Our Collective
Team focused on practical action, shared responsibility, and creating impact that actually matters.
Our Team
We are a dedicated team focused on practical action, shared responsibility, and creating impact that truly matters. Our work is driven by collaboration, accountability, and a commitment to addressing real challenges with meaningful solutions. By working closely with communities and partners, we strive to create sustainable change that is rooted in trust, participation, and long term impact. responsibility, and creating impact that actually matters.
Laura Trainor is a documentarian, storyteller, and advocate whose work is dedicated to advancing justice, equity, and social impact. Through collaborative engagement with international partners, she develops narratives that amplify diverse voices, illuminate pressing issues, and encourage public reflection and civic participation. Her approach treats storytelling as a powerful tool for understanding, connection, and meaningful change. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and international relations from the University of Vermont and is a graduate of the Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism program at the International Center of Photography.
Laura trainor
Gaisu Yari is a human rights defender and a former commissioner in the Civil Service of Afghanistan. She holds a master’s degree in human rights from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in Middle Eastern studies and gender studies from the University of Virginia. Gaisu is leading this project and traveling around the world to speak with Afghans in exile. She is also an advocate and public speaker for gender justice. As an activist, Gaisu has addressed conferences, individual organizations, and the media on the subject of women’s rights in Afghanistan.
Gaisu Yari
Dr. Willhemina Wahlin is the lead designer of Afghan Voices of Hope and Lighting the Shadows exhibitions. She is a practice-led design researcher, lecturer with Charles Stuart University, a senior design strategist with the design agency, Portable, a research fellow in Youth and Design with the Melbourne School of Government, and the Creative Director for PROOF: Media for Social Justice, a New York-based non-profit organization that utilizes visual storytelling for human rights and social justice advocacy. She brings to this role her diverse experience across the communication and creative industries, having worked in the fields of journalism, theatre and music before uniting these skills with communication design. Her research focuses on design for social change, spanning the areas of exhibition design, design thinking and human-centered design, and design as a vehicle for inspiring civic activity. She is a member of the Society of Experiential Design`s (SEGD) Academic Task Force (2020-2021).
