Our Staff
Let’s work together to challenge the notion of ‘impossible’
Soul Bird’s core staff is a constellation of educators, engaging speakers, change agents, coordinators and developmental disability supporters. As a team of consultants, we bring experience from both the 10,000’ level - working with state departments and school systems - and the deeply individual level - working with youth, families and guardians of every kind. We like to think there’s a little bit of everything you could need on this swiss-Army knife of a team… and when there isn’t we bring in collaborators from our rich network of partners. Learn more about our core staff below.
Sarah Buffie
MSW, LSW; Founding Director and Trauma Responsive Care Trainer
Sarah Buffie MSW, LSW, founding director of Soul Bird Consulting believes that nothing has the power to heal like supportive relationships. Specializing in trauma-responsive care, she helps organizations and individuals disrupt current models of thinking by building empathy and understanding around the effects of trauma. Sarah has worked in community organizing- specifically, Asset Based Community Development, for over a decade and has a deep passion for her work. Her focus is to spread awareness about how trauma affects the brain and body, and teach effective approaches for developing resilience within the people organizations strive to serve, and the people closest to the work, caregivers, and direct providers. Sarah received her Master’s in Social Work from Northern Kentucky University with a self-study focus in Polyvagal Theory, positive psychology, and trauma-sensitive mindfulness practices. With years working closely in her Cincinnati community through her Americorps service as well as abroad with her Peace Corps service in Namibia, Africa, Sarah brings a unique community-building lens to the work.
Check out Sarah’s LinkedIn!
Glenna Reyes
Administrative Director
Glenna Reyes has a passion for travel, language, and early childhood education. She received her Bachelor's in Psychology and Qualified Mental Health Associate from Portland State University. For the past 15 years she has worked as a preschool teacher and head-teacher, arts teacher, Head Start bilingual assistant, instructional aid, and Preschool Director. She believes creating work and classroom environments that are well organized and intentional allows for true learning, discovery, and creativity to flourish.
Patrice Pennington
Project Management Consultant
Patrice Pennington has a passion for service. After graduating from college, Patrice completed two years of AmeriCorps service and leadership development with Public Allies Cincinnati. She then went on to develop and manage programs that improve equitable access to education and health care for marginalized communities. Patrice Pennington received a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and a minor in African American Studies from the University of Cincinnati. She practices yoga, loves art & music, and enjoys stories – especially those told over good food.
C. Danae Riggs
Certified Trauma Specialist, Resilience Worker, and Consultant
Danae brings 20+ years of non-profit experience to her leadership with a purpose-driven focus to love and live in a way that promotes equity, justice, empathy, forgiveness, and wholehearted healing.
Danae has a background in mental health direct services, program development & management, organizational & leadership development, with a key focus on advancing & educating leaders in their own fields through coaching, & the facilitation of continued education & training. Danae is the founder of Humans Being Human Consulting, LLC. and has been serving in the field of Resilience Based, Trauma Responsive Care for 5+ years of late. Danae is a lead consultant with Soul Bird Consulting and Finding Hope Consulting and serves with several projects in collaboration with the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities (DODD), & Community Supports Incorporated (CSI) in addition to serving youth in the multi-System work with Ohio Job and Family Services (JFS), and additional agencies. Danae also finds humble pride in being a Doula in both birth and death circles and brings her passion for loving humans deeply to all she does as a consultant, a mother, a partner, and a community citizen.
Kathy Forte
Consultant and Support Navigator
Kathy Forte brings many gifts to the Soul Bird Flock- not the least of which is her incredibly relational orientation to anything she does! In addition to consulting with organizations to provide trainings and experiences on topics such as Empathy, Active Listening, and creative futures planning with families, Kathy Forte is a Support Navigator for the Hamilton County Board of Developmental Disability Services. She has a master’s degree in Executive Leadership and Organizational Change and specializes in understanding relationships and families in a way that integrates over 20 years of experience supporting people living with developmental disabilities in direct support, direct support management, and Day Program Coordination. Due to her professional experiences, she is able to relate to families, be comfortable hearing their stories, and walk alongside them with practical ways to support challenges that arise. Embracing difficult conversations by leading with respect and empathy allows her to build safe, mutually enhancing relationships with families. Kathy Forte finds pride in being a mother, PTA member at her son's school, Service Leader for the usher board at her church, treasurer and seat holder for two social organizations.
Liz Burpee
Project Manager Consultant
Liz Burpee is passionate about creating a more joyful and equitable world and approaches all of her work from a foundation of love, anti-oppression, and humor. Over the past 15 years, Liz has worked for social change in a wide range of roles, including as a non-profit executive director, leader of collective impact initiatives, and facilitator of anti-racist discussion groups. She is particularly skilled in uniting diverse stakeholders around bold visions and organized action, group facilitation, data collection, and program evaluation. Liz received her Masters of Public Health and Masters of Social Work from the University of Washington. In her spare time, Liz is usually chasing after her awesome toddler, laughing at her husband's nerdy jokes, and trying to carve out a moment to write and play music.
Check out Liz’s LinkedIn!
Our Partners
Soul Bird has dozens of partnerships across the nation, and internationally, with whom we connect and collaborate: systems thinkers and healers; professors and parents; advocates and facilitators; doers, movers, and shakers. Part of what makes Soul Bird what it is are the many different backgrounds we invite to the table when designing solutions.
…And then there are the partners who have built, and who continue to regularly build Soul Bird into the very community it is today. To learn more about these amazing individuals we are grateful to be working with on the regular, read on!
Luna Malbroux
Joy Channel, Founder, and Chief Vibe Officer
Luna Malbroux is a creative, liberation worker whose years of experience directly serving diverse populations and consulting with non-profits across the world resulted in the co-founding of Soul Bird Consulting, and now Joy Channel! She began with Soul Bird as not only a co-founder, but Director of Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, and has found the need to expand the work and mission she pioneered at Soul Bird by bringing a collective of creatives - Joy Channel - to tackle some of our most complex systemic issues.
Joy Channel was created to provide an even more focused, multidisciplinary approach to shifting culture and working towards our collective liberation. Through providing tailored experiences, workshops, and content that help us grow and heal with a team of creatives and change agents, Joy Channel works to expand and, at times, disrupt the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion space. With a strong focus on culture - this work also includes the production/storytelling space, producing inspiring content in an effort to create the world we want to live in.
Joy Channel is a strong partner and sister company to Soul Bird Consulting. Learn more about how Joy Channel can bring joy into your work for change here.
La Shanda Sugg
CEO/ Founder, Therapist and Consultant- Labors of Love Counseling and Consulting, LLC
La Shanda Sugg, LPC is a trauma specializing therapist and training consultant. Her trauma expertise and ability to make complex concepts easy to understand make her work accessible. Her authenticity and transparency as a trauma survivor make people want to listen. La Shanda founded Labors of Love Counseling and Consulting, LLC to help organizations understand trauma and the traumatic stress of racism and other forms of oppression and help them move towards Cultural Humility and trauma responsiveness. As a therapist, she helps relationships Move from Coping to Healing. For more information about Labors of Love Counseling and Consulting, LLC visit www.thelaborsoflove.com.
Follow her on…. Facebook - Instagram – Twitter – TikTok - Linkedin - YouTube- Podcast –
Dr. Adrienne Kennedy
Founder and Principal Trainer at Pioneering Connections, LLC.
Dr Kennedy has over 20 years of experience working with children navigating threatening systems and those who support them. Her work with youth in foster care led her into education. Since then, she has provided coaching, training, consulting, and technical assistance to individuals at many levels within education from students to teachers, principals, superintendents, district and state leaders. Her focus has been on antiracist practices that create, support, and sustain trauma-responsive and healing-centered engagement. She enjoys working with professionals who serve youth experiencing systemic trauma. Together they identify and counter policies and practices that perpetuate negative outcomes and experiences particularly for historically marginalized children and families.
Her identity as a mother heavily influences the work she does. She is actively engaged with administrators, teachers, and parents at Columbus City Schools, where her two sons attend. As a lifelong learner, she loves to connect with, learn from and share with others. Her core value is justice and everything she does is for the purpose of moving the most vulnerable and marginalized children in our society to higher ground.
Visit her website at https://www.pioneeringconnections.com/
Amy Rebekah
Trauma-Informed and Healing Centered practitioner, trainer, and consultant; Founder ReStoryative Somatics, LLC; Founder/ Director: Trauma and Resilience Informed Birth Education (T.R.I.B.E.) Perinatal and Parenting Support Collective
Amy Rebekah is a scholar and practitioner of trauma-informed and healing-centered leadership. She practiced for twenty years as a holistic health practitioner, working as a licensed massage therapist, childbirth educator, birth doula, yoga teacher, community herbalist, and group facilitator, all with a committed focus to supporting trauma healing. Advanced trauma educational trainings include Somatic Trauma Resolution, Somatic Experience, Neuro Affective Relational Model, and Community Resilience Model from the Trauma Resource Institute. Amy is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in leadership and change through Antioch University, where she has deepened her capacity to support groups and organizations to move into a more authentic, responsible, and collaborative leadership culture through engaging a trauma-informed approach. Amy is passionate about supporting leaders, and those who support others, in learning to self-regulate their nervous systems in service to co-regulation as a leadership practice, and how this cultivates change on individual and systems levels.
Kara Michelle Pierson
Founder of Lilac & Indigo LLC.
Kara Michelle Pierson is a meditation guide, facilitator, and founder of Lilac & Indigo LLC. When designing her meditation classes she incorporates creative expression, while centering collective wisdom, mind-body awareness, and inspired action. After earning her Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Xavier University in 2014, she formally studied meditation at Yoga on High Ayruveda Institute. Kara has worked with a variety of organizations, including Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati Public Schools, Miami University, Talbert House, Cradle Cincinnati, University of Cincinnati, and more. In 2020, she was named a Rising Star by the YWCA and is the recipient of the Pinnacle Service Award from the Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Visit her website at: https://lilacandindigo.com/
Brandon Black
Graphic Recorder and Facilitator
Brandon Black, “The Story Glorifier”, is a self-taught artist, practiced writer, and avid girl-dad who loves people, process, and pizza. Whether it’s thought partnership, creative consulting, or visual facilitation he relishes the role of aiding others by transforming thoughts into things and moments into monuments. He established Drawnversation in 2015 to meet the growing demand for integrative illustration to help ensure that live communication can live on. He can be reached at Drawnversation@gmail.com.
Instagram: @drawnversation
Bespoken Live
Trauma Informed Story Telling Workshop Facilitators
In the face of unprecedented levels of social isolation, Bespoken Live uses storytelling and story listening to spark contagious hope and belonging. Bespoken facilitates story exchanges, both in person and digitally, with mindfulness techniques, trauma-informed activities, and tailored story crafting approaches. Bespoken believes we discover who we are by knowing each others' stories, we move toward healing to tell our stories out loud, and when we choose to listen with kindness and imagination something transcendent happens. Bespoken's trauma-informed storytelling workshop is called Story in Process.
Anna Gagliuffi
Soul Purpose Coach + Graphic Designer
Anna Gagliuffi is on a mission to evolve consciousness, one soul at a time. How? Leading with love via Soul Purpose Coaching and Graphic Design. As a coach, she supports clients to identify their dreams and release blocks to embody their purpose. As a designer, she visually tells stories of heart-led revolutions. She is passionate about personal growth and finding our shared humanity. Anna was born and raised in Lima, Peru with family scattered around the world. You can find her frolicking on a beach somewhere, drawing her heart out, and eating Peruvian food. She is currently based in Miami with her love and adventure partner.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annagagliuffi/
Find her on her coaching website or her graphic design website!
