Our Team
Our Team
We are a team of experienced and passionate facilitators, leaders, coaches, entrepreneurs, and volunteers dedicated to the practice of authentic relating and the production of authentic relating trainings. We’re committed to bringing about a world of healthy, conscious, connected, revealed, enlivened, and intimate relationships, with both self and others.
We live and breathe this work in our own lives, and have watched ourselves and each other radically transform toward greater and deeper connection with all those with whom we’re in relationship.
From breakthroughs in intimate partnerships to profound connections with absolute strangers (who rapidly become friends and allies), we’ve all seen how hugely impactful and immediately applicable this work and practice has been.
If you’re interested in working with ART in any creative capacity, get in touch with us anytime at [email protected].
sam hardwick
- CEO
Sam is a big picture thinker and loves working with others to shape the strategic journey of the organisation. He especially enjoys leading teams, getting stuck into projects and translating big ideas into action. Sam has spent the last 20 years launching and leading businesses, projects and charitable initiatives. His commitment to self-development and personal growth has become deeply interwoven with his entrepreneurship journey. Sam is passionate about understanding human behaviour, consciousness and the practice of conscious leadership. He is based in the south of England close to Brighton and enjoys connection in many forms, adventure sports and exploring on his adventure motorbike.
Pauline DREWFS
- Director of Faculty & Curriculum
- Course Leader
Claire Dennis
- director of operations
As ART’s Director of Operations, Claire holds the threads that keep courses flowing smoothly. Her role spans systems, logistics, finance, and people care – always with the intention to have staff and participants feel supported. With roots in community and a professional background in managing large-scale volunteer initiatives, she brings both steadiness and heart to ART, helping to create spaces where connection, transformation and freedom can bloom.
The connection and freedom she’s cultivated through Authentic Relating has deepened her attunement with the natural world and creative expression. When she’s not deep in spreadsheets, you can find her in the garden, crafting a new DJ set, or clowning around in the South West corners of the UK.
Dayna Seraye
- Head of Curriculum Development & Facilitation Training
- Senior Course Leader
Dayna Seraye is a teacher and facilitator of personal transformation, guiding individuals and teams to greater awareness, resilience and connection. As a Senior Course Leader and Head of Curriculum Development & Facilitation Training, she educates and trains participants in the skills of Authentic Relating, emergent leadership and group facilitation. She works with individuals and couples in her Relational Coaching practice to uncover and heal blindspots, amplify conscious communication and transform conflict into intimacy and connection. Her passion is to co-create regenerative cultures where humans live in right relationship with self, others and the whole of life.
Christopher Gray
- DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT & CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT
- SENIOR COURSE LEADER
Christopher is a course leader of The ART of Being Human, Levels 1 & 2, as well as the Authentic Leadership Program (ALP). He’s spent 20 years in the software world as a leader in educational technology, most recently at Facebook. During that time, Christopher has also been doing extensive work supporting people struggling with alcoholism, substance abuse, and codependency. Since discovering and immersing himself in the practice of Authentic Relating, he’s transitioned to coaching and working with ART to bring this transformative, humanizing practice to the world. He teaches Bikram yoga, and, most importantly, is from New Jersey.
NATASHA FIGUEROA
- CHIEF RELATIONAL OFFICER
- Lead Mentor for Facilitator Training
- Course Leader
Natasha is an instrumental part of the European leadership team, co-leading the Level 4 program and being the lead mentor at Level 3 trainings. They have been on a path of Authentic Relating for over 20 years by integrating honesty practices, dance, tantra, shamanism, improvisation, and more. Their main passions are intimacy, communication, vulnerability, gender balancing, and love. As a person of mixed heritage and raised in multiple cultures, Natasha is focused on representation, accessibility and inclusivity in the self-development world. Based in beautiful Copenhagen. Read more here at https://www.jellyfishheart.com
Jocelyn Lee
- HEAD OF MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS
With a background in Communications & Sociology and years leading marketing, learning development, and culture initiatives in corporate settings, Jocelyn brings a unique blend of strategic clarity and authenticity to how ART connects with the world. She’s a Level 4 graduate with over decade’s experience of holding space for transformation in workshops, circles, and one-on-one practice.
After a 7.5 year adventure in Denmark she’s back in Vancouver, BC, developing her framework: The Relationship Map™ and reimagining her dream of a coastal retreat. Consistently walking between the mainstream and unconventional, she considers herself an embodied mystic at heart with an endless curiosity for people.
Debbie Lee
- Operations Manager
Debbie supports the smooth running of operations and marketing activities behind the scenes at ART. From her own experience with authentic relating, she is passionate about creating a welcoming community environment where everyone is able to bring their whole self. Debbie is a proud geek with a background in Geophysics that combines her love of numbers and logic with the chaotic workings of the natural world. Following twelve years in the Corporate world, she now incorporates this balance of structure and flow in her role at ART, her work as an Embodied Business Coach and as a mum of two boys. She lives in the Scottish countryside where you can find her exploring the outdoors whenever possible! You can take a look here @debbieleeco
Gui Trevisan
- Customer Experience Manager
As ART’s Customer Experience Manager, Gui bridges marketing, operations and community engagement. She supports customer care, collaborating closely with local course teams to promote our offerings. She’s excited to help others access life changing experiences through Authentic Relating.
With roots in community building and a professional background designing participant journeys for retreats, online courses, and community programs, Gui brings both logistical expertise and genuine care to her work at ART. She thrives on creating systems that run smoothly while ensuring people feel informed, supported, and truly welcomed. Currently training in Somatic Experiencing®, she’s fascinated by how our physiology holds the key to authentic connection and deeper self-awareness, an understanding that enriches how she holds space for ART’s growing community.
When she’s not deep in course logistics, you can find her at the ceramics studio or biking around Barcelona where she’s currently based.
deniz akin
reLational & operational coordinator
Deniz is part of the Operations team to support folks’ experiences with ART. When she first discovered Authentic Relating, she knew she’d stumbled into magic. Like many folks in this world, connection and community are paramount to her—so much so that she lovingly refers to them as the base liquids in the smoothie of life. She studied mechanical engineering and anthropology in school, and has since woven her way down paths of tech, human factors research for behavior change, group facilitation, festival production, and teaching various types of movement. Deniz holds a strong value for following intuition and aliveness as it comes up in life, and is so excited to have followed that aliveness all the way to ART’s team. She lives in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area, and outside of ART, can be found dancing, playing music, crafting, learning to ferment foods, and continuing her practice of discovering all types of balance through slacklining.
AUTUMN WOHRLE
- Social Media & Marketing Manager
Autumn is the content curator and creative lead behind all of ART’s emails and social media. Prior to joining the ART team, Autumn was a second grade teacher. Her favorite educator book was and is The Power of Our Words by Paula Denton which provided excellent foreshadowing into what her future held. Through personal transformation and discovering Authentic Relating, Autumn is now a yoga teacher, life coach, and an integral part of the ART management team. Autumn found Authentic Relating while on retreat in Bali and immediately knew that she was in it for life. Joining the team at ART International was a natural next step! Autumn also enjoys dancing, the outdoors, and optimizing her human experience through biohacking and mindfulness practices.
Our Couse Leaders
Rick Smith
- senior COURSE LEADER
Rick has spoken to over 100,000 people on five continents in areas of teaching skills, public speaking, and facilitation. His best-selling book Conscious Classroom Management has now sold over a quarter million copies, and continues to touch the lives of teachers and their students. Throughout these past twenty years, in addition to training teachers, Rick has also been teaching workshops in consciousness, embodiment, personal growth, and meditation. He now brings his experience in teaching and facilitation to ART, offering practical ways for participants to know and love themselves, and remember their own innocence, wholeness, and “enough-ness,” especially in all the tight corners of their inner and outer worlds.
margo Fisher
- Senior COURSE LEADER
It brings Margo a lot of joy to connect with awareness and intuition, embodying what she’s learnt about communication and intimacy. She was a teacher and educational researcher for many years and continues to enjoy finding clear ways to share the revelation of authentic relating to those ready for it. Margo also spends time as a medicine guide and researcher into psychedelics for healing. She is a partner, mother to a teen daughter, friend and nature lover, living a slow and alive life near the forest just outside of London.
Sydney McGary
- COURSE LEADER
Sydney is a holistic health practitioner devoted to supporting people in navigating chronic illness and reconnecting to their innate body wisdom. She holds a deep appreciation for Authentic Relating as a powerful pathway for self-discovery and meaningful connection, and has been leading ART Courses since 2019.
With a curious heart and creative spirit that’s rooted in the natural world, Sydney weaves presence, embodiment, and relationship into everything she does. When she isn’t facilitating or holding sessions, you’ll find her outside adventuring in the sun, studying plants, and deepening into community.
https://www.instagram.com/sydneysumana
KATE MIDDLETON
- COURSE LEADER
Kate Middleton is a Somatic Therapist and Authentic Relating Facilitator on a mission to help humans feel alive and at home in their bodies, relationships and the world. As a former World Champion Freediver she blends Nature-based adventures with deep relational work to create environments where connection and healing can happen.
Kate leads groups and individuals into the depths of their bodies and their truth and helps them walk it into the world. When she is not in session you can find her running, climbing and reading poetry in the Eastern Sierras of California.
Karam Kapur
- COURSE LEADER
Karam spent many years trying to be good—good student, good employee, good son, good friend—while quietly losing track of what was actually true inside him. Eventually, his nervous system staged a (not-so) gentle revolt.
His work now centers on creating spaces where performance can rest and deeper truths can speak. Through Authentic Relating and Internal Family Systems,
Karam supports people in reconnecting with their inner aliveness—without needing to fix, transcend, or optimize themselves first.
Karam is a certified ART International facilitator, IFS Level 1 trained, and participates in Men’s Work with the Mankind Project. He brings warmth, grounded presence, and a steady capacity to sit with complexity.
Nadine Edstrand
- COURSE LEADER
Nadine is an Authentic Relating facilitator based in Stockholm dedicated to exploring honest expression and conscious connection. Her work blends embodied practices such as Authentic Relating, somatics, yoga, dance, and primal play to support nervous system awareness, deeper presence, and more honest and transparent communication.
She is the co-founder of Stockholm Ecstatic Dance Journey, The Journey Festival, and Ecstatica Sweden – playful dancefloor gatherings within Stockholm’s conscious community where movement, presence, and shared aliveness meet.
Nadine is leading groups and individuals with warmth, courage, curiosity and play.
David Amir Persson
- COURSE LEADER
David is a coach and relational facilitator from Stockholm, dedicated to helping people meet themselves and others with more presence, honesty, and grounded awareness. His work blends embodied practice, inner inquiry, and relational intelligence.
He is the founder of Open Man, a men’s community and course path focused on emotional openness, integrity, and embodied leadership. While much of his work centers around men, Authentic Relating has become the glue that holds all his teachings together, shaping how he supports deeper communication and connection.
David brings a calm, steady presence into his facilitation. He has a natural ability to slow a room down and create spaces where people feel safe, seen, and able to reveal what is true.
Outside of his work, David spends his time in nature, training, tending to his beehives, and being with his family. His longing for this work is simple, to support more harmony and depth in how we live and relate.
More about David and his work here.
Ranjit Krishnamma
- COURSE LEADER
Ranjit has 30 years experience of personal development; as a large group facilitator, trainer of facilitators and creator of unique experiential workshops. He is also a rock-climbing instructor, a professional actor, and leader of Circling and Authentic Relating group experiences. “I sometimes get the sense that we are already deeply connected and that this work helps us to rediscover…this.”
Stephanie Dickinson
- COURSE LEADER
Stephanie Dickinson is a feminine leadership mentor and connection expert on a mission to massively upgrade the relationship skills of millions worldwide. Her superpower is helping people increase their emotional intelligence, create rewarding relationships and find freedom and fulfilment in connection. When she isn’t shifting the mundane to magic with her work, you can find her dancing Bachata or on a waterfall adventure in Bali. She shares her work worldwide, in coaching programs, authentic relating trainings, festivals, retreats and men’s and women’s circles.
Adriana Candeias, PHD
- Course leader
Sat Prem
- Course Leader (French Language)
Sat Prem has been facilitating learning experiences for 30 years. She is a course leader and coach in Relational Intelligence, expert in somatic communication and LABAN-BARTENIEFF human movement analysis.
A true mystic, passionate about human potential, resilience, regeneration and creation, she enjoys supporting emerging leaders and awakened organizations who aspire to develop their skills towards more relational authenticity and conscious leadership in the service of sustainable development.
She is also a teacher of meditation and Kundalini Yoga, and has devoted 4 years to a Non-Duality contemplative retreat.
Ash Witham
- Course Leader
Ash Ryzen Witham (they/she) is a queer nonbinary Somatic Coach and Connection & Embodiment Facilitator, dedicated to generating inclusive spaces for personal and collective transformation.
An artist of experience design that generates connection and belonging, her offerings range in scale and reach internationally. She is also a Level 1, Embodied Level 1, and Level 2 Course Leader at Authentic Relating Training (ART) International, a certified coach through The Relateful Co, and extensively trained in Somatics and Somatic Coaching through Strozzi Institute (a pioneer in the field of embodied transformation).
Each of Ash’s offerings are her for us to play toward our transformation and cultivate authentic and meaningful lives. Of highlight, Ash co-founded Shadow Academy, ARCI Retreat, We AR Queer, and founded Soma & Soul Retreat—initiatives that combine Authentic Relating and relatefulness with other modalities like shadow work, community building, embodiment and somatics—for holistic intimacy and soulful connection.
More about Ash here: ashwitham.com or @alchemy.with.ash
VIX ANDERTON
- Course Leader
Vix is an eco-somatic coach and authentic relating facilitator whose work centres on restoring connection: to the body, to other humans, and to the more-than-human world. She works at the intersection of eco-therapy, embodiment, cyclical living, and authentic relating.
She is particularly attentive to how disconnection is produced by racialised capitalism, colonialism, patriarchy, and perfectionism, and how relational practice can interrupt those patterns. Her work prioritises integration over intensity, practice over performance, and capacity-building over quick transformation, helping people cultivate sustainable, honest, and revolutionary ways of being in a time of polycrisis.
Learn more about Vix’s work at www.vixanderton.com
