“In the spaces where my individuality helped me enter rooms, I needed community to thrive in them. So, I created it.”

Sophie Delfeus is a wayfinder—a guide who helps communities identify paths through complex challenges and reach their goals.

Sophie shines precisely at the intersection of culture and inclusion. She understands and has assessed the structures that make institutions exclusionary or inclusionary to students and has helped develop practices that enroll stakeholders across campuses to better support and promote student success.

Her work at Amherst College spanned partnership building across departments, empowering student leadership to leverage peer support in building community and recognizing the first generation population on campus as a community to be proud to represent. She coached departmental administrators to broaden their definition of support through identifying their role in the student’s journey and guiding them to develop a coalition approach to services.

Sophie’s approach is dynamic and one sought after by institutions of experiential learning more broadly. She served as the Head of Community Development at Camp Dudley at Kiniya, a residential all girl’s camp and worked to cultivate a vibrant, active, camp community including developing strategies to foster better integration of all. 

Recognized for her contributions, Sophie received the prestigious Katherine W. Davis Foundation Prize for her work in education and community building. With a background in global education and operations, she brings a cross-cultural perspective and a process-driven approach to every project, helping communities thrive through collaborative problem solving. Based in New York City, she continues this work through her company, Cultivating the Collective.