Meet The Team

Barb is the founder and President of Point Made Learning. She is a facilitator, a writer, and an innovator of methods to make uncomfortable conversations more productive. Prior to creating Point Made Learning, Barb founded Point Made Films, a documentary film production company focused on telling stories about the many layers of American identity. Trained in broadcast journalism and communications, she’s been using the techniques of visual storytelling to help people better understand discrimination for years. She infuses humor, warmth, and generosity in her work, but make no mistake, she will tell you the truth.

Prior to starting Point Made Films, Barb worked as a freelance video writer and producer, as a corporate events producer, a video production teacher at The NC School of Science and Math (teaching high school can prepare you for any other job!) and as a writing intern for Star Trek: The Next Generation at Paramount Studios. She also worked as an assistant in Development at 20th Century Fox and can still make a mean cup of coffee while making notes on new screenplays.

Barb has served on several boards at UNC Chapel Hill, her alma mater, and currently serves on the boards of The John Jay College of Criminal Justice and The Duke Center for Documentary Studies.

Barb’s has dual undergraduate degrees in Broadcast Journalism and Speech Communication from The University of NC at Chapel Hill.

André is a beloved skilled facilitator who has facilitated difficult discussions about race and racism for the past 15 years in schools, community centers, companies, churches, and conferences in every region of the country for people of all ages. That’s experience. There is little he hasn’t seen or heard in his work, and still, he guides people through his workshops with clarity, empathy, warmth, and stone-cold knowledge. He’s a professional storyteller and among the many films he’s produced and/or directed is The Prep School Negro, a documentary that depicts his personal journey as a high school scholarship student, exploring what he gained intellectually but lost emotionally when he attended an elite private school in Philadelphia. He’s the producer of I’m Not Racist… Am I? a documentary that follows 12 teens as they take a year to learn about racism. And, since 2009 he has literally lead hundreds of discussions about how institutions can move beyond diversity initiatives and create a sense of belonging for underrepresented people. He has been certified as a facilitator for difficult conversations and travels around the U.S. facilitating post-screening discussions with audiences of all sizes, conducting workshops, and leading professional development seminars. André also guides groups on civil rights tours in the deep South, answering questions, interviewing activists who were a part of history, and helping people learn how they can be a part of change. André is also a consultant for Connecticut College’s Mellon Undergraduate Research Program, a member on the Advisory Board for The Doe Fund, and a juror for Academy Awards Student Competition.

Andre got his undergraduate degree from Connecticut College and his Master’s of Teaching at Tufts University.

Catherine has authored almost every workshop, presentation, training lesson, and facilitation guide that Point Made Learning offers. She writes, directs, and produces films and oversees the creation of all the products and programming for PML, while also facilitating workshops for schools and organizations all over the country. She is a trained journalist and directed the feature documentary I’m Not Racist… Am I? which followed a diverse group of teens through a yearlong exploration of race and racism. After taking the film on the road and using it to spark discussions about race and racism throughout the U.S., she developed one of Point Made Learning’s newest offerings – Look Deeper: Race – which uses the documentary as the foundation for a 3.5-hour online, interactive antiracism course. Every institution and organization that has used this course reports to us that they have never seen its equal in quality, engagement, or relevance. Catherine is also a certified facilitator and travels the U.S. leading workshops and facilitating dialogue about race and racism. She’s led hundreds of successful, inspiring, and informative conversations about race using her humor, her listening skills, and her ability to call white people into the conversations they need to have. She is funny (really funny), energetic, passionate, loves to see people learn, and has fielded more questions from white people than all the rest of PML’s facilitators combined. There is little she hasn’t heard and is committed to meeting people where they are in their journey of understanding race and discrimination in the U.S.

Catherine got her undergraduate degree at Coe College in Iowa and her Master’s degree in Journalism at Columbia University.

Lenny is a highly-requested skilled facilitator and trainer for Point Made Learning who also manages every detail of programming and engagement for the company. His easygoing personal style makes participants so comfortable, they’re frequently surprised by how much focus and honesty Lenny can require and inspire them to bring to the work of looking deeper at racism, equity, and inclusion. Organizations that bring Lenny in to lead discussions always request that he return, and he’s one of those people that others just open up to immediately. As a trained facilitator, Lenny has led hundreds of workshops and screenings of I’m Not Racist… Am I? around the country, bringing his unique perspective to the conversation – having been born in the Caribbean and moving to the U.S as a pre-teen. His ability to call people in instead of calling them out makes him an outstanding trainer of trainers and Lenny has trained more facilitators to use Point Made Learning methodologies and techniques than anyone else. Lenny’s background is in the music business, and he loves all things musical, making a contribution to his local community through his work with the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir and with a group called Mission 2 Manhood, where he is a mentor to 13-year-old young men navigating the journey to manhood. Lenny received a B.S. from Trevecca Nazarene University.

Vanessa is director of operations, creating an efficient, organized environment conducive to creativity. She is passionate about taking a project from vision to execution through hard work, detailed organization, and thoughtful planning. She has more than 10 years of experience in project and event management and strives to lead with strength and kindness. Her background in storytelling is rooted in Opera, having received a Masters of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and she continues to embrace her creative spirit both in her work and in her personal life.

As the creative and brand director, Deionna brings vision and imagery to all of Point Made’s content, programming, and products. Whether she’s developing the look-and-feel for a new workshop or building an outreach strategy for a new advertising campaign, she ensures every project educates and inspires through her artistry and attention to detail.

Prior to joining Point Made, Deionna worked as an art director/copywriter and associate creative director at Leo Burnett and as a creative director/vice president at McCann-Erickson.