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.

Connect with Laurel: laurel@therippleeffecteducation.ca

Emily Dorey (she/her), MA

Manager of Programs, Lead Facilitator

Emily Dorey is a mental health and social justice advocate who enjoys learning about and working towards peace and justice through creativity, meaningful conversation, and community care. She is particularly passionate about destigmatizing mental health challenges, accessible healthcare, and community outreach. She received her Master of Arts in Social Justice and Community Engagement from Wilfrid Laurier University in 2019 and holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Communications & Public Policy from St. Thomas University in her home province of New Brunswick. Emily’s background consists of work in mental health peer support and psychoeducation, anti-oppression, digital communications, and supporting the work of anti-racism learning and unlearning through program administration and group facilitation. In addition to her work as Manager of Programs at TREE, Emily is a yoga and meditation teacher at various spaces in the community and loves opportunities to combine yoga and social justice. During her spare time, Emily can be found crocheting, reading, creating digital art, and hanging out with her two cats.

Connect with Emily: emily@therippleeffecteducation.ca

Sarah Bester (she/her), BACS

Development Specialist, 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.

Connect with Sarah: sarah@therippleeffecteducation.ca

Zayna Shaikh (she/her)

Assistant to Manager of Programs, Workshop Facilitator

Zayna Shaikh is a 3rd year Environment and Business student at the University of Waterloo, studying the intersection of complex social, economical, and environmental issues. She is passionate about holistic approaches to education, health, and well-being as a starting point for creating a solution to our current environmental crises. Zayna is always excited to be an active member of her community, and likes to make new connections wherever possible. She has had opportunities to teach around the world through her co-op program, and aims to pursue more international experiences post-graduation.

She is a traveler, hiker, chef, and artist in her free time, and strongly believes in empowering youth to follow their dreams and seek happiness. She is thrilled to be working with youth to improve our current education and social systems for the betterment of people and the planet!

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.

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.

Connect with Katie: founder@therippleeffecteducation.ca