Meet the Team
Our facilitators bring a rare mix of buoyancy, reverence, and joy to this work—grounded by decades of combined experience across education, nonprofit, corporate, and public sectors. Many are former educators, movement builders, and executive leaders who understand how systems function and how they can be transformed. With diverse cultural and professional backgrounds, they know how to meet organizations where they are. They guide teams through courageous conversations and strategic pivots, approaching each moment with care and clarity to support lasting, meaningful results.
The work should never feel heavier than we can carry together.
Cardozie Jones, CEO & Founder
Cardozie Jones began his career as a teacher and school administrator in New York City. From the start, he was passionate about learning, leadership, and community—and just as importantly, about making sure the work felt meaningful and alive. As he deepened his understanding of how systems shape opportunities, he saw firsthand how even well-intentioned structures could create barriers, particularly for students from historically marginalized communities. That realization didn’t just challenge him—it motivated him.
Over the next two decades, Cardozie built a career that blended education, strategy, and creativity, helping organizations find real, practical ways to become stronger, more inclusive, and more effective. In 2018, Cardozie founded True North as both a reflection of what he had learned and a space to keep learning. He believes that leadership—real, human-centered leadership—requires both reverence and levity.
Erin Dunlevy, VP & Consultant
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Erin Dunlevy brings over two decades of experience as a restorative justice practitioner, witnessing the power of accountability and repair in diverse settings. As an educator and intimacy professional, Erin navigates complexity with care, centering dignity and exploring power dynamics. In partnership, Erin walks alongside organizations, drawing on executive coaching to support unlearning and sustainable change rooted in relationship and new perspectives. Creativity guides Erin’s work, fostering innovative solutions when challenges arise.
Zulla Getahun, Director of Partnerships and Development
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Zulla Getahun’s firsthand experiences navigating challenging systems, from refugee camps to various shelters, fuel her deep understanding of safety, dignity, and belonging. Combining this lived wisdom with learning in organizational psychology, coaching, and theater, she brings both empathy and a systemic lens to her work. As a bridge between teams and partners, Zulla fosters trust and guides clients to identify strengths, address challenges, and envision new possibilities. Rooted in curiosity and compassion, she creates spaces where individuals feel at home -believing in the power of presence to cultivate a more just future.
Alexa Bishop, Operations Manager
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Alexa Bishop’s understanding of systems and people is shaped by diverse career paths and extensive travel, fostering an appreciation for individual worth and a drive to challenge oppressive systems. In partnerships, Alexa focuses on deliverables, clear communication, and expectation-setting, offering options and fostering a sense of forward movement. Guided by peace, calm, and the importance of connection and self-love, Alexa encourages honesty and collaboration to navigate challenges and cultivate well-being.
Soma Okoye, Digital Media Manager
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Sọma (she/they) is an artist, creative strategist, and digital marketing specialist dedicated to expanding cultural dialogues and nurturing creative communities. With a focus on leveraging digital platforms for positive change, she has played key roles on HBOMax’s Multicultural Marketing team, at Broadway Advocacy Coalition, and is excited to be bringing her expertise to True North EDI. She is deeply invested in leveraging digital platforms for meaningful impact.
Cathleen M. Antoine-Abiala, Consultant
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Cathleen Antoine-Abiala’s work honors the histories and lineages that shape systems while fostering learning and co-creation. As an experienced educator and coach, Cathleen understands change as both personal and collective, offering patience, support, and curiosity in moments of uncertainty. In partnership, Cathleen invites reflective dialogue and joy to help individuals and teams reimagine possibilities with care and a commitment to belonging, grounded in the wisdom and resilience of past changemakers.
Jonny Altrogge, Consultant
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Jonny Soto-Altrogge’s understanding of interconnected systems and cultural shifts is deeply informed by coaching over 15 schools and facilitating workshops for diverse sectors, including grant makers and non-profit leaders. Jonny prioritizes building relationships through authentic connection and care, focusing on human needs and making learning accessible. Guided by joy, freedom, autonomy, and the importance of relationships, Jonny is driven by lived experiences to foster equitable and inclusive work environments where individuals can thrive.
Purvi Shah, Consultant
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Purvi Shah cultivates spaces for healing and transformation through anti-violence advocacy, social justice facilitation, and art. With two decades of non-profit leadership, training, and equity experience, Purvi offers a nuanced and strategic perspective. In partnership, Purvi brings optimism and vibrant energy to facilitate needs assessments, strategic planning, and retreats, centering joy, connection, and growth. Her facilitation style weaves relationship-building with addressing needs to find generative paths forward, informed by her grassroots research and creative thinking.
Íssa Victoria Guzmán, Consultant
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Íssa (she/her/ella) brings a heart-centered approach to her work supporting organizational health and transformation. In her consulting practice, she partners with individuals and organizations in their work to unlearn and actively dismantle the ways systems of oppression inform interpersonal and organizational practices. She believes authenticity, rigorous self-work and individual wellbeing are necessary conditions for achieving equity and collective liberation. She is committed to supporting the healing and wellness of individuals and groups most impacted by systems of oppression.
Ana Catalina Duque, Consultant
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Ana Catalina Duque’s experience as an educator has cultivated a keen understanding of how individuals build toward collective goals and how systems impact this process. Ana brings a human-centered and relational approach to partnerships, building trust by understanding individual and collective values and goals. As a facilitator, Ana listens deeply, asks insightful questions, and helps groups connect lived experiences with organizational purpose, fostering reflection and alignment. Guided by grace and a belief in modeling positive change, Ana supports growth and care, even amidst challenges.
Jason Sirois, Consultant
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Jason Sirois’s approach as a facilitator and executive coach is shaped by personal experiences as a gay man and non-profit leadership, providing a deep understanding of how identity shapes workplace cultures. Jason helps individuals and organizations uncover existing wisdom to create meaningful change. Known for the ability to address difficult topics with curiosity and care, Jason fosters collaboration, believing that collective effort is essential for thriving.
Laura Shmishkiss, Consultant
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Laura (she/her) supports individuals, institutions and communities to engage in practices that support the disruption of and healing from oppression at all levels. As a white, Jewish woman, she has a vested interest in dismantling white supremacy as a foundation to dismantling all other interconnected forms of oppression that live within ourselves and the world. She approaches her work from an intersectional, anti-racist framework and integrates healing-centered approaches that acknowledge the traumatic impacts of systemic oppression. As an equity consultant and as an herbalist, Laura believes that collective liberation is contingent upon restoring a regenerative relationship to our communities, our economies and the land.