About Us

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Our History

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Convening Toward Liberation (CTL) was founded in 2023 by Katie Battis-Troyer and Ryan Kroening. Longtime collaborators, they merged their former event companies—Claim Our Space (Katie) and Events by Lady K (Ryan)—to create something more powerful than either could alone.

As CTL, we join a long lineage of people who’ve used gatherings to shift power and center care. We are proud to carry that legacy forward. From kitchen tables to keynote stages, from freedom schools to ballroom battles, from backyard teach-ins to multi-day conferences, we gather like our people always have. We bring people together across movements to celebrate, to remember, to create, to resist, and to make liberation real.

A stylized yellow crescent moon surrounded by blue and purple clouds on a white background.

Our team of professionals believe events should be inclusive spaces.

Person wearing a pink blazer and black top, sitting on a gray chair with their hands resting on the armrest, smiling at the camera with long earrings and colorful jewelry, against a dark blue background.
A person with long hair, glasses, and a beard, smiling while sitting at a wooden table. They are wearing a bright blue blazer with a colorful pin on the lapel and a black shirt underneath.
A person with glasses and dark hair styled in braids, smiling, wearing a white blouse with a butterfly brooch and a green sweater with a bee pin, against a blue background.
A smiling person with colorful hair, glasses, and earrings, wearing a black blazer over a patterned dress, standing against a dark blue background.
A person with shoulder-length reddish-brown hair, wearing a black shirt, smiling, against a dark teal background.
A person with curly hair wearing a pink satin blouse, smiling, seated against a blue background.

Cassie Zawilski
(she/her)
Inclusive Events Director

Olivia Farley
(she/her)
Inclusive Events Manager

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Illustration showing a cloud computing system with a cloud icon interconnected with a server icon, and data flow arrows between them.

Wainani Paikai
(she/her)
Inclusive Senior Events Manager

Ryan Kroening
(they/them & he/him)
Co-founder

Katie Battis-Troyer
(she/her)
Co-Founder

Becky Saltzman
(she/her)
Hospitality &
Accessibility Director

Sesalli Castillo
(she/they)
 Inclusive Senior Events Manager

Living Our Values At Work

At Convening Toward Liberation, our values shape how we show up for our clients, for the people in our events, and for each other. We believe in care over scarcity, equity over extraction, and thoughtful response over rushed reaction. When we say we want everyone at our events to feel welcomed, celebrated, and included, that starts with how we treat our own team.

  • We design both our gatherings and our workplace for access and accountability, centering those most often left out, and moving at a pace that respects real people’s real lives.

  • Our team operates on a mindful 4-day, 32-hour workweek during portions of the year, Monday through Thursday, and when we are in our peak seasons, we reserve Fridays for focused desk time.

  • Following our events, we carve out time for our team to rest and reemerge.We communicate clearly (with each other and our clients), build in lead time, and make space for pause.

  • We’re compensated equitably, with time off, health coverage, professional development allowances, and retirement contributions that reflect the worth of our labor. 

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Black Abstract Lines

Work with us.

GET STARTED TODAY
GET STARTED TODAY