Get to know the team...
Scarlett Lewis
Founder & Chief Movement OfficerScarlett Lewis founded the nonprofit Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement in honor of her son, Jesse, who was murdered during the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy in December 2012. Shortly after his death, Scarlett decided to be part of the solution to the issues that we’re seeing in our society — that also caused the tragedy — and turned it into an opportunity to build a culture of love, resilience, forgiveness, and connection in our communities at a time when it is needed the most.
Scarlett became a Character Social-Emotional Development Advocate to help children manage their emotions, feel connected, and have healthy, meaningful relationships. She created the Choose Love For Schools program, a no cost, comprehensive, lifespan, next generation character and social emotional development (CSED) program that teaches children how to thoughtfully respond with love in any situation by using the Choose Love Formula (Courage + Gratitude + Forgiveness + Compassion-in-Action), and offer ways for children to handle adversity, have courageous conversations, and to respond with love.
Betsy Carlson
Director of Data & Support
Rick Rood
Outreach & PD CoordinatorRick Rood has been on the front lines of Education for nearly 30 years, working directly with children and front-line staff. With degrees in Education, Afterschool Care, and Applied Mathematics, Rick is a student of the thought leader movement, distilling lessons from master teachers like Jack Canfield, Tony Robbins, and Brendon Burchard – giving them practical application to education professionals. Participants have described his workshops as “fascinating” and “life-changing.”
Rick is a classroom teacher, and in the past he has run afterschool programs, taught music, computer programming, and youth leadership workshops. Rick is a contributor to “Youth Today!” and is the author of “Games Teachers Play Before the Bell Rings”. Rick is a Certified High Performance CoachTM and works privately and in groups with education professionals to help them achieve higher levels of performance in their work and personal lives.
Rick is the driving force behind Transforming Teachers, Transforming Education, an organization rooted in the Positive Youth Development philosophy dedicated to training and inspiring youth-serving professionals. Through Transforming Teachers, Rick has delivered workshops and keynotes to thousands of education professionals, helping teachers transform their “inner game” of teaching to better serve youth, children, and families.
Rick and his team created the Beyond School Time Conference for Out-of-School-Time Professionals in 2018 as a way for California’s OST Professionals to connect, learn, and gather inspiration.
Jan Pierret
Director of Marketing & PR
Karina Foster
Accounting & Operations SpecialistKarina brings over 10+ years of experience in accounting and operations expertise to the Choose Love Movement.
