OUR STAFF

Founder

& Executive Director

Rozz Nash is a musician, a vocalist/composer, a choreographer, a theater director, and has been a teaching artist in New York City and the SF Bay Area public and private schools for over 25 years. She served as the Founding Director of Performing and Visual Arts at Roses in Concrete Community School for four years. Previously she was the Artistic Director and creator of the Brooklyn based Caras Youth Contemporary Dance Ensemble--a youth centered social justice and contemporary dance company, the Brooklyn Performing Arts Institute--a year round arts academy for youth ages 13-21, and Co-founder (with Imani Uzuri and Tomasia Kastner) of WERISE--a women’s artist collective that supported entrepreneurship and arts-based business start-ups. She has directed and choreographed musicals and dance performances for Columbia University's Varsity Show, Marymount High School Theatre and Summer drama camp, El Puente Leadership Program, Way Off Broadway Acting School, and The Possibility Project--a national youth development organization. Rozz has facilitated music, theatre and dance residencies for arts organizations such as Creative Music Programs and Learning through an Expanded Arts Program in over 50 schools in NYC for over 20 years. She is also a partner and director of Creative Arts and Music Programs, one of Brooklyn's first multidisciplinary arts camps currently in its 11 year stint. She is an internationally touring artist having performed with various music groups including Groove Collective, Slavic Soul Party, Living Colour, and DJ Towatei as well as her own projects COULON, Red Lotus, and her children's music project The Rozz & Val Show. She is currently working on a new solo project. Rozz is also a co-founder and former Board Chair of Art & Abolition, a Kenyan based organization that gives arts education and life support to young girls that have been sexually abused and exploited due to poverty.

Director of Teaching

& Learning

Ron E. Miles is a Modern Language Professor and Curriculum Specialist who fosters cross-cultural learning, social justice and tolerance for diversity. For nearly two decades he has served South Florida's public and private schools as a volunteer, preK-12 classroom teacher, college lecturer, curriculum leader, education consultant and school principal. Currently, he commutes to Leogane, Haiti where he is developing an ESL program for graduate and undergraduate nursing students. His qualifications include an Education Specialist degree in Curriculum and Instruction, a Master of Science degree in International and Intercultural Education, and a graduate certificate in African-New World Studies each from Florida International University in Miami, Florida. Ron E. also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish Literature and Language from Columbia University in New York City. Currently, as a Ph.D. candidate in Curriculum and Instruction, Ron E. investigates the intersections between Language, Literacy, and Culture and analyzes the pedagogical implications for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) including Speakers of various Social Dialects and Vernaculars. Moreover, Ron E. loves to dance, choreograph, act, model, travel, cook, compete in triathlons, and speak “Ebonics”, English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese with his friends, colleagues and students just for fun or to facilitate learning.

Director of Communications & Marketing

Juanita Taylor has over 10 years of experiences of owning multiple businesses and navigating the demand of online interactions to operate and market them. In, 2019 she brought those talents to The People's Conservatory to create an online presence that reflects the amazing multi-cultural arts programing TPC is bringing to the Bay Area.

Executive Administrative Assistant, HR Assistant

Tichelle is a proud Bay Area native with a passion for community-based work. Embarking on her journey as a young activist in 2008 while attending college in Oakland, she volunteered with various organized movements aimed at getting justice and equality for Black and Brown communities. Her commitment to social justice and her firsthand experiences on the front lines drove her to make a change in her approach. Seeking a different way to contribute to the cause she transitioned to a behind-the-scenes role in the Planning Department at The City of Oakland. It was there that she discovered her affinity for providing support from behind the desk. She realized that she could leverage her knowledge gained from grassroots activism to become an asset in policy and procedure development. She continued to hone her skills by working with several nonprofit organizations in administrative roles. Combining her administrative skills with her love for youth engagement, she thrives in having a hand in creating an environment where children can flourish.

Director of Media

Safahri Ra Hendrix is a hip hop educator, emcee, after school program director, Katrina survivor, and full time Arts Academy Instructor, who over the past 15 years has built a career by teaching, workshops with teachers, taking over schools, innovating after school programs, aiding principals, creating summer camps, presenting in other states, panels, opening up new schools, performing & touring internationally in schools, coaching young artists, and eventually starting his own Hip Hop company which seemed like the natural next step to take… So now after countless albums, stages, tours, films and presentations, Safahri is launching his life love and dream company Pangea to partner with Arts Academy back at home base in the Bay Area with the support of all his family and friends!

OUR BOARD MEMBERS

Voleine Amilcar is committed to using her strategic communications experience to help mission-driven brands move hearts and minds to build a more just world. She excels at developing public relations, branding, and messaging that position organization to engage more authentically with their audiences for social change. She currently serves as vice president at Wonder: Strategies for Good, a network of experts specializing in messaging, storytelling, psychology, and public-opinion research for mission-driven organizations.

Voleine is a champion of the arts who has worked in the arts and culture sector for many years. Before joining Wonder, she served as the marketing and communications director at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), the cultural anchor of San Francisco's Yerba Buena Gardens development. She led marketing and communications strategy to achieve broader awareness of YBCA's mission to center art as an instrument for social change and amplify the voices of artists in pursuit of racial equity and social justice. She also served as the associate director of communications at the Independent Television Service (ITVS) and as director of public relations at the Berkeley Repertory Theater.

Before her in-house communications experiences, she worked at global public relations and communications firm Burson-Marsteller and social change agency Fenton Communications. A proud Haitian-American, Voleine lives in Oakland, California, with her husband and two boys.

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Kelley Nayo-Jahi currently serves as Director of Geekwise Academy Oakland in addition to running two small businesses: Nayo Partners and Body Butter by Kelley. In recent years, she has been an integral team member for several start-ups, including Landed, Uptima Business Bootcamp and Qeyno Labs.

Following a 14 year upward trajectory in the commercial insurance industry that took her to Philadelphia, Baltimore and San Francisco, Kelley owned and operated a diverse array of businesses (retail sales, personal services and residential real estate). This background developed her capacity to be an effective, empathetic and focused leader, combining a mix of corporate and entrepreneurial experience.

Kelley holds a BA in Economics from Spelman College in Atlanta, GA and an MBA in finance from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, PA. A 22 year Oakland resident, she lives with her husband and they continue to hold space for their young adult offspring.

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Kristian Andreas Akseth is a San Francisco native and the son of immigrant parents. He has worked extensively in California in the designing and engineering in the fields of ultrasonics, civil engineering and currently is developing interactive theaters and tools for the burgeoning virtual/augmented reality space. He is also an active founder and or member of numerous historical societies and benevolent groups organized to assist youth and veterans.

Amy Kisch is an independent art consultant, curator, cultural producer, strategic specialist, and community organizer. Her expertise includes arts programming, development, marketing / PR, publishing, and collection management. Ms. Kisch previously ran Sotheby’s global VIP program for the auction house’s top clients—curating, producing, and marketing VIP programming, including the Sotheby’s Preferred Museum Programme, Art Fair Programme, and The Economist Lecture series in cities including New York, London, Los Angeles, Paris Chicago, and Hong Kong. While at Sotheby’s, Ms. Kisch concurrently held the roles of Executive Director and Corporate + Community Liaison for the Williamsburg Gallery Association in Brooklyn—developing programming and partnerships with, and for, area galleries, non-profits, artists, corporate, and government agencies. Kisch also previously served as Director of Partnerships + Strategic Initiatives at the San Francisco Bay Area tech / science / art residency, Stochastic Labs. Having spent six years in clinical and community social work, her projects are underscored by efforts to democratize access within the art world, while upholding integrity and quality in curatorial vision and programming.

OUR BOARD OF ADVISORS