Our Team

After a career in high-tech public relations and marketing, Thea is honored to be part of a global effort to address childhood toxic stress in communities affected by conflict, displacement, and prolonged adversity. She believes that trauma-informed early and primary education can help restore children’s ability to learn, build resilience, and imagine a future beyond crisis. Thea received her Bachelor of Arts in U.S. History from Tufts University and her Master of Arts in Journalism from Stanford University. She lives in Switzerland with her husband and twin daughters.

Thea can be reached at thea@regenerationeducation.org

Beatrice Rutishauser Ramm is a trained educationalist with a master’s degree in Global Education. After ten years of teaching in the classroom, she worked as an emergency educationalist for Caritas Switzerland for nearly twenty years. The international projects she has worked on were affected by both chronic and acute crises. In early 2020, she started working as an independent consultant on emergency education topics. As part of her work for Caritas Switzerland, she developed the Essence of Learning (EoL) method, an adaptable approach that supports children with their learning requirements – in any kind of crisis. EoL is used in a variety of programs aimed at different age groups, both inside and outside the school environment. In 2017, the EoL method was selected and funded by UNHCR for the Humanitarian Educational Accelerator (HEA) program. Since September 2020, Ramm has been offering her expertise as an educationalist to the PATRIZIA Foundation. Her podcast series, “We are in this together”, was ranked in the Top 3 for the mEducation Alliance Awards 2021 in the category of Crisis and Conflict Response.

Itaf Awad has led numerous women’s empowerment workshops in Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and Europe. In addition to serving as reGeneration’s Middle East liaison, Itaf is an international trainer and leader in Diwan/The Way of Council and Capacitar, two modalities that enhance individual and collective well-being and have deep roots in Arab culture. Diwan, known in the West as The Way of Council, is a group communication tool that fosters relationships and encourages deep listening and the expression of one’s true self. Itaf earned her Master’s degree in politics from the University of Haifa. For the past 20 years, she has facilitated hundreds of councils for businesses, NGOs, educators, and private groups in many places from the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. Fluent in both English and Arabic, she introduced the Way of Council and Capacitar to Arab communities worldwide and has translated the first-ever Way of Council training material into the Arabic language.

Shepha co-founded re:Generation after a visit to educational communities in the Holy Land convinced her of the critical role that education plays in building interpersonal and intercultural bridges across divides of cynicism and despair. Ms. Vainstein received her Masters of Counseling Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute.  Before moving into private practice she trained and taught at the Valley Trauma Center in the San Fernando Valley from 1995 to 2000.  She is a psychotherapist practicing in Los Angeles specializing in trauma  recovery and personal empowerment. She is a facilitator of Nonviolent Communication and the Way of Council. A long time Waldorf parent and advocate, she continues to volunteer at her local public Waldorf-Method school, the Mariposa School of Global Education in Agoura Hills.

Shepha can be reached at shepha@reGenerationEducation.org

Adrienne was born in Baltimore and moved to California at age 12, where she was raised in the Bay Area. Upon completing her education she moved to Los Angeles where she started her career in the hospitality industry. She then started own Beverly Hills-headquartered hotel marketing and events production company, where she enjoyed producing major events for Fortune 500 companies worldwide. In 1989, she and her husband Lowell relocated to La Quinta where they opened a gallery in Palm Desert showcasing artists from the US, Mexico, Morocco, and Turkey. Adrienne enjoys meditation, spiritual development, and building community.

Jihad Turk serves as Dean of Bayan Claremont, an Islamic graduate college designed to educate Muslim scholars and religious leaders.  He is also a founding Board Member of Claremont Lincoln University, a multireligious graduate school. Jihad has served as the Director of Religious Affairs at the Islamic Center of Southern California, the oldest and largest mosque in the Los Angeles area. Jihad actively engages in interfaith dialogue with Jewish and Christian communities and serves on the boards of several interfaith peace organizations. He was featured in a documentary about the Abrahamic faiths,“Traveling with Jihad”. With the Reverend Dr. Gwynne Guibord, Jihad founded and co‐chairs the Christian‐Muslim Consultative Group comprised of major Christian and Muslim denominations and organizations intent on intercultural understanding and attaining common goals.  Additionally, he was featured in the Los Angeles Times, and in films and documentaries on Islam and has appeared on CNN and the History Channel representing Islam. His current interests also include identity formation in the American-Muslim community, interfaith relations, Islamic reform movements, and community leadership and development with a focus on youth.

Muneer Waheed was born and raised in the Gaza strip area to a Christian Palestinian family. After finishing high school there, he moved to California to pursue a career in Computer Engineering. A 30 year veteran in Silicon Valley, Muneer had engineering and management roles with various companies from startups to Fortune 500. He has been involved in Waldorf education for over 20 years as a parent of two children who completed K through 12 at the Waldorf School of the Peninsula. Muneer participated in a variety of volunteer opportunities including a service project trip with Bay Area high school students to Tamarat El Zeitoun in Shefa-‘Amr in the Galilee. These were foundational experiences that informed his belief in the role of Waldorf education in addressing the needs of future generations everywhere — and particularly in trauma-impacted areas. Muneer is delighted to serve as the reGeneration Education Liaison to the Shared Society Arab Waldorf Leaders Task Force. Muneer can be reached at Muneer@regenerationeducation.org.

Noor-Malika Chishti has been involved with interfaith for over 20 years. Her Sufi training, beginning in 1972 in The Inayati Order, introduced her to the diverse ways in which people approach spiritual practice and laid the foundation for her work since the Inayati Order has an interfaith approach to spiritual practice. Almost 20 years ago she converted to Islam when she began exploring the Islamic roots of Sufism. Noor-Malika is also a Founding member of The Southern California Muslim-Jewish Forum. She was a Founding member and is Vice Chair Emeritus of the Southern California Committee for the Parliament of World Religions (SCCPW). She has been a member of the West Los Angeles Cousins group for 14 years, where Jewish and Muslim women meet for dialog and service. At the 2009 Parliament of World Religions held in Melbourne, Australia, Noor-Malika presented in three workshops: “Listening with a Heart of Mercy,” “Listening to the Other: Building a House of Prayer for Christians, Jews, and Muslims,” and “Spiritual Intimacy: Taking Interfaith Engagement to the Next Level.” Noor-Malika also was on a panel and workshop at the “Globalization for the Common Good” conference held in 2010 at California Lutheran University, also on the theme of spiritual intimacy in interfaith engagement. In 2008 Noor-Malika Founded Musallah Tauhid, Sufi-Muslims sharing sacred space with a Jewish and a Christian congregation. Her professional background was in the non-profit sector before she retired.