Meet the team, discover our stories

Sharhonda Bossier has been a member of the Board of Directors of Narrative 4 since 2017. She is the Deputy Director at Education Leaders of Color (EdLoC) and focuses on identifying, equipping, elevating and sustaining talented Black and Latino leaders to thrive in the highest level education roles and lead a more inclusive education reform movement. Prior to joining EdLoC, Sharhonda Bossier worked with Education Cities, a national nonprofit that supports and advises city-based education organizations on their efforts to grow great public schools. A graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, Sharhonda started her career in education as a public school teacher and also brings years of legislative and electoral campaign experience in both volunteer and leadership capacities to her work at Education Leaders of Color.

Greg Khalil is a founding member and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Narrative 4. He is the President and Co-Founder of Telos, which is a key partner of N4. Before founding the Telos Group, Greg lived in Ramallah, the West Bank, where he advised the Palestinian leadership on peace negotiations with Israel. Although Greg was born and raised in San Diego, California, much of his extended family still lives in Beit Sahour, a predominantly Palestinian Christian town near Bethlehem. His work has been published by The Review of Faith & International Affairs and The New York Times. Greg is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles and Yale Law School.

Colum McCann is President and Co-Founder of Narrative 4, which he began to help shape in 2004. He is the author of seven novels and three collections of stories. Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, he has been the recipient of many international honors, including the National Book Award, the International Dublin Impac Prize, a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres from the French government, election to the Irish arts academy, the 2010 Best Foreign Novel Award in China, and an Oscar nomination. In 2017 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts. His work has been published in over 40 languages. His most recent novel, Apeirogon, was a New York Times bestseller, and winner of several international prizes.

Heather Mitchell is a member of the Board of Directors of Narrative 4, and has been affiliated with the organization since 2013. She was born in Montreal and moved to Paris to begin a career in sports marketing, becoming the first female agent of male professional tennis players. After moving to New York to raise a family, she has worked as a literary agent, screenwriter and social justice advocate. She is the founder of SerialLit, a digital publishing venture that connects exemplary storytelling with iconic brands and their communities. She serves as a Director of the Mitchell Institute, a scholarship and support program in Maine for college-bound students.

Gideon Stein is the Treasurer of Narrative 4 and has been affiliated with N4 since March of 2015. He serves as the CEO of Write Label and is the President of the Moriah Fund, which is a major donor to N4. Previously, he was founder and CEO of LightSail Education, prior to its sale to an international private equity fund. A leader in the national education landscape, Gideon serves on boards of several nonprofit organizations including New Classrooms, Narrative 4, Chalkbeat and University Prep Public Schools. Prior to LightSail, Gideon co-founded and served as President of Future Is Now Schools, and he was Founder, Chairman, and CEO of the enterprise messaging company Omnipod, Inc. (now a division of Symantec). Gideon has a BA from Wesleyan University.

Ryan Alexander is the Chief Financial Officer at Narrative 4 and has extensive experience scaling nonprofit and for-profit organizations. Most recently at Civic Builders, Ryan oversaw the Facilities Investment Fund, a groundbreaking $300 million loan fund in partnership with the Walton Family Foundation committed to improving facilities financing for high-performing public charter schools in communities where the need is greatest. Previously, Ryan was Co-Founder and President of LightSail Education, where he grew the company to serve 500 schools representing more than 300,000 students at the time the company was acquired. Ryan also served as the CFO of Success Academy Charter Schools and helped manage the rapid expansion of NYC’s highest-performing and fastest-growing charter organization. Earlier in his career, Ryan was Managing Partner at real estate developer Argyle Holdings, was President and COO of the enterprise messaging company Omnipod Inc. until its sale, and worked for several years in financial services.

Zukiswa Allah is a daughter, mother, humanitarian, and part of the N4 Africa Team. She started her journey at Artworks for Youth as a mentor and a teacher, assisting in the community. During her time there, the Sister’s Keeper was founded. Zuki’s time there involved empowering and guiding young women in the fight against Gender Based Violence through different campaigns. Meanwhile, she is also a founder and principal at Royal Offerings, a daycare center in South Africa. Zuki has been involved with Narrative 4 for many years, and in 2020, she founded and now manages the organization’s first official Empathy-into-Action project, Trash to Treasure, based on an exchange of trash for groceries.

Evan Barker is a Southeast Manager of the United States, responsible for TN, KY, WV, VA, NC, and SC. He began his career as an orchestra musician before accidentally becoming a bookseller and then an English teacher, coming to N4 after eight years in the secondary classroom. He believes that language is humanity’s greatest achievement and hopes to spend his whole career propagating the word in the service of understanding and peace. He holds a B.M. in Viola Performance and a B.A. in English from Middle Tennessee State University and a M.A. in Teaching English from the University of Kentucky. He lives in Richmond, Kentucky with his wife and two children.

Felice Belle consumes and creates stories to make sense of the world and her place in it. As a poet and playwright, she has performed at the Apollo Theater, Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, TEDWomen and TEDCity2.0. Her writing has been published in several journals and anthologies including Oral Tradition, Bum Rush the Page, and UnCommon Bonds: Women Reflect on Race and Friendship. Playwriting credits include Other Women, Game On! and It Is Reasonable to Expect. She is a lecturer in the low-residency MFA program at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, NY and Artists Network Director for the global nonprofit Narrative 4. Her poetry collection Viscera is forthcoming from Etruscan Press (Spring 2023).

Maru Castañeda was born in Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico. She studied Public Relations and holds an M.A. in Science and Multidisciplinary Studies from SUNY Buffalo and an M.A. in Education from la Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas. Community service is a crucial part of Maru’s life. For 25 years, she worked as a Spanish teacher. She strives to help and support anyone who believes that a change is possible in our lives. Maru has been part of Narrative 4 since 2015. Three years ago, Maru successfully implemented the Narrative 4 program in grades K-12 at American School of Tampico (ATS) and advised the school’s N4 Student Ambassadors. Maru loves spending time with her children, Luis Andrés and Valeria, and taking walks with her yorkshire, Lola.

Kandice Cole brings 15 years of experience working with educational institutions and nonprofit organizations to create impact. After earning degrees in Psychology and Teaching from the University of Chicago, Kandice taught in elementary classrooms in Chicago and Sacramento.  In 2013, Kandice was introduced to Narrative 4 and managed their early programmatic efforts. Kandice has a built a successful consulting practice, having worked with an array of clients including BUILD Initiative and University of Chicago’s Urban Teacher Education Program. Kandice is also passionate about empowering people to create sustainable wellness practices and has designed corporate wellness programs centered around self care, leadership, and creativity. She is a Chopra Certified Health Teacher and author of The Joyful Woman’s Guide to Self Care. Kandice is the Director of Employee Experience and Engagement for Narrative 4. She resides in Houston, Texas with her family.

Born and raised in France, Ly then lived in Canada during his university years and graduated from the University of Ottawa with a Computer Engineering Degree and from HEC Montreal with a Certificate in Business Management. He then returned to Paris for 14 years to work in several digital agencies as a manager, project director and digital consultant. During his professional experience, Ly has acquired a technical expertise that allows him to master both the coaching of technical teams and the support of business teams in all phases of a project. He has driven growth and innovation for a wide variety of companies through their digital and organizational transformation, and aligned their strategies with the company’s business goals, always keeping in mind the return on investment. Ly lives with his wife and two children in Montreal.

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Lisa Consiglio is CEO and Co-Founder of Narrative 4, which she launched in 2013 but began envisioning in 2004. For over thirty years, she has dedicated her career to developing powerful organizations that transform the lives of their clients and constituencies. She has applied her leadership skills – in management, fundraising, marketing and business communications – to a wide web of organizations that is connected by a dedication to humanistic ideals. Deeply committed to a belief in the power of stories, her professional experience spans the arts, education, technology, cancer research, public policy and honoring WWII veterans. She has lived in Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland, Georgia, Washington, DC, France, Hong Kong, Australia, Colorado, Illinois, and is now happily ensconced in New York City.

Frankie began her work in the nonprofit sector as a community support counselor at a mental health clinic. With a bachelor’s degree in psychology, she has always had a passion for applying her curiosity for human behavior to fostering connection and empathy through her work. From her role in mental health, she went on to spend five years working in education—combining her ability to connect with others with her love of learning to build impactful relationships with students. Frankie is happy to bring these passions to her role at Narrative 4. Originally from a small beach town in Massachusetts, she now lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Laura is a graduate of UCC Cork and an award winning artist. She was selected as the Paul Clancy Songwriter of the Year at 2015’s Irish Youth Music Awards, and as Circuit Festival’s Music Project Awardee and Arts Council Agility Awardee more recently, in 2021. Following her debut EP, “For Your Company”, she released her sophomore EP, “Heavy Summer” in December 2021, another taste of her own brand of charismatic alternative pop.

Rachel Gleeson is N4 Ireland’s Programme Officer and has a keen interest in people in how we interact with each other and how our stories intertwine and have a profound effect on one other. A student of Psychology, she comes from a background of early childhood care and it was in seeing the interactions of these young minds that inspired her to take up her studies in understanding human relationships and behaviours. She believes strongly in the power of human relationships, the power of connection and the sharing of our stories. She has been a member of the N4 Ireland team since 2019. She lives in Limerick, Ireland with her husband and beloved cat Indie.

Lee Keylock was the first official hire by N4’s co-founders in 2014, and is currently the Director of Global Programs and Training. Lee leads the professional development strategy and implementation for N4 Educators globally. Originally from Britain, Lee immigrated to the United States in 1989 and taught English at Newtown High School in Connecticut for thirteen years. He has served as an adjunct professor teaching Creative Writing and Composition at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, where he also earned his MFA in Creative Writing.