In this episode of Evolution Stories, Christian Talbot sits down with Laura Light, Executive Director of AAIE and one of the most trusted conveners in international education. Laura has a unique view into the complexities facing school leaders around the globe, from geopolitical conflict to enrollment volatility to the rapid emergence of AI. She reflects on her own journey as a third culture kid turned educator and describes how international schools embrace risk, change, and innovation with remarkable courage.

Laura also takes listeners behind the scenes of AAIE’s Tuesday Morning Calls, a global lifeline for school leaders navigating sudden USAID cuts earlier this year. She shares why her philosophy of leadership centers on community, kindness, integrity, and the ability to admit mistakes and move forward. For anyone leading change in uncertain times, Laura’s insights are grounding, practical, and deeply human.

In this episode of Evolution Stories, Christian Talbot talks with Dr. Timothy S. Stuart, a global education leader whose career has spanned more than 30 years across schools, systems, and continents. Tim currently serves as Director of Leadership Recruitment and Global Partnerships at Search Associates and previously worked as a Regional Education Officer for the U.S. Department of State, supporting American-style international schools around the world. Before that, he spent five years as Head of School at the International Community School of Addis Ababa and held leadership roles at Singapore American School, including Executive Director of Strategic Programs and High School Principal. He also served as High School Principal at Jakarta Intercultural School.

Tim shares his powerful personal story of returning to the United States as a French-educated teenager, being misdiagnosed, and placed in special education. That early experience shaped everything that followed, influencing his beliefs about inclusion, safeguarding, and the centrality of human relationships in learning. He and Christian explore the challenges of transforming elite school cultures, the leadership lessons that emerge from failure, and the delicate balance between confidence and humility.

They also discuss how AI may finally help schools personalize learning at scale and why sustainable change rests on systems, not slogans.

In this episode of Evolution Stories, Christian Talbot sits down with Catarina Song Chen, a true third culture kid whose leadership journey spans South Korea, Paraguay, the United States, and Brazil. Catarina shares how she stumbled into teaching after a career in fashion and ultimately became head of an international school facing severe challenges, including losing accreditation, unstable leadership, low enrollment, and community mistrust.

She discusses what it took to rebuild the school from the ground up. From discovering the school lacked essential licenses to repairing culture, designing new learning models, and engaging parents through intentional listening tours, Catarina details both her failures and breakthroughs. She reflects on missteps like implementing co-teaching too quickly and the humility required to listen, course correct, and rebuild trust.

Now serving the U.S. Department of State as a Regional Education Officer and inaugural leader of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships, Catarina offers clear, hard-earned lessons on leading wise and sustainable change.