Our team
Principal
Saba Ghebreyesus
Saba Ghebreyesus is one of the founders at FacingIn LLC, a consulting firm emphasizing an amalgamation of Restorative justice and incorporating Saba’s expertise in design thinking to support organizations in creating equitable and healthy work spaces by embedding Community building practices like Restorative Justice, DEI and L&D. She has led over 1000 Community circles & trainings. She develops & designs communities that are data informed & systems cross-functionally for large scale enterprises to budding startups who look to create infrastructures driven by their values.
Saba started her journey in front of the camera with media production & entertainment reporting back in 2006, but decided she wanted to pursue the Equity space once learning about the health disparities young people face in Oakland & the cultural disconnect between the adults that serviced them. Before 2016, Saba worked with Oakland schools in multiple activations from district wide Community building trainings, Restorative Justice Harm & conflict trainings, to leading the research on health disparities Oakland children experience, to leveraging her media relationships to develop Panels with local sports teams like the Raiders, Radio station 106-Kmel personalities, KQED and multiple celebrities etc. In late 2016, Saba enrolled in Design thinking courses at the D school and joined an accelerator on building your startup at Stanford to propel into the world of consulting.
Saba holds a twice yearly digital media accelerator for bay area youth under Iceehouse.com & partners them w/internships & media opportunities. She also likes to walk on hikes in Marin county with her family and makes & holds craft chocolate tastings with friends.
Principal
Kusum Crimmel
Kusum Crimmel’s work is to inspire people to live more deeply and firmly into accountability and integrity, thereby accessing higher levels of joy and embodied love. She is a facilitator of transformational change and creates space for truth, (re)conciliation, and healing to reclaim our humanity and the humanity of others. She has spent nearly two decades working with teenagers in non-profits and public schools. Eleven of those years were spent at Oakland Tech High School, where she built up a vibrant and highly acclaimed, peer-based Restorative Justice program. She is an LCSW, has 10 years of rape-crisis counseling experience with San Francisco Women Against Rape and more than eight years of training with Generative Somatics, expanding her understanding of trauma and the impact of interpersonal, generational and socially pervasive trauma (racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, etc.).
Kusum is a single parent to an eleven-year-old singer, dancer and budding actress, an auntie to a bright and courageous toddler and an ongoing mentor to countless young people who she has connected with over the last seventeen years. Dance is her favorite form of therapy and she loves to laugh until her belly hurts.
Restorative Justice and and Tranformation Justice
Kyle McClerkins
Kyle refers to himself as a son of Oakland. Before finding his passion for working with youth, Kyle held numerous jobs in the financial industry including working as a day trader. In K-12 education, Kyle has worked in a variety of Oakland elementary, middle and High Schools. In 2009, he started contracting with Oakland Unified School District as a Conflict Mediator and later transitioned to work in the Restorative Justice unit. Since working as a RJ Facilitator, Kyle has been a High School Dean, Leadership and advisory teacher. Outside of school he has partnered and consulted with multiple school districts across the United States from Los Angeles Unified School District to the University of Pittsburgh School of Education. Currently Kyle is an Adjunct lecturer at Santa Clara University Department of Education. He has trained over 1000 participants in Restorative Practices. Occasionally Kyle works pro bono cases and Facilitates Harm circles with victims and offenders .
Kyle’s passion for the work he has done is largely stemmed from his two children.