Fiana lives in Brooklyn, NY. She began her career in PR, working at global PR agencies like Ketchum and Edelman, and working with a range of Fortune 500 companies and smaller brands including American Heart Association, Dove, IBM, Microsoft, Nokia, and Wendy’s. She also studied Fashion Marketing at Parson’s, and worked in leadership roles for several high profile luxury brands including Givenchy and Saint Laurent, leading sales teams and developing major partnerships with Barneys, Nordstrom, and Neiman Marcus. 

Kathleen Elie lives in Queens, NY and has been working in nonprofit finance for 19 years. The majority of her career has been serving in charter schools and education based organizations. Kathleen is currently the CFO at Urban Arts Partnership. 

Carey Swanson is a Designer at Student Achievement Partners with a focus on literacy. Projects she supports center around the work of learning to read, as well as immersive literacy experiences with texts and topics that reflect and affirm students’ identities and expand their knowledge of the world around them. She is grateful for the chance to apply this lens to her work as a board member at Doodles Academy.

Prior to working at SAP, Carey was a school leader and teacher in NYC for 15 years, and believes in the promise of learning that a reimagined approach to school has the potential to fulfill.

Vida Torres lives in Virginia near Washington D.C. and is a UX Designer for Jenzabar, an educational technology company that creates high-quality school information systems for institutions of higher learning. As a former college advisor and classroom teacher, Vida has taught students from all ages and backgrounds and has witnessed the significant positive impact that arts education can have in the lives of young people.

 Ife Abdus-Salam is an educator and administrator with 15 years of experience in New York City schools, non-profit organizations and cultural institutions. Ife has served as an educator and administrator for a number of organizations including the Studio Museum in Harlem, International Center of Photography, and the New York City Department of Education.

Alyssa lives in Rochester, NY and teaches at Discovery Charter School. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Art Education from Nazareth College. Alyssa has 10 years of experience teaching art education in the K-12 and higher education setting. She is also an active member of the New York State Art Teachers association serving as the Region 2 Co-Chair, Board Representative, Newsletter Design Editor, and District Membership Co-Chair.

Dana has over 20 years of experience as an arts integration specialists and teaching artist in Washington State, USA. She has taught in schools at all levels, teaching art, doing collaborative arts integration work, and teacher training. She has worked with refugee organizations, with learners of English as a Second Language, and lived and worked at the village level in both West Africa and Melanesia. Dana studied Making Thinking Visible concepts through The Graduate School of Education at Harvard University.