The History Co:Lab is a systems-change initiative with a bold vision for the future.

We envision a world in which all young people can engage to advance civic well-being
for themselves, society and the planet.

We know that such an endeavor requires a collaborative approach, with a fluid, open team that includes and engages anyone with the same vision of world.

We are a small core team that sees all change as a collaborative team sport. We seek to work with any organization and individual interested in using history to empower young people to make our community better. 

co-leads

Fernande Raine

  • Fernande is led by a lifelong conviction that history can be fuel for a new, inclusive democratic culture. She obtained her History Ph.D. from Yale, and early in her career worked as a consultant with McKinsey and Innosight. She ran the Human Rights Center at Harvard’s Kennedy School, and launched and led the “Measurement in Human Rights” project. She launched several programs during 11 years as an intrapreneur at Ashoka and co-led the research effort into systems change leadership. Fernande learned history in a German high school in the 1980s as if the future of civilization depended on it.

team leads

Susan Rivers

  • Susan has had a long career of championing adolescent wellbeing, most recently through her leadership of iThrive Games, where she merges her psychology expertise with innovative game design to support teen mental health. After co-founding the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, she came to iThrive to combine research with designing learning tools that foster teens' social and emotional growth, underpinned by her belief in the untapped potential of young minds.

    Susan has continued her love for research as the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Games, Self, and Society and is an alum of the Billions Institute's Leadership Fellowship.

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Michelle Bertoli

  • Michelle earned my BA at Vanderbilt University and a MA from Yale University.

    As the Director of Learning Design at History Co:Lab, she draws on over a decade of experience in social and emotional learning to lead our efforts in the education space to co-design transformational learning experiences with and for teens. At History Co:Lab and beyond, Michelle waves the flag for teens, their mental health and well-being, and their role in our collective future. Adults often underestimate teens and advocates that they’re doing exactly what they should be: preparing to venture out and effect change in the systems that impact them. She continues to support teens by integrating gameplay and design thinking into their development and inviting them on a journey of emotional growth.

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Mikki Edgar

  • MiKaela “Mikki” Edgar believes the best community work happens because someone cares enough to hold all the details together, and that’s exactly what she brings to History Co:Lab as KC Program Coordinator. She comes to us from the Regnier Family Wonderscope Children’s Museum of Kansas City, where she kept programs, finances, and a whole community of volunteers running smoothly, and she’s since sharpened that craft through Nonprofit Connects’ Volunteer Management Institute. At History Co:Lab, Mikki is the connective tissue for our Kansas City ecosystem: coordinating partnerships with schools, museums, libraries, and youth organizations, pulling off the events and workshops that bring our community together, and keeping everything organized so the work never loses momentum. Mikki’s love for youth programming and mentorship is what drew her here, and it’s the same belief that drives her now: young people deserve adults who help them grow into their power.

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Jane Lee

  • I am a mission-driven Director of Operations and Production, specializing in strategic planning and product management. I approach all my work with an emphasis on impact, a focus on target users, and a solution-oriented attitude.

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Alec Lai

  • Alec Lai bio to come.

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Shawnee Caruthers

  • Shawnee is guided by the conviction that young people already carry the insight and power our systems need, and that the work of adults is to build the conditions for that power to grow. She’s lived that conviction out in Kansas City her whole life, first as a Director of Career and Technical Education, then through Real World Learning and her time as Partner, Advocacy at Getting Smart, always chasing the same thing: learning that gives students real work with real stakes, not a watered-down version of it. Now, as Catalyst Lead at History Co:Lab, Shawnee shows up on the ground in Kansas City, building KC Co:Lab alongside schools, museums, libraries, and youth organizations, and she carries that work out to the rest of the country through storytelling and journalism that shapes how the field thinks about civic thriving. Wherever she’s working, young people are never the audience. They are the co-authors.

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Tess Duncan

  • Tess is an expert in results-oriented programming, cultural exchange, and relationship-building across sectors and disciplines; maintaining an extensive network of cultural sites and educational agencies. Specialization in curation, exhibitions, and bridging art with civic spaces and optimizing the skills of diplomacy. Leadership focused on community engagement and collaborative partnerships bolstering business strategies, increasing awareness, and expanding access to collections.

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Koren Nelson

  • Koren believes that we are all made for more—each of us destined to use our passion and talents to uplift businesses, one another, the planet, and the world.

    As a creative director, brand strategist, and multi-disciplinary designer she is committed to making GOOD brands GREAT by working with founders and organizations that stand for more than the bottom line, inspired by innovation, impact, and social responsibility.

    Born an innate creator, she not only builds brands, campaigns and environments, but also collaborates with founders and venture capitalists to ideate and innovate socially conscious and society-enhancing startups.

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Emily Wegner

  • Emily is an experienced Social Coordinator with a demonstrated history of working in the education management industry. Skilled in Lesson Planning, Curriculum Development, Teacher Training, Staff Development, and Educational Leadership. Strong community and social services professional with a Education Specialist focused in Curriculum and Instruction from University of Missouri-Kansas City.

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youth partners

Cameron Jones
Pittsburg Mapping Lead

Jay Gorrepathi
Teen Toolkit Lead

Victor Ye
UnTextbooked Founder, Ambassador & Marketing

Sidney Clarke
UnTextbooked Producer Ambassador

board of directors

Victor Ye

#SocialEntrepreneur #StudentUSC #Founder #InnovaYouth #AshokaChangemaker #UnTextbookedPodcaster

Meredith Kellner

#StrategicAdvisor #ImpactDriven
#Collaborator

Dina Buchbinder

#AshokaFellow #Founder #EducationForSharing

Jane Wei Skillern

#MasterWeaver #Networks #CollectiveImpact

Nick Pineda

#Changemaker #Inclusive

Libby and Aaron Albright
Scott Anthony
Todd Bourell and Brooke Bailey
Bill Drayton
Yelena Dudochkina
Jeff and Christa Hawkins
Meredith and Peter Kellner

generous donors

George and Bicky Kellner
William Kelly
Ginna Martin
Nina and Nick von Moltke
Steve and Marianne Noll
Matt Ogden
Elizabeth Planet

Amanda Pustilnik
JC de Swaan
Eckhard Waelzholz
Matt and Covie Weinzierl
Francis Wilmerding
Brian Trelstad
Anonymous, Munich