- Who we are
Deeply qualified professionals.
Get to know our skilled team of facilitators and coaches.
- Meet us
Our Facilitators
Click on any of the individuals below to jump directly to their profile.
Samantha
Martinez
Laronnda
Thompson
Kevin
Eppler
Coleen
Philbin
Andrew
Knips
Corean
Canty
Anita
Das
Alyssa
Johnson
SAMANTHA MARTINEZ
The Opt-In™
Learning Program Facilitator + Coach
Samantha Martínez (she/her/ella) is the Community Mental Health Program Manager at Plaza de Nuestra Comunidad. Samantha supports individual and community based healing using collaborative, trauma-informed, strengths-based, and culturally cognizant concepts, with a goal of creating spaces that would otherwise be inaccessible to queer, neurodivergent, and/or disabled people of color.
Samantha is passionate about the creation of safety and joy in uncertain circumstances and believes deeply in the efficacy of PACC (protection, affection, connection, and correction) as a transformative skill in our personal and professional lives.
Certifications + Affiliations
B.A.
M.S.Ed. M.Phil.Ed.
Kevin Eppler
The Opt-In™
Learning Program Facilitator + Coach
Kevin Eppler (he/him), MTS, is an educator, curriculum designer, facilitator, and racial equity consultant. Kevin is co-founder and steward of WMRJ (White Men for Racial Justice), a racial equity pro-justice community of practice founded in 2020. Kevin is a certified Program Leader with the Groundwater Institute and a Learning Partner at The Opt-In. Kevin is also a member of the TMI Consulting team. Prior to his work with Groundwater, TMI, and The Opt-In, Kevin spent 20 years in education, as a classroom teacher, dean, department chair, and coach. He has designed courses that examine race, gender, justice, social business, social movements, and religion in both university and secondary school settings.
Since 2013, Kevin has been dedicated to designing racial literacy curriculum as well as leading caucus spaces and JEDI consulting, after having committed himself to building his own racial and cultural competence. Kevin has co-designed and founded a number of racial equity caucus spaces including WMRJ and AWARE (Allied White Against Racism, for Equity), both which were designed to call white folk into community and accountability. He has helped develop curriculum and programs in for-profit business, non profit organizations, high schools, and religious communities.
Certifications + Affiliations
B.A.
Masters MTS
Colleen Philbin
The Opt-In™
Learning Program Facilitator + Coach
Colleen Philbin (she/her) is a highly skilled, trauma-informed social worker, facilitator, coach, adult learning specialist, program designer, evaluator and researcher passionate about creating a humanity-centered culture through social identity development and literacy. Colleen has a proven track record in creating change through collaborative leadership and strong relationships.
She is a soulful believer in the power of self-awareness, relationships and reparative action to transform our institutions, systems, and ourselves to create an equitable and just society.
Certifications + Affiliations
B.S.
M.S.
Laronnda Thompson
The Opt-In™
Learning Program Facilitator + Coach
Laronnda Thompson (she/her) is an African-American Philadelphia native. She is a Child Development doctoral candidate with a particular focus on Meaning-Making & Literacy which inform how children come to understand themselves and their complex identities in the world. Considering the ways in which school-based exposures to narratives shape what self-and-others believe, Laronna takes up Representation throughout her work.
Having long been a fan of the creative arts, Laronda has selected opportunities which allow for the promotion of cross-cultural understanding-supported personal identity recognition which tends to enable relational-skill building as well as problem-solving. She believes that through the understanding and questioning of systems, motives and ideologies we can improve life.
Laronnda seeks to support critical and relational dialogues through the creation and protection of conversations, question-asking, active-listening, and reflection. As an instructor, Laronda seeks to develop courses which resonate with current and under-discussed interests, e.g., ACES and Youth Media to Afro-Diasporic Approaches to Education.
Certifications + Affiliations
B.A.
M.A.
M.S.Ed.
Ph.D. candidate
Andrew Knips
The Opt-In™
Learning Program Facilitator + Coach
Data + Analytics
Andrew Knips (he/him) is a leadership coach and consultant committed to advancing racial equity. As a White, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied man, Andrew leans into both the importance and contradictions of his privileged identities in his work around race and equity.
Andrew has more than a dozen years of experience teaching students, leading teams, and coaching leaders in Philadelphia’s public, alternative, and charter schools. He is an education leadership coach, executive coach, data consultant, and racial literacy trainer. He has observed or led thousands of teacher team and leadership team meetings, facilitated hundreds of professional learning sessions, coached hundreds of educators, and collaborated on equity audits in 10+ schools and organizations. He has designed countless data tools and systems for teachers and leaders.
Andrew is a co-author of the book Equity in Data: A Framework for What Counts in Schools.
Certifications + Affiliations
B.A.
M.Ed.
Principal Certification
Anita Das
The Opt-In™
Mindfulness Practice Facilitator
Anita Das (she/they) is an Asian American educator and counselor who has worked across the globe. As such, Anita has always been interested in exploring the intersectionality of identity particularly as it relates to race, nationality, gender, and sexuality. In addition to The Opt-In, Anita works as a Racial Literacy Trainer with Lion’s Story, and she is passionate about helping people process and heal from racial trauma. As such, she believes in the importance of mental health/wellness, trauma-informed care, and culturally informed practices, and she is committed to educating people and empowering them to live healthier and happier lives. Anita holds a Master’s degree in counseling from the University of Pennsylvania and has also completed two 200-hour yoga teacher training.
Certifications + Affiliations
B.A.
M.S.Ed. | M.Phil.
Corean Canty
The Opt-In™
Learning Program Facilitator + Coach
Corean Canty (she/her) is a transformational speaker, workplace well-being expert, 20+ year corporate veteran, founder of The Life is Collective, a membership community and program that helps people uncover their purpose to build and live full lives, and co-founder of Shift to Play, a culture strategy firm that facilitates experiences to foster more connected, engaged and inclusive workplaces.
This experience has led her to becoming an expert at leadership development, workplace well-being and culture transformation. Her focus is helping leaders and organizations shift burnout prevalent workplaces into cultures that drive well-being where both the humans and the businesses thrive.
Certifications + Affiliations
B.A.
M.A.
Alyssa Johnson
The Opt-In™
Workshop Facilitator
Business Development
Alyssa Johnson (she/her), a White woman, is a formerly practicing attorney who now works with leaders and organizations on topics related to racial literacy and well-being. She is interested in the connection between well-being and cultural competency, and their impacts on developing empathy as a core leadership skill.
Alyssa is passionate about helping people expand their emotional intelligence by building self-awareness through compassion, gentleness, and non-judgment. She has led and facilitated thousands of people on topics related to nervous system regulation, empathy, racial literacy, and having courageous conversations on uncomfortable topics.
Certifications + Affiliations
B.A.
J.D.
Non-Profit Mgmt.
- Testimonials
What our clients say
Peter Danzig
Senior Associate Director
CHOP Foundation
The Opt-In engages not only our minds, but our sense of being, our whole sense of self. They touch not only minds, but hearts, and as “Neutral” as that may sound, it’s my highest compliment. Access to my heart center, my innermost fears on my own learning, and micro-aggressions means unparalleled trust, humility, and the need to error. In error, I grow, and my heart feels the fuller for it.
Ready to be more relevant in today's market with The Opt-In?
Schedule a 30 minute call to discuss your priorities and long term goals.
