Our Team

Richard is a former auto industry executive who is now a business coach with the Michigan Small Business Development Center supporting  small businesses in underserved communities throughout Detroit. He is also a board member and advisor to non-profits across the US.

Playful Fact: Richard and his family have lived in seven countries (and he’s traveled to nearly forty). While in Shanghai, they had a full-size trampoline in their 3-story living room. 

Anitra is an educator, family therapist and Compassionate Parent Coach. She is also the Founder of The F.O.L. Foundation reimagining well-being with a playful spirit for black youth and families in Detroit.· Anitra embodies the spirit of compassion and kindness as a heart-centered leader.

Playful Fact – Anitra recently almost had a bouncy house at her own birthday party!

Allo founded the Global Leading Light Initiatives and Fuel for Purpose (F4P) supporting entrepreneurship and empowerment in Africa. Allo is a breathwork coach, certified yoga instructor, and also taught for over a decade in rural South Africa empowering parents and families.

Playful Fact – Allo and David once had some “good mood food” in South Africa together and the name has stuck!

Founder, AnchorED Leaders

Currently being added!

Xiaoan Li is the Senior Program Officer at the Fetzer Institute building the spiritual foundation for a loving world. Prior to his work at the Fetzer Institute, Xiaoan held numerous teaching and leadership positions in educational institutions in China and the United States. He received his PhD in higher education and organizational change at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Xiaoan’s passion towards working with young people naturally includes two of his own: David and Clare. Playing baseball with David and reading together with Clare are his favorite things to do in the world. When he has time to spare, Xiaoan plays basketball and daydreams about playing for the New York Knicks.

Raj Vable founded Young Mountain Tea with a promise. If a co-operative of Himalayan farmers would grow tea, he’d start a company to sell it. Since then, he and his team have been on a mission to work with Indian and Nepali farmers to raise the quality of their tea, so they can earn more and raise the quality of their life. Today Young Mountain Tea has launched an organic specialty tea factory that they co-own with Himalayan farmers, creating a new model for how tea can create regenerative food systems.

Raj’s work has been supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, USAID, Fulbright, Acumen, and more. He holds an MS in Environmental Studies and a BS in Electrical Engineering. He loves hiking in the forests, combing the shoreline for beach glass, swimming (ideally outdoors), playing guitar, logging time in the sauna, and cooking.

Steve Small is professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Human Ecology. For most of his career Steve has been working with communities across Wisconsin and the nation to help them understand and address the concerns, aspirations, and positive and problematic behaviors of children, youth, and their families. . Steve values working collaboratively with students, professionals, and leaders outside the university to enhance the quality of practice and policy and contribute to the development, health, and well-being of individuals and families. His current work explores the concept of practical wisdom and how people develop and use wisdom to address important, challenging, and uncertain matters in day-to-day life and professional practice.

Willie Kunert is a board certified Buddhist chaplain, with a passion for supporting people through times of illness and loss. He co-runs the Metta Mind Therapy counseling practice and assists the Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Spiritual Care. He is influenced by Jungian thought and the contemporary model of Internal Family Systems therapy, and loves helping people connect with their ‘inner children’, and giving them the freedom to play! Willie has a seven-year-old daughter, and when he was a child himself, he could spend endless hours playing in the sand on the beach (and if he’s honest, he still can)

Currently being added!