Meet Our Team
Laurel Boytim (she/her), MPACS
Executive Director, Lead Facilitator
Laurel is the mother of two daughters, is a settler on Turtle Island (Canada), and her ancestry is Norwegian, Slovakian, English, and Pennsylvania Dutch. Laurel earned her Master of Peace and Conflict Studies from University of Waterloo, and a Certificate in Conflict Management and Mediation from Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo, including extensive mediation and Circle training. Laurel has a background in Restorative Justice, Mediation, Conflict Resolution, Conflict Coaching, Teaching, and Circle Keeping. Laurel’s experience includes facilitating workshops/trainings for Circle and for Transformative Mediation. She teaches trauma-informed yoga, mindfulness, and meditation at Grand Valley Institute for Women, Federal Prison. Laurel is the Executive Director of, and Lead Facilitator at, The Ripple Effect Education, providing Peace Building, Conflict Resolution, and Social Justice education to adults, youth, and children. She teaches university courses part time, including Conflict Resolution, Restorative Justice, and Community Conflict Resolution. She teaches her university classes, and many of the workshops and educational experiences she provides, in Circle, as an act of inclusion, indigenization, decolonization, reconciliation, sharing of power and voice, and to provide a deeper learning experience. She is on the Leadership Team of Gather The Women Canada, a Circle Organization where leadership comes to consensus through the Circle process, as well as providing Sharing Circles and mentorship for women across Canada, in order to connect, build community, share, help women find their voice, and to dismantle systems of colonization, oppression, and patriarchy.
Zelal Tutak (she/her), BA IES
Manager of Children and Youth Programs, Lead Facilitator
Zelal Tutak is an educator and social justice advocate passionate about the power of education to create meaningful change. She holds a degree in International Education from Wilfrid Laurier University, where she focused on global studies, pedagogy, and anthropology. Zelal has worked closely with newcomers to Canada through conversational English tutoring, nurturing both language development and community connection. Her approach is grounded in culturally responsive education and a deep belief in inclusive, learner-centered spaces.
Zelal’s journey with The Ripple Effect Education began as a co-op student facilitating conflict resolution workshops. She later returned as a summer student supporting data collection, developing educational resources, and co-facilitating the Peace Innovators Retreat. Now, as Manager of Youth and Children’s Programs, she brings her academic background and hands-on experience to support youth in becoming compassionate leaders. Zelal is committed to fostering programs that inspire critical thinking, empathy, and community engagement.
Sarah Bester (she/her), BACS
Workshop Facilitator
Sarah Bester is a human resources professional, entrepreneur, certified pilates instructor, social justice and mental health advocate, and mom of three. She earned her Bachelor of Administrative and Commercial Studies from the University of Western Ontario, and a post-graduate diploma in Human Resources from Humber College. After years of mediating conflict between adults in the corporate world, Sarah is passionate about providing children with the tools to deal with conflict effectively at a young age so they can become peacebuilders within their classrooms and future workplaces. She has seen the positive impact of TREE in her own child’s school and she is so excited to be able to spread the message of peace, empathy, and inclusion to other classrooms in our community. Sarah is at her happiest spending time with her family, doing something active (she’s really into pickleball at the moment!), surrounded by nature, or working on her own mindfulness practice.
Alaa Allouh (she/her), MA in RCGJ
Workshop Facilitator
Alaa Allouh is a Syrian academic passionate about peacebuilding and cultural heritage. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science at Future University in Egypt in 2016 and a Masters degree in Religion, Culture, and Global Justice at Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) in 2022. Her professional career is centered around working with refugee and immigrant communities, trying to build peaceful bridges between them and the host community, whether in Egypt or Canada. Since her arrival in Canada in late 2021, she has been active in the Canadian academic and non-profit fields through different experiences, mainly as a research intern at Project Ploughshares, a teaching assistant at WLU, a project coordinator at the Canadian Arab Women Association (CAWA), and a volunteer peace facilitator at The Ripple Effect Education. Currently, Alaa works as the Program Coordinator for Youth Leaders 4 Change with the Coalition of Muslim Women KW.
Anam Latif (she/her)
Wilfrid Laurier University Placement Student
Anam Latif is a Bachelor of Education teaching candidate at Wilfrid Laurier University. She spent a decade working as a journalist for regional and national newspapers until she decided to transition to public education. She lives on what is colonially known as Kitchener, in the Haldimand Tract.
Katie Gingerich (she/her)
Founder
Katie Gingerich is a social innovator and educator, and gets excited when the worlds of peace and innovation collide. She holds a BA in Peace & Conflict Studies from the University of Waterloo, a certificate in Conflict Management and Mediation from Conrad Grebel University College and a Master of Education from Wilfrid Laurier University. With her expertise in peace education and design and passion to give youth the tools they need to transform conflict and seek justice, she founded TREE in 2016, and led the organization to become a registered charity working with youth across Ontario. She was the 2019 recipient of the Kitchener Youth Action Council’s Youth Ally award, and the 2021 of the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace’s Kim Phúc Award for Youth Peace Leadership.
Some of our incredible facilitation team!
