Michelle Bertoli, M.A. is the Senior Director of Learning at iThrive Games, where she draws on over a decade of experience in social and emotional learning to design interactive experiences that support emotional growth in young people. Michelle holds a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and an M.A. from Yale University. Prior to leading the instructional design of social and emotional skill-building games, tools, and programs at iThrive, she supported research at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence including the rigorous evaluation of the Center's signature RULER approach and the development of classroom practices to support students with learning differences. With over a decade of scholarly research in education, adolescent development, and positive psychology including published works in the Journal of Health Psychology, Journal of College Student Development, and the Journal of Classroom Interactions, Michelle is masterful at infusing learning objectives and product goals with social and emotional learning objectives that support young people in responsive, accessible, and trauma-informed ways. 

• A strength you admire in teens: "How deeply they're examining society and their place in it. Teens are so much less bound than adults by how things have been done before, giving them an inspiring willingness to play with fresh ways of being and doing in the world."
• Favorite iThrive project: "I have a special place in my heart for Museum of Me because I've seen it open up completely new realms of dialogue, connection, and engagement in classrooms in which many of the students have felt alienated from school for most of their learning lives. This unit and the others we've co-created with educators who really "get" teens make possible the kind of deep self-reflection, empathy, coping, and critical thinking skills that follow teens well beyond the walls of the school building."