Festival Facilitators Ready to Help you Take a Deeper Dive

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By Cassandra West

Let us introduce you to a few of the talented, passionate and fascinating people who will be leading our post-film discussions.

Margot McMahon has been called the Studs Terkel of the sculpting world for her humanistic interpretations. A Oak Park resident, she has been a board member of the Oak Park Area Arts Council and a founding commissioner on the Village of Oak Park Public Art Advisory Commission.

“This is the moment to reduce carbon emissions in every action every day.” — Margot McMahon

Rachel Lyons is the new program director at the Br. David Darst Center in Bridgeport, which provides transformative social justice immersion experiences and educational programming. She spent four and a half years at Old St. Pat's Church working on various social justice initiatives and ministries.

“This is the moment to honor that all of creation is intimately interconnected.” — Rachel Lyons

Susan Lucci, former lawyer, mother of three teens and community activist, is passionate about facilitating dialogue. In the past seven years, she has convened hundreds of conversation-changing Circles.

“This is the moment to become the beloved community.” —Susan Lucci

Stephanie McCray is an executive coach and consultant who works with corporate leaders who are in high stakes, high salaried roles to improve their individual and organizational effectiveness.

“This is the moment to....Boldly go forth and protect the planet anyway!”—Stephanie McCray

Wendy Negron loves children and their many learning experiences. The natural world is a space to find common ground; something sentient to share, she says. As an early childhood and elementary educator, she sprinkles science around all subjects.

"This is the moment to find balance." — Wendy Negron

Dawn Posey is an event producer with The Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce. She has worked on various events and festivals in the city such as the CIMMfest, and The Rock & Roll Marathon. Dawn stays active in her community on the program committee with The Jackson Park Advisory Council and the Hyde Park Kenwood Community Conference. This will be her second year as a Facilitator and Community Partner with the One Earth Film Festival.

“This is the moment to....get involved in positive changes in the community.” — Dawn Posey

Kristen Pratt is the manager of Public Engagement Sustainability for the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. In this role, she helps develop exhibits and programming while also improving the Museum’s in-house sustainability efforts. She also runs the Chicago Conservation Corps (C3), a program that supports 650+ Chicago residents (representing every ward in the city) as they lead community-based sustainability service projects.

“This is the moment to bring people together, across issues and backgrounds, to tackle our communities’ greatest challenges.” — Kristen Pratt

Jim Slama is the founder of Family Farmed, a part of the Good Food Movement, which demands local, sustainable, humanely and fairly produced food.

“This is the moment to fully engage with good food.“ — Jim Slama

Al Walker is a community organizer and youth job trainer.

“This is the moment to lead the charge toward a sustainable energy consumption model.” — Al Walker