Christina Antonakos-Wallace is a filmmaker, cultural organizer, facilitator and life-long activist. She is the founder of the transnational initiative With Wings and Roots, and is on the Leadership Team of the Building Belonging collaborative. Her work has centered around challenging exclusionary narratives of migration, race, and nationality; telling stories that illuminate our inherent belonging. Her films and interactive work have won numerous awards, sparked campaigns, and been exhibited in over twenty countries through festivals, schools, galleries, NGOs, and corporations, often accompanied by workshops.

Kazu Haga is a trainer and practitioner of nonviolence and restorative justice, a core member of Building Belonging, the Ahimsa Collective and the Fierce Vulnerability Network, is a Jam facilitator and author of Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm. He works with incarcerated people, youth, and activists from around the country. He has over 20 years of experience in nonviolence and social change work, and has been an active trainer since 2000. He is a resident of the Canticle Farm community on Lisjan Ohlone land, Oakland, CA.

Leonie Smith is a first-generation Canadian with Jamaican heritage, dedicated to empowering people from traditionally marginalized communities to fully participate in their living, working, and social environments. She is on the Leadership Team of Building Belonging, and brings over two decades of experience in senior management within nonprofit sectors—spanning communications, fundraising, and human resources. Leonie has established three pivotal organizations. The Thoughtful Workplace focuses on fostering people-centered work cultures for organizations and nonprofits. People of Colour for Nonviolent Communication (POC4NVC) serves as a network for individuals of the global majority pursuing nonviolence and Nonviolent Communication. Additionally, the Necessary Trouble Collective (NTC) offers consultancy to movement and activist groups, emphasizing nonviolence, conflict resolution, and training principles. Holding certifications in Nonviolent Communication from The Center for Nonviolent Communication and Sociocracy from Sociocracy for All, this professional works from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, as an organizational consultant, restorative and transformative justice mediator, coach, and trainer.

Brian Stout is a systems convener, curator, and initiator of the Building Belonging collaborative. His background is in international conflict mediation, serving as a diplomat with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Washington DC and overseas. He also worked in philanthropy with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, before leaving in early 2016 to organize in response to the global rise of authoritarianism and far-right nationalism. He recently returned to his hometown in rural southern Oregon, where he lives with his wife and two children.