Coeylen Barry

Director of Curriculum

Coeylen has over 10 years experience working in innovative educational programming. After receiving her Masters Degree in Curriculum and Teacher Education from Stanford University, she joined the founding team of African Leadership Academy (www.africanleadershipacademy.org) as manager of curriculum development. She oversaw the creation of a cutting edge Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Design, and African Studies curriculum.  Students who have completed this program are already changing the world with their innovative ideas.

After launching the ALA in South Africa, Coeylen joined the K-12 lab at the Stanford Institute of Design to help with teacher training and curriculum development. She successfully led workshops for schools and educators from around the world. In addition to working with a variety of world-class institutions Coeylen has done extensive educational consulting with schools both locally and internationally.  Coeylen is passionate about the creative process and has spent years refining curriculum to support people with a vision who want to bring it into reality to affect change.

John Fox

Director of Innovation

John is a designer and inventor who has been working in product design and production for over 15 years.  He was the owner of Earthling Manufacturing, a soft goods production business before becoming the director of innovation for multiple outdoor gear brands including, Kelty, Sierra Designs, and Ultimate direction.  He now owns and leads Kinetik Climbing which designs and produces award winning climbing gear.

He holds numerous patents and design awards and is passionate about creating high-quality solutions.  He is excited to apply his passion for developing new ideas to support fellows as they explore and develop their concepts from the ground up.

Kai Barry

Director of Story

Kai is passionate about story and its ability to motivate us. A great idea only motivates one person.  To motivate a larger group you must tell a great story. He's excited to help turn our fellow's ideas into clear communicable stories.

For more than 10 years Kai has been writing, producing, and directing award winning films. Since completing his studies at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, Kai's films have been shown across the world and received glowing praise from the Huffington Post, Entertainment Weekly, Variety, and the New York Times. His most recent film, NEWCOMER, an art house spy thriller shot in Serbia, was  selected for the prestigious honor of opening night film at the Raindance Film Festival and nominated for best picture at the Austin Film Festival.

Prior to his film career Kai received a BA in Product Design Engineering and a MSE in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. More.

Sara Heintzelman

Director of Operations

Sara has worked for educational organizations since 2000, bringing her love for the environment, curiosity about how things work and innovative ideas into her teaching, curriculum design, learning assessment, and program development. 

She combines her passion for innovative thinking with her skills in program design, system development and data management to keep operations running smoothly. A master of multitasking, Sara helps the Mira Fellowship team translate high level visions into actionable steps to keep projects and programs moving forward while keeping things organized.

Sara earned her B.S. in Ecology from the University of California, San Diego and her M.S. in Marine Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara and continues to look at the world as an interconnected ecosystem from environmental and social perspectives. 

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