About | Staff | Volunteer
Ayako Nakamura - Forum Administrator
Ruth Van Reken - Advisor
Paulette M. Bethel - Advisor
Dr. Cat - Counselor
Laura Alghren - Moderator and Host
Paul Trigg - Advisor
Erin Sinogba - Advisor
Isabelle Roe - Librarian
Lily Friend-Grover - Community Leader
Forum Moderators
Brice Royer
Founder and Executive Director
Brice leads TCKID's vision to breathe life into the TCK community. He is responsible for maintaining TCKWorld.com, various TCK Facebook groups, and has co-founded diverse initiatives such as TCK Research Network to advance research, TCK Academy, to provide training for young and adult TCKs, and many more programs.
Brice is an online media consultant and social entrepreneur. Drawn to work in the non-profit sector, he also headed various non-profit online groups and did consulting prior to joining the TCK community.
briceroyer@tckid.com | story
Ayako Nakamura
Forum Administrator
Ayako maintains smooth operations in the forums, enforces the guidelines where necessary, helps new members feel welcome, and answer forum-related questions. She has a B.A. in sociology from the International Christian University and has used her background in sociology and bilingual/multicultural skills in various fields including television and commercial productions, global advertising agencies such as Grey Advertising, Bates and Dentsu Wunderman Cato Johnson. After a brief stint with a HeadlightVision, a brand consultancy in London, she retired to her dream home in Costa del Sol and lives there.
In her spare time she helps her friends at Barfutura a multicultural design consultancy in Madrid and does academic translations for institutions such as the University of Tokyo, Keio University and the Johnson Space Center.
ayako@tckid.com | story
"Dr. Cat"
Third Culture Kids Counselor, Doctor specializing in Family Health and Community Medicine
Catherine offers advice and support to individuals, in various TCK communities. She responds to questions and requests from TCKs and adult TCKs on the forum and by email. She collaborates with other members of the team to review proposals, articles and research to improve the mental health of TCKs and adult TCKs.
Originally from the USA, she began her TCK experience as a ‘diplobrat’, then a business expat in Kenya. Upon returning to the U.S, she experienced the loss of status, friends and cultural connection which was isolating and depressing. Catherine returned to Africa (Swaziland) to refocus and a week before she was to reluctantly return to the US, she was seriously injured, in a head-on collision, by an intoxicated driver and remained in Swaziland recovering.
Having a near death experience helped Catherine focus on what was important – attending medical school, and one day having a family of her own. She is now doctor specializing in Family Health and Community Medicine and have three wonderful children. She has given up my practice to home school her daughters, allowing her family the mobility and flexibility needed to immerse them in multiple cultures without disrupting their education.
drcat@tckid.com | story
Paulette Martinez Bethel, Ph.D (ABD)
Advisor and Global Executive Coach, specializing in Cross-Culturalism and Relationships
Paulette is an advisor and a speaker at the TCK Academy's Teleclasses. She builds ongoing relationships with TCKs around the world and at the Academy, through her teaching, writing, speaking and workshops.
Founder of Global LifeWorks/Brighter Pathway International, PLLC. Paulette is a licensed marriage and family therapist, mediator and transition coach. She is a retired USAF Officer, and the mother of four TCKs. A doctoral candidate in International Education and Entrepreneurship, Her doctoral research explores the dynamics and impacts of highly mobile international lifestyle. Paulette conducts workshops on multiculturalism and diversity, counseling ethics, transition, and relationship issues.
paulettebethel@tckid.com | story | TCK Academy
Ruth Van Reken
Advisor and Speaker at TCK Academy
Ruth advises the vision of the TCKID community and is a speaker and at the TCK Academy's Teleclasses. She builds ongoing relationships with TCKs around the world and at the Academy, through her teaching, writing, speaking and workshops.
Ruth is the co-founder of Families in Global Transition, and co-author of Third Culture Kids: The Experience of Growing Up Amoung Worlds and author of Letters Never Sent, a chapter in Strangers at Home. For the last twenty years, Ruth has been helping fellow ATCKs, parents, human resource people, educators, and other caregivers deal with issues related to global family lifestyles.
ruthvanreken@tckacademy.com | Ruth's story | TCK academy | site
