Lucia Simpson drew on her experiences talking about politics with her grandma to imagine a toolkit that might allow others to engage in similarly eye-opening dialogue with friends and relatives on all points on the political spectrum. Lucia studied International Relations and French at Stanford University.

Joel Reinecke likes hard conversations, but he doesn’t like when they ruin relationships. His contributions to the toolkit use his experience confronting religious and philosophical differences with his family and friends, along with a deep interest in the social sciences, to create spaces for people with differing views to discover surprising commonalities. Joel studied Economics and Math at Stanford University.

Zoe Reinecke provided expertise on facilitation throughout the development of the Dialogue Toolkit. Her valuable input informed the prompts found in the Toolkit. She drew upon her experience as a mediator and mediator coach. Since 2019, Zoe has been developing her mediation skills through Interaction Management Associates (IMA) and serves as IMA’s Director of International Programs. In this role, she works to make mediation accessible to community leaders across the globe. Zoe Reinecke is excited at the Toolkit’s ability to create understanding and strengthen relationships. Zoe studied International Development and Education at UCLA and received her Master’s in Education Policy and Analysis at Harvard University.