Our Team

Susan Maze-Rothstein

Susan Maze-Rothstein seeks societal justice informed by ancestral wisdom. Most recently and for 6 years, until January, 2025, she directed the Center for Restorative Justice at Suffolk University. Trained at Cornell University and Boston College Law School, she practiced law for 5 years, adjudicated for 12 years, has 22 years’ experience in social justice education teaching team lawyering at Northeastern University School of Law and 22 years’ experience in restorative justice.

  • A lawyer, a judge and then a law professor, at Northeastern University School of Law, for over two decades, professor Maze-Rothstein directed its signature social justice course and program. Among some 300 social justice projects that she managed during her tenure, six involved restorative justice. The six led to her founding a juvenile court diversion non-profit, Our Restorative Justice that successfully diverted young people, pre-arraignment to reparative practices averting a juvenile record. Professor Maze-Rothstein co-chaired the Restorative Justice Coalition of MA, that helped to advance and shape Mass. G.L. c. 276B, which promotes the use of restorative justice here in the Commonwealth. She trains, coaches, consults, and presents in restorative justice.

Sheila Gentry
(Board Treasurer)

Sheila has been an advocate for over 20 years, striving to help underrepresented families in the school system gain access and be welcomed into the overall community.

She has volunteered with populations in the Appalachians and Peru, recognizing the reciprocity of that act, always grateful for the depth of connection.

Sheila has lived in intentional community for 20 years, in Lafayette, Colorado and does the deep work of self-reflection, while living closely with 100 other people, trying to steward the land and our relationships, in weaving the desired outcome of growing food, and recognizing the larger web of life and nature.

Selah Dow
(Board Secretary)

Selah was born and raised in Lafayette Colorado, growing up in Nyland Cohousing Community.  She holds a B.A. in history from Knox University, and currently works with archival materials at the History Colorado Center. They are invested in the impact of history on current systems of oppression, and how a more equitable distribution and accessibility of historical materials through digitization can positively impact disenfranchised groups. Selah identifies as gay, is bilingual in English and Spanish, and is deeply committed to social, political, and economic justice. She has lived in Colorado, Illinois and Spain, and is planning to attend graduate school in history, with the ultimate goal of becoming a history professor.

Bianca Acosta (she/they/ella) 
(Community Weaver, Co-Founder)

Bianca is a queer Indigenous/Mestiza woman from Mexico. She holds a B.A. in Education with a focus on Multicultural Studies from the University of Northern Colorado. Bianca is a practitioner of ancestral and Earth-based healing traditions, rooted in curanderismo, and is also certified and a devoted practitioner of permaculture design and social permaculture. Bianca weaves ancestral tradition, and permaculture practices to nurture climate resilience and community healing. She is dedicated to uplifting immigrant, campesino, and BIPOC communities through storytelling, ceremony, and land-based learning. Guided by her prayer to co-create a more beautiful and just world, Bianca walks in deep relationship with Tonantzin (Mother Earth), honoring her roots while sowing seeds for collective liberation.

Jesse Dow (He/They) 
(Co-Executive Director, Co-Founder)

Jesse Koshu Dow is a Zen Priest, a Buddhist Eco-Chaplain, a father, a restorative circle keeper, a local farmer, and a Co-Executive Director of Campesino Commons. They worked for 3 years as the Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center, where they supported about 30 retreats for about 700 people per year. They also worked In the Boulder Valley School District for 12 years as a Family Literacy Site Manager and another 3 years as a preschool community liaison. They have been practicing meditation for 34 years in the Soto Zen tradition, first as a student of Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi, and then as a student of Michael Newhall Shoho Roshi, with whom they were ordained as a priest. Over the last six years, Jesse has also practiced with Kittisoro and Thanissara in the Chan and Theravada traditions.

  • At the ages of 12 and 13, Jesse lived and attended school in San Cristobal De Las Casas, in South Mexico. At the age of 25, Jesse lived for a short while in Managua, Nicaragua, doing political reconciliation work between liberal and conservative parties that had fought against each other in the Nicaraguan Revolution and in the Contra War. Jesse is a fluent Spanish speaker, and much of his heart resides with hispanic culture.

Luna Rosal (they/them) 
(Co-Executive Director)

Luna grew up as a second generation Buddhist in the Insight tradition. They studied Environmental Justice and Religion at Naropa University, graduating with their thesis on Ancestral Futurism. They are mestiza with Filipino (Ilokano and Batangueño) and Scottish/British roots by way of Mormon settlers in Utah, and bring professional experience in outdoor education at NOLS and as a coordinator for restorative justice initiatives, events, and community programming. Their movement ancestors and elders include Joanna Macy, Gloria Anzaldúa, Bas Umali, Grace Lee Boggs, and the Green River. They bring a deep passion for circle process and connection to land spirit.

“The Circle has healing power. In the Circle, we are all equal. When in the Circle, no one is in front of you. No one is behind you. No one is above you. No one is below you. The Sacred Circle is designed to create unity. The Hoop of Life is also a circle. On this hoop there is a place for every species, every race, every tree and every plant. It is this completeness of Life that must be respected in order to bring about health on this planet.”

~Dave Chief, Oglala Lakota~