Sophia Johnson, Feedback Labs | April 2025
We are thrilled to introduce the 2025 cohort of Feedback Fellows! This group of eight outstanding professionals represents a bold and diverse set of voices, perspectives, and experiences in the feedback field. Each Fellow has demonstrated a deep commitment to actively listening to and responding to the people at the heart of their work within the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors.
ABOUT THE FELLOWSHIP
The Feedback Fellowship is a ten-month program (May 2025 – March 2026) that supports emerging and established leaders committed to strengthening feedback practices in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. Fellows will work through a specific feedback challenge within their organization, apply new practices during an implementation period, and share their learning with a broader network of feedback practitioners.
The journey begins with an in-person launch at Feedback+Bozeman (June 3–6, 2025), where Fellows will build relationships, share insights, and take their first steps in advancing the future of listening and feedback across their respective sectors.
This year’s Fellowship is made possible by the support of Jessie Ball duPont Fund, Voqal Partners, Charles Schwab Foundation, and Fund for Shared Insight.
MEET THE FELLOWS
We can’t wait for you to meet the 2025 Feedback Fellows at Feedback+Bozeman and through their work in the months ahead!
Alissa Stover (She/her/hers) – Stand Together Foundation
Alissa is a data scientist turned product manager with a passion for community driven, tech-enabled solutions for addressing poverty. At Stand Together Foundation, she manages products to spread the practice of feedback in human services nonprofits and philanthropies in the U.S. Co-founding a nonprofit (Pandemic Professors) and creating an empathy course that helped heal political divides taught her the transformative power of deep listening. These experiences demonstrated that truly hearing others—especially those with different perspectives—creates the foundation for meaningful solutions. Her product management philosophy combines experiences in professional ballet, neuroscience, data science, empathy/listening, and nonprofit impact evaluation. She holds a B.A. in Psychology (summa cum laude) and M.S. in Information and Data Science from UC Berkeley.
Bree Kessler (she/her/hers) – PARTICIPATE
Bree Kessler, MSW, MPH, PhD Candidate (she/her) is an Alaska-based community organizer, researcher, and educator who includes creative practice in her work. She is uniquely qualified to lead projects involving equity-centered collaborative research efforts as she is an expert facilitator who sees her role as holding space for change while supporting stakeholders in making key decisions for their communities. Bree was born and raised in the Detroit area where she first fell in love with cities. She is a subject matter expert on creative placemaking/placekeeping and frequently facilitates co-design processes with community leaders and communities of practice. Several years ago, as a faculty in public health and civic engagement at the University of Alaska Anchorage, Bree started a movement that brought together community members, community-based organizations, and the municipal government to shift the traditional way decisions were made in the community. Since then, she co-founded PARTICIPATE, a social impact studio that uses participatory processes and liberatory design frameworks so that all individuals can participate more meaningfully and democratically in decision-making processes. She completed her MPhil in psychology from The Graduate School of the City University of New York and is a PhD candidate in Environmental Psychology, the study of the interaction between humans and their environments. Her superpower is storytelling through distilling data into insightful stories.
Francesca Santos (she/they) – Rural Climate Partnership
A Mojave High Desert native, Francesca’s passion for climate justice stems from her witnessing the damaging effects of extreme heat, drought, and flooding in her rural desert community. With roots in Northern Mexico, where her family owns a small ranch, Francesca understands the importance of protecting both the environment and livelihoods of rural workers, families and their communities. Committed to decolonizing wealth, Francesca cultivates projects, partnerships and funding practices that center transparency, accountability, and community-led solutions. A fierce advocate for rural communities, she brings a rich and varied background in economic justice and community development. Prior to joining RCP, Francesca served as a Program Officer on the Rural Economic Development team at LISC, where she implemented workforce initiatives that championed quality jobs, worker voice, and accessible benefits. Walking in multiple worlds, she is a proud Mexican-American of Zapotec, Rarámuri, Otomí-Chichimeca and Mixtec heritage. Her experiences as a formerly homeless youth, living with a disability, and being the daughter of a single-parent immigrant household inform her work in building diverse, equitable, and inclusive rural economies. A former Cooperative Leaders and Scholars fellow, Francesca is deeply passionate about community ownership models like worker coops, believing they can build sustainable economies that safeguard both people and the planet. An avid National Park enthusiast, she finds joy spending time with her partner in her favorite place – Joshua Tree National Park.
Kristopher Smith (he/him) – LISC Jacksonville
Kristopher is a Senior Program Officer and National Heirs Practice Lead for LISC. He is based in Jacksonville, Florida and facilitates the scaling of an heirs’ property initiative. Kristopher has over 25 years of experience across government, philanthropy and community development sectors.
Marvin Vilma (he/him) – Bevy Studio
Marvin Vilma is a social impact strategist and teacher committed to advancing justice and equity. He is the Founder and CEO of Bevy Studio, an innovation and venture studio that helps K–12 education organizations build solutions that strengthen their capacity for intrapreneurial innovation and systems change. Guided by values of Community, Curiosity, and Equity, Marvin brings a human-centered approach to his work—designing strategies that uplift the voices of those closest to the challenge. He is completing an MBA and MS in Digital Technology from Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, and holds a master’s in Education Entrepreneurship from the University of Pennsylvania. A proud Queens, NY native and first-generation college graduate, Marvin is also a committed screen aficionado who believes stories—on screen and in real life—can spark inspiration.
Rebecca Redfield (she/her/hers) – The Chalmers Center
Rebecca is a big believer in the power of listening to deepen trust, restore relationships, and promote flourishing. Can we truly know and love our neighbors without it? As the Director of Listening and Applied Learning at The Chalmers Center, Rebecca finds great joy in helping teams listen well to those they serve and serve alongside, and responding faithfully to continually improve. She previously led the listening, monitoring, and evaluation team at HOPE International. Rebecca holds an Economics degree from Texas A&M University and a Masters in Theology (Justice and the Public Life) from Princeton Theological Seminary. She and her husband, Jordan, and their beloved dog, Maya, enjoy the gift of life in community in Lancaster, PA.
Samanda Gronstal (she/her) – Community Council of Greater Dallas
Bilingual nonprofit leader specializing in workforce development, job placement, and economic mobility. Skilled in designing results-driven training programs and building strategic partnerships that lead to long-term impact. Nationally Certified ROMA Implementer since 2022, Mental Health First Aid certified, with a Nonprofit Management certification from UT. Known for a relational, data-informed leadership style that centers dignity and drives measurable outcomes for marginalized communities.
Veronica Rucker (she/her/hers) – Headwaters Foundation for Justice
Veronica Rucker, People and Culture Manager, Headwaters Foundation for Justice As the People and Culture Manager at Headwaters Foundation for Justice, Veronica’s role is to provide the staff of Headwaters with tools and care so they can show up as their best selves to be able to do the work of funding movements. Often staff are overlooked members of community, and it is her responsibility to make sure they are held and supported. She works to support workplaces in moving towards a radical and creative way of being internally – from the benefits offered to how decisions are made. She hopes someday to bring her work beyond her current organization to push other workplaces to be more profound in how they think about their care of their employees. Veronica spends much of her free time with her husband chasing a young son and passing her love of learning about new cultures through food and travel on to her son.
AN EXCITING YEAR AHEAD
We know that the 2025 Feedback Champions will do great things as they become leaders in the feedback field! We are eager to support them as they cultivate their skills, deepen their knowledge of feedback, and advance the feedback community. We will be sure to keep you updated on all of the things they do!
