This page is for the exclusive use of our program participants. These resources are intended to support your family in exploring the content of the Story Starters program during and beyond the program. Please do not share without permission.
Mission
Story Starters equips families and educators with strategies to develop young children’s anti-racist values and ability to disrupt racism in their daily lives.
Vision
We envision a country where families, schools, and communities embrace the responsibility to proactively teach children to understand race and racism and where race-brave adults raise their children to demand equity and justice in the communities where they learn, live, and play.
Story Starters Team
Ellie Axe, MBA, Story Starters Director
Ellie joined Story Starters as a co-director in the summer of 2018 and became Director in March 2020. She has over 15 years of experience building system-wide change through organizing in faith-based and secular institutions. After a number of years as an organizer, Ellie became intrigued with how organizational behavior and operations are drivers for success in social change institutions. This led her to pursue an MBA at the Simmons School of Management. Most recently Ellie was the Director of Operations at JOIN for Justice where she guided the strategic planning process, supporting the organization to pursue its commitment to diversity equity and inclusion. She also managed staff and programs throughout the organization. Ellie lives in Newton, MA, with her husband and their two daughters.
Kari Denitzio, MA, MEd, Family Conversations Program Coordinator
Kari joined Story Starters as Family Conversations Program Coordinator in 2023. She has over 12 years of experience working in public education in K-8 and middle schools, first as a classroom teacher and later as a school counselor. Kari holds her B.A. from Boston College and her M.A. and M.Ed. from UMass Boston. She lives in Walpole, MA with her husband and three children. In Walpole, Kari serves as a member of the School Committee and a Representative to Town Meeting. She also serves on the board of Be Inclusive, Inc., a Walpole-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to lift the voices of underrepresented and marginalized groups in our community
Story Starters Board of Directors
Ann Bevan Hollos, M.Ed.
Ann Bevan Hollos fell in love with the Story Starters program in the winter of 2023. As a middle school educator for over 26 years, she felt equipped to talk about race and racism with teenagers, but wasn’t as comfortable talking about race and racism with her then 4-year-old. Ann Bevan credits Story Starters with reminding and empowering her to talk in simple and direct ways with her child. Ann Bevan is the Associate Middle School Director at Beaver Country Day School. When she’s not working, she’s biking around Newton on her handcycle, cooking dinner, and playing with her child.
Kathleen Browning M.S.Sp., M.Ed
Kathleen is a Speech and Language Pathologist and Special Education Administrator. She has been in the early childhood field for over 30 years. Kathleen is currently the Director of the Newton Early Childhood Program (NECP), the integrated preschool program for the Newton Public Schools. When she is not working, Kathleen enjoys spending time with her friends, traveling and is a foodie! Kathleen is passionate about bringing the message of diversity, equity and inclusion to early childhood focused programs.
Cynthia Greene, MBA, MA
Cindy is passionate about helping organizations grow and thrive. She has done this in various sectors and capacities, including growing existing operations at the social investment fund Root Capital and launching a new channel of business at Electric Insurance. While the majority of her career has been spent in the for-profit sector, most of her time now is spent helping non-profits with strategic and growth questions. She sits on Advisory Committees at Cradles to Crayons and Tulaa, a Kenyan company using a mobile platform to help farmers. Equipped with experience in international banking and management consulting, she likes working with organizations that can fundamentally change our communities.
Lauren Lipcon Dale, M.Ed
Lauren is an education consultant who provides coaching, co-planning, curriculum writing and professional development around project-based learning to both public and private schools. A mother of young children, she co-coordinates Families Organizing for Racial Justice at her daughters’ school. Over her career she’s also worked as an elementary school classroom teacher, art teacher, yoga teacher and literacy intervention teacher. She believes deeply in the power of children’s literature to teach critical values, validate human experiences and expand people’s horizons. Lauren serves as a board member and trainer at Story Starters.
Rev. Ann Bonner-Stewart, M. Div.
The Reverend Ann Bonner-Stewart is the first woman rector of Saint Mary's Episcopal Church in Newton Lower Falls, a multigenerational community dedicated to living the Christian vision of a just, caring, inclusive, and loving world within our neighborhood and beyond. She has served in many capacities, including school chaplain, guest theology instructor, hospital chaplain, and community organizer. In her longer term roles, Ann is known for connecting whatever institution she is serving with the wider community. Ann and her husband live in Newton and have two children in the Newton public school system.
Lynette Glover-Griffin, M. Ed.
Lynette Glover-Griffin began her career with 7 years in college admissions followed by 7 years in high school administration. For the past 30 years+ she has been in real estate sales in our local area. She holds an undergraduate degree in education from Northeastern and a master’s degree in administrative education from Harvard. She has served on many not-for-profit boards including the Boston Children’s Museum. Lynette grew up in Bermuda, enjoys cooking, is an avid reader, loves traveling the world. She has an adult daughter and lives with her husband in Chestnut Hill.
Kerryn Hinds M. Ed
Kerryn was born and raised on the small Caribbean island of Trinidad & Tobago. She has been a Montessori and Progressive early childhood educator for twenty years. Kerryn currently serves as the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at The Chestnut Hill School, in Chestnut Hill MA. When she is not working, Kerryn is spending time with her two daughters and her goldendoodle. Kerryn is passionate about ensuring children have equitable learning opportunities and that they are engaged learners, who are seen, heard and valued. Kerryn serves as a board member and trainer at Story Starters.
Kalise Wornum, Ed.D.
Dr. Kalise Wornum is a nationally sought-after keynote speaker, educational leader, workshop facilitator, and author in the area of anti-racist education and cultural proficiency. Her dynamic insight and study of best practices for having difficult conversations around race and diversity have pushed Kalise to the forefront of preparing classrooms and schools for equity in education. “It is my mission as an educator to help teachers recognize where race and learning intersect and eradicate all forms of racism from the classroom. It is my life's work to relentlessly pursue this goal and in doing so the beauty of teaching and learning will be experienced by both student and teacher."