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.

Nina lives in Long Island, NY. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and has 5+ years experience in public accounting where she was active within all three practice areas: audit, tax, and small business. During her time in public accounting, she found a connection back to her roots in art within the nonprofit industry and is now the staff accountant at Urban Arts in NYC, an organization that helps students explore their creativity and harness technology to defy the odds and define their future.

 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.

Sarah is an innovative instructional designer and education consultant. She specializes in creating transformational and culturally responsive curriculum for adult and youth learners with a social justice emphasis. As an educator and for over 10 years, Sarah teaches learners to think critically about the world using art, speech, kinesthetics, online simulations, and e-learning tools. Sarah graduated in 2010 from the University of Northern Colorado with a bachelors in Special Education and minor in Literacy. She now resides in Denver, CO where she enjoys attending poetry readings, art galleries, live music, and going on road trips. Sarah is a lifelong learner who enjoys sharing her passion and knowledge with the community.

Emerson is a recent graduate of the University of Washington where she received her Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts. She has spent the last year working with young people and as a Teaching Artist, and is passionate about providing access to the arts as both a fun and therapeutic experience. Emerson is planning on pursuing her Master’s degree in Art Therapy.