mandate Media

Kari Chisholm, president of Mandate Media, is an experienced campaign staffer, media strategist, political consultant, and interactive web developer. Over the last 14 years, Kari has worked with over 250 campaigns at nearly every level in over two dozen states.

Before Mandate Media, Kari was on the staff of Darlene Hooley's first Congressional campaign in 1996 and managed David Bragdon's campaign for the Metro Council in 1998. Kari was also the volunteer board chair of X-PAC, a 1000-member nonpartisan 501(c)3 nonprofit that motivated young people to get involved in politics in Oregon. During a hiatus from politics, Kari was the creative director for new media at Lewis & Clark College. He became a nationally-recognized speaker - teaching hundreds of higher-ed professionals how to strategically use new media to communicate with a new generation of college-bound students.

Michele Lynn, Editor and Writer

Michele Lynn is a communications and development professional with more than 30 years of experience with community organizations, universities, small businesses and elected officials. Michele’s professional career has included positions ranging from communications associate to executive director for a variety of nonprofit organizations and elected officials. A skilled writer, Michele’s work has appeared in such diverse publications as Duke News, Chapel Hill Magazine, Durham Magazine, theChapel Hill Herald, The Herald Sun, Parenting, Organic Gardening and The National Sheriff’s Magazine. In addition, she was a staff writer for nearly 10 years at San Francisco’s Noe Valley Voice.

Michele’s education includes a degree in political science from Barnard College, Columbia University and the prestigious Coro Foundation Fellows Program in Public Affairs. She also completed graduate school course work in business administration at the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley.

Heidi Meireles, Fundraising Associate

Heidi Meireles is a fundraising and development consultant with more than 12 years’ experience working with nonprofits and political campaigns, providing a wide range of administrative services from project development, network and database management and event and conference coordination. She has been with Beyond Difference from inception to date and focuses on fundraising. She lives in southern California with her husband and two children.

Mike Trujillo

Michael Trujillo is a political consultant based in Downtown Los Angeles.

Mr. Trujillo advises corporations, non-profits and political candidates on an array of government matters and legislative efforts. He specializes in political outreach, policy analysis, media strategy and crisis communication.

He got his political career jumpstarted when he was named the youngest Los Angeles City Commissioner in LA history at the age of 18 under then Mayor Richard Riordan. He is also the youngest three-time City Commissioner the first person to ever reach that milestone before the age of 35.

Barbara Zamost, Zamost Public Relations

Barbara Zamost has developed regional and national publicity programs for a wide range of clients including 7-Eleven, Sutter Home Winery, Ghirardelli Square, The San Francisco Recording Academy, The Clorox Company, Rainforest Café, Warren Miller Entertainment, Stanford University Hospital, and Beyond Differences. Through her work with Brazer Communications, Zamost is currently part of the public relations team on The Bay Lights, the monumental art sculpture on The Bay Bridge.

Zamost has placed clients on national news programs including The Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, NPR, CNBC, and more. Print placements have included USA Today, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, Redbook, LA Times, Associated Press, InStyle, Real Simple, Businessweek, Woman’s World, Better Homes and Gardens and Family Circle.

Zamost is the author of Hanstands in the Sand, a children's book that was published in 1992. She studied literature and contemporary British theatre at University College, Oxford University in England, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Emory University in Atlanta.