Ariana Abadian-Heifetz

Affiliate Consultant

Ariana believes sustainable change is a collaborative process that is co-created by communities. She is a passionate experiential educator who centers people's experiences, emotions, and insights in the learning process, seeking to both nurture and disquiet hidden beliefs and assumptions. Ariana brings with her an expertise in social-emotional learning (SEL) and gender-based violence, and is a facilitator on adaptive leadership, organizational development, change management, and identity development. She has led workshops and coaching for diverse clients, including the UN Somalia Country Team, the National Park Service, the Gates Foundation, and the government of Abu Dhabi.

Over the past decade she has deployed a variety of approaches to support the growth and agency of educators, parents, and mission-driven executives in India and the US. As the Head of Social-Emotional Learning for the Heritage Xperiential Learning School, Ariana held the community through a systemic change process, led teacher professional development and coaching, and designed learning materials. She created a novel approach to SEL called The Human Framework and co-authored a curriculum that explored the themes of religious diversity and interfaith dialogue, gender and discrimination, and caste and human rights. Her work has been featured in Teacher Plus Magazine and The New Indian Express, and she has also published pieces on these topics in India Today, Deccan Chronicle, and Daily Pioneer. Based on her prior work leading trainings for young women on adaptive leadership, menstrual health, and discriminatory social myths across Uttar Pradesh, she authored an acclaimed graphic novel, Spreading Your Wings, to inspire body-positive mindset shifts around menstruation and gender norms. 

Ariana holds a Master’s Degree from NYU in Education & Human Development and is currently on the Board of The Pad Project. She currently serves as the Associate Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C., where she supports Pre-K through 12th-grade education on civil discourse, dialogue across lines of difference, and democratic citizenship. She is an avid poet, potter, and dancer, and draws insight from navigating her own liminal identities as an Iranian-Zoroastrian and American-Ashkenazi-Jew.