About Us

Fernande is led by a passionate and life-long conviction that history is a source of imagination and aspiration to build a new, inclusive democratic culture. She is a historian of Diplomacy and Grand Strategy by training, and systems change entrepreneur by calling. She launched several programs during 11 years as an intrapreneur at Ashoka, and founded the History Co:Lab in 2019.

Susan is the Co:Lead of the History Co:Lab, and has had a long career of championing adolescent wellbeing, most recently through her leadership of iThrive Games, which merged with the Co:lab in 2024. After co-founding the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, she came to iThrive to combine research with designing learning tools that foster teens' social and emotional growth, underpinned by her belief in the untapped potential of young minds.

Susan has continued her love for research as the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Games, Self, and Society.

Jenny Anderson is a senior fellow at the Center for Teen Flourishing and a co-author of The Disengaged Teen: Helping Kids Learn Better, Feel Better, and Live Better. Her How to Brave Substack is about learning, parenting, and education.

Shereen El Mallah is a developmental scientist and former K-12 educator at the University of Virginia’s Center to Promote Effective Youth Development, Youth-Nex. She uses participatory approaches and liberatory design principles to build intergenerational partnerships that amplify local expertise and drive social transformation.