ActivatEE
What's Your Story?
"Experience is not what happens to you; it's what you do with what happens to you." - Aldous Huxley
And all it takes is you - whoever you are. You don't need to have had one million experiences, but rather made meaning of one that you are ready to share with us around the proverbial campfire.
2025 ActivatEE Speakers
Meet the 2025 ActivatEE Speakers! Register for the International Conference to hear these stories live on Friday, November 7th.
Narineh Gharashor, an accomplished school leader and founder of WholisticEdu, brings a wealth of expertise as a healer, coach, herbalist, and plant-based nutrition consultant. Her personal and professional experiences with trauma have shaped her commitment to holistic and healing-centered education. With advanced degrees in education and policy, Narineh combines her extensive academic background with her lived experiences. At WholisticEdu, she develops resources, professional development programs, and retreats that emphasize various dimensions of health and wellness for leaders and educators. Narineh’s approach equips educators and leaders with the tools to create nurturing environments, enabling students to thrive. She views healing as critical in restoring trust and equity in schools.
Lily Ghrear, MSW, LCSW, CNIT is based in Massachusetts, currently working in higher education where she coordinates field experiences and facilitates practice seminars for graduate-level social work students. Of Middle Eastern heritage and shaped by diverse international experiences, Lily brings a culturally responsive lens to her work. She integrates her love of adventure and experiential approaches into her clinical work. A lifelong storyteller, Lily's writing focuses on the healing power of nature in mental health, injustices in the Middle East, and poetry rooted in human experience.
Roberto Gil Jr. is a seasoned youth development professional with over 20 years of experience in camp administration, mentoring, and program design. He currently serves as Director of the Camp Dogwood Summer Academy with the AnBryce Foundation, where he leads transformative summer experiences that build character, leadership, and community for youth. Roberto is also the founder of LeadWell Youth Consulting, LLC, a firm specializing in helping organizations design impactful youth programs, strengthen staff training, and foster inclusive environments. Passionate about creating opportunities for young people—especially boys of color—he has presented nationally on diversity, equity, and staff development in camps and after-school programs. Known for blending strategic vision with hands-on leadership, Roberto continues to champion spaces where young people can thrive, grow, and lead.
Tom entered the field in 1977 through mental health, education, and experiential education. From learning to climb with a bowline-on-a-coil and a body belay, to zipping on gold line, and guiding groups of teens in the wilds in the days before published standards, Tom has experienced the evolution of our field for better and for worse.
Tom’s story is one of intentional experience with reflection. Tom is a philosopher, a social scientist, and an advocate of facilitated adventure. He believes that without a deep understanding of what has come before and the practice of guided reflection, the loud din of commercial adventure will overwhelm experiential education, lessening the potential for learning, growth, and healing. Tom currently has a strong headlamp to see through the twilight of his career and has every intention of facilitating, training, and guiding until the day he cannot.
Chair and Associate Professor, Fashion Institute of Technology - State University of New York
Marjorie Silverman helps students define success on their own terms—and chase it with purpose. As Chair and Associate Professor of the Internship Studies Department, she is a champion of experiential education to transform real-world experience into powerful learning. Her work centers on helping students make meaning from credit-bearing internships and other hands-on opportunities, preparing them to navigate and thrive in the world beyond the classroom.
Marjorie began her career as a junior copywriter at Sotheby’s, became a spokesperson for the New York Blood Center, and spent four years traveling the globe as a liaison between the U.S. military and the film industry. (Her role was similar to that of Scarlett Johansson's in the 2024 movie Fly Me to the Moon —but swapping NASA for the Department of Defense.) She pivoted into business development for newswires including PR Newswire and Marketwire, and later consulted across sectors including fashion, finance, healthcare, energy, and tech—proving that career paths don’t have to be straight to be successful.Drafting your ActivatEE Talk:
- This platform invites you, the speaker, to share a story or idea through the use of voice, during a 7-9 minute mini-keynote to the global audience of the International Conference. Listen to dozens of stories told in the past on our AEE YouTube Channel!
- Think of an instance in time where you had an experience that became a profound teaching moment for you, which truly influenced or altered your way of thinking or being. Are you able and willing to share that message with others?
- Now visualize how you would want to share that story in terms of keynote address. What did you hear, see, notice, and experience at that moment that had an immediate impact or had influence years down the road? Is there a method in your delivery that helps convey your message?
Answer these three questions:
- What? what is your story? what happened?
- So what? Why is it important or developmental to you? What meaning did you take from it?
- Now what? How have you moved forward or how do you plan to use this going forward? What is the transformation? How are you changed?
Considerations:
Your initial submission will likely not be your exact final presentation. This is just the first step in a number of iterations that you and your presentation will go through before delivering the final presentation.
Please note that these stories are to be an experience relevant to your perspective. You can certainly use bits of research to support your message, but this is not to be a research paper or a business promotion. We will really push all presenters to constantly evaluate their message, knowing we want to channel a lesson learned to activate the minds of those in the audience.
The Process:
- The process of developing your story is facilitated by a coach who will walk your journey with you, enabling you to craft your story, and help you prepare to share at the Conference. Each story is typically 7-9 minutes (don’t worry-we’ll help you get there!).
- 2025 Coaches: Deidra Goodwin, Brian Croft, Will Marble, Chris Ortiz, Michelle Pagano, Rachel Hunsell
- Questions? Contact Deidra at deidra@dgoodwinexperiential.com
- The application creates space for you to share your experience and story, as well as submit additional documents like presentation drafts, story maps, and more.
- A team will review the submissions and send out acceptance notices by June 28.
- If accepted, you will be paired with a coach/coaches. This process asks that you meet on a regular basis with your coaches to support the development of your story and presentation. These sessions are designed to provide an environment to explore your story, hone in on your answers to What? So what? and Now What?, and give and receive feedback and suggestions regarding the delivery of the presentations.
- A virtual dress rehearsal will take place leading up to the Conference and in-person dress rehearsal will also take place the night before the ActivatEE presentation. As an ActivatEE speaker, we want you to feel supported and connected to the other ActivatEE speakers and coaches. For this reason, you will be asked to attend an initial welcome session on Zoom for all ActivatEE speakers and coaches, followed by at least 2-3 coaching sessions with your assigned coach(es) on Zoom in September and October to refine and prepare your ActivatEE talk. The purpose of these coaching sessions is to provide feedback and suggestions regarding the content and delivery of your talk.
Please note: ActivatEE speakers will need to register for the conference as attendees. Financial Support and Scholarships for the conference Registration are available. We do not want the cost of the conference to prevent anyone from being part of ActivatEE.