Each quarter, Kite's Nest partners with amazing educators working in a range of fields to run workshops for children and teenagers. Since 2012, we have been lucky to work with the following inspiring people:
CURRENT EDUCATORS:
Dezjuan Smith, Youth Power Fellow (He/Him)
My childhood experience growing up between Branford, Florida, and Hudson, NY made me aware at an early age of how the systems in our country fail to lift up even those who work the hardest. As a child I was an observer; but as I grew, I felt the need to connect with my peers. I found solace and skill as a listener. Listening to others allowed me to develop deep friendships, expand my worldview and communication styles. It also led to a sense of connection, of being inside, no longer just an observer. I now bring those skills back to Kite’s Nest where I first served as a participant and now have stepped into the role of Youth Power Fellow supporting the educators and youth participants in the Daytime and Social Justice Leadership Academy programs; alongside representing Kite’s Nest at meetings and events related to local, regional, and statewide organizing and coalition building in Hudson and our surrounding communities.
Zien-Celeste, ReGen Educator (she/they/we/Beloved/Sister-Sibling)
Zien-Celeste is a Louisiana-born multidisciplinary artist, somatic counselor, end-of-life doula, and spiritual chef. They have witnessed first-hand the deep connection between food and body liberation as a sustainability advocate at NYU, a cooking instructor for young adults at Bard College, an abolitionist farmer student at Sweet Freedom Farm and a farm manager at Home Farm, a radical seed-breeding company. These experiences have led them to the understanding that we must be conscious about our ways of engaging with food as it can either be a means of nourishment and deep connection with one another or a means of furthering disconnection and weaponized isolation. As they enter their ninth year of experience in food justice and education work they are excited to join Kite's Nest and support youth empowerment, communal nourishment, and the authentic expressions needed to live fully in the unique gifts that lead our collective liberation. When not at Kite’s Nest Zien-Celeste runs Altar Cakes, spiritual bakes inspired by the practice of ancestral food offerings and Beloved Kitchen, a community catering service dedicated to the nourishment of black and brown farmers and change-makers.
Jamie Gerber, Youth Power! Educator (They/Them)
Jamie has been involved with Kite’s Nest for the last four years. They started by supporting Roots and Rebels in the afternoons and then transitioned to co-teaching the daytime program. As an educator, Jamie has worked in various learning spaces in the Bay Area, New York City, and the lower Hudson Valley Region. Inspired by radical black feminist thinkers and writers such as bell hooks and June Jordan, Jamie is committed to building learning spaces that are dedicated to growth and liberation. They are deeply grateful for all of the learning and growing they have gotten to do with the Kite’s Nest Community!
z.No Scott, Youth Power! Educator (He/Him/His)
z.No is a black/trans wordworker and educator dedicated to subverting power and complicating history. As a student, z.No quarreled with, and graduated from, punitive, private white institutions such as The Lawrenceville School, Wesleyan University, and the California Institute for the Arts. A former teaching fellow at The School for Columbia University, z.No brings his passion and experience to the Kite's Nest Daytime Program on Youth Power! supporting learners as they explore the history of political youth movements and begin to consider their own power.
Raei Bridges, Roots & Rebels Educator (They/Them)
Raei Bridges (they/them) is a neurodivergent creature of the forest. They like to get weird and wild and share that joy with others. Through their work at Black&Wild, an organization they founded dedicated to creating transformative experiences in nature, Raei orchestrates mindful wilderness trips and ancestral skills campouts specifically tailored for Black, Indigenous, & People of Color in the Northeast designed to co-create spaces that explore and uplift the intersection of authenticity, nature connection, and mindfulness. Raised by the vibrant landscapes of the San Fernando Valley in California, Raei's roots are deeply intertwined with nature. From childhood days spent playing in the mud, climbing trees, to observing insects with fascination, Raei fostered a profound bond with the natural world in any way that was accessible to them. It was a transformative experience at 2016 Queer Quest that ignited their spiritual connection to nature and set them on a life-altering path, towards becoming an outdoor guide, driven by the desire to create spaces where others can embark on their own journeys of authenticity and wholeness. Now, with a mission to guide and inspire, Raei channels their passion into fostering a sense of belonging in the great outdoors; aspiring to empower individuals to embrace their true selves and discover the profound beauty that lies within the intersection of nature and authenticity. Raei is a certified Wilderness First Responder (WFR) through SOLO schools and a certified Kripalu mindful outdoor guide.
Immanuel J., Arts Under the Sun Educator (They/Them)
Immanuel J. is an interdisciplinary artist primarily working in painting, printmaking, experimental video-making, and interactive performance. J. received their undergraduate degree in Studio arts and American and Indigenous Studies at Bard College (2022) and their master’s degree from Bard College’s Human Rights and the Arts (2024). Born and raised in Albany, NY, J. draws inspiration from their childhood with work emphasizing play, interactivity, and communicating the complicated Black American search for belonging and feeling a tie to land. Immanuel is excited to join Kites Nest and facilitate critical thinking, experimentation, and play.
Myrto Daskaloudi, Arts Under the Sun Educator (She/Her)
Myrto is a community herbalist, second-generation astrologer & tarot reader, dancer, and teacher raised and currently residing in Columbia County / Mahican territory. When not at Kite’s Nest she runs Moons of Aphrodite, where she supports others as they cultivate embodiment practices in partnership with herbal medicines which are hand made with locally grown and wild crafted herbs, Mediterranean cultural dance, and spiritual guidance. Myrto studied herbalism at the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism and on the island of Lefkada, Greece and brings all of her collective wisdom and experience to the youth in the after school programs - Roots and Rebels and Arts Under the Sun.
PREVIOUS EDUCATORS:
Sharece Johnson, Arts + Media Program Director (She/Her)
Born in Queens, NY, Sharece moved to Hudson when she was eight years old. Sharece has a B.A. in Communications from the University at Albany, an Associate’s Degree in Arts from Columbia Greene Community College, and is a graduate of Hudson High School. Sharece runs Space 2.0 at Kite’s Nest and has been a Lead Educator for the Social Justice Leadership Academy since 2016. Prior to joining Kite’s Nest, Sharece has had significant experience working with children and teenagers. She has worked as a Child Mentor for Americorps with the Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood in Hudson, a Youth Mentor with the Liberty Partnership Program in Albany, a Program Assistant at the Boy’s & Girls Club in Albany, a Counselor of the Catskill Kids Club in Catskill, and with the Hudson After School Program. In these programs she’s led classes in improvisation, facilitated girl circles, run glee clubs, led community games, and more. Sharece is a passionate educator, musician, singer, and community volunteer. With appreciation for the counselors and mentors in her own life, Sharece is dedicated to being a source of strength to the young people growing up in her community.
Donnay Edmund, Social Justice Leadership Academy Director (They/She)
Dreamer. Daughter. Dancer. Lover. Movement fairy. Earth adoring. Liberation believing. Donnay is a Brooklyn born Black Femme, raised by a collective of single, working class mothers. Donnay is an educator working towards collective liberation. She believes in transformative justice and the power of imagination to create new worlds full of justice and love.With a brother in and out of prison, her deep analysis of the prison industrial complex is fueled by her complex personal experience. She trusts in the power of art and organizing to help us all envision a future where all our complex love-centered imaginations can flourish. Donnay believes that we have the ability to care for one another as we unlearn oppressive ideas and remember and create new practices for communal care. She joins the amazing team at Kite's Nest as she works to center healing justice, popular education, and anti-oppressive organizing to create a more just world. She is also a multidisciplinary artist; she fluidly moves from the realms of dance, theatre, and storytelling to somatics, yoga, and herbalism and seamlessly interweaves these elements into the cultural throughline of her work. Her practice explores the connection of mind, body, spirit, land, and ancestral healing.
Zebi Williams is the Education Director at Kite’s Nest. At the age of eighteen, Zebi founded the Lil Ragamuffin Summer Camp in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica where she grew up. The camp grew to be recognized as one of the top arts programs in the country. Zebi has also worked as a community organizer in a range of contexts, advocating for young people to be agents of change in the development of their communities. She is a founding member of the Sista-2-Sista Youth Summit, an annual event built to empower and connect young women of Pan-African descent in Brooklyn, Jamaica, and Ghana. And she has worked with public housing residents and small businesses in the Lower East Side to organize against gentrification. Zebi’s education methodology emphasizes teaching to different learning styles, creating platforms for both indigenous and western based knowledge systems, celebrating teachable moments, redesigning community approaches to conflict resolution, and promoting community rituals to help ground children in local stewardship at every age. A lifelong learner, Zebi’s skills and interests are truly wide-ranging. She has a degree in Applied Anthropology, holds a certificate in UX Design and Design Thinking Methodologies, and recently won her first hackathon. Coming from a family of artists, Zebi’s own art includes poetry, fashion/jewelry design, filmmaking, graphic design and interactive data art. Zebi is also the mother of a teenage daughter, Zia! At Kite’s Nest Zebi has taught Bricks Buttons & Banks, How Stuff Works, the Social Justice Leadership Academy, Language Resilience, Jewelry Design, Camp Cardboard, Biomimicry, Fashion Studio, Data Worlds, among others!
Nellie Ostow finds herself most at home in the natural spaces of the Hudson Valley, where she has lived since 2013. She studied sculpture and painting at Bard College and most recently did botany work with Farmscape Ecology Program at Hawthorne Valley Farm. She spends most of her time outside: walking, working with young people, and connecting with and growing medicinal herbs, native flowers and trees. Nellie has experience teaching both studio and expressive arts, farm-based education and ecology. Nellie loves being an educator at Kite’s Nest: she feels inspired by being in community with people that care so much about education rooted in experiential learning, social justice, and the living world. She believes that young people are transformative and help to expand our sense of love and curiosity. Through all of her different endeavors, Nellie is committed to connecting with and caring for all of our human and more-than-human kin.
Auria Martinez Velasco is an indigenous queer woman born in the beautiful state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Growing up undocumented significantly shaped and inspired her to fight for a world free from oppression. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Latin American studies at UC Santa Barbara. Then spent 5 years in Washington, DC gaining various skills but more importantly coming into her queer identity and cultivating a group of friends turned family. Auria returned to her hometown, Costa Mesa to heal deep family wounds and was fortunate to work at Orange County Human Relations. An organization that mentored and empowered her as a young person to speak up against injustices. (Full circle moment!) There, she focused on nurturing young leaders to identify and organize around school-wide issues. She also challenged school policies and practices that deeply harmed students while implementing the Restorative Justice program at Sycamore Junior High. Through the RJ program, Auria helped students and staff reflect and repair relationships through dialogue. Learning the skills necessary to navigate conflict has changed her life! Auria now knows fostering safe, honest, and loving relationships is VITAL to transforming our society. She is passionate about education, mentorship, art, connecting with nature, and facilitating healing conversations. Auria has been changed by the people she's met, and the places she's lived. She is grateful to have joined the Kites Nest family as the 2023 SJLA Lead Educator. You can find her wearing fun earrings, floating in the water, journaling, dancing, and discovering the secrets of the universe.
Nandi Rose Levine (she/her) is a singer, songwriter, and producer originally from the Berkshires and now based in Chatham NY. Over the last decade, she has made a career as a performing artist under the name Half Waif, building upon her classical training to create a bold and unique sound that melds pop and folk songwriting styles with experimental production and arrangements. Touching on themes of home, hope, generational pain, and the balance between independence and interdependence, her richly layered electronic compositions are a form of emotional storytelling that is radically vulnerable and fiercely honest. As Half Waif, she has toured internationally and released five full-length albums, joining the roster of renowned indie label ANTI- Records. Since making the Hudson Valley her home, Nandi has also become an avid birder and a student of herbalism, paying attention to the sights, sounds, and smells of this vibrant land and incorporating these experiences into daily creative practice. She is honored to be sharing her passions with and learning from the Kite’s Nest community!
Rebecca Posner, Lead Educator (Former Daytime Program Director) (She/Her)
Rebecca Posner is a decade-long educator and life-long learner, who shows up in the world as multidisciplinary artist, writer, somatic teacher, mover, and dream collaborator. She holds a Masters in Teaching, an M.F.A. in Performance and Interactive Multimedia Arts, and ongoing training in somatics and bodywork. She has taught in a variety of traditional and non-traditional learning environments, and has worked with a range of organizations to develop project-based and culturally responsive learning curricula. Her background in somatics shows up as a focus on embodiment and healing as essential to transformative learning. As an educator and program director at Kite’s Nest, she delights in the playfulness of curiosity-driven learning, the wisdom of the natural world, and the incredible power of arts and real-world experiences to feed our collective imagination.
Jeannette Rodríguez Píneda is a visual storyteller and education designer residing between la isla of Kiskeya/Ayiti y Lenape Matinecock land. Using antiquarian plant-based image making as a means of remembering soils called home. Capturing fragments of light that make connections between aqui y alla, Rodriguez Pineda reflects on the closely related subjects of permanence, memory and life cycles. They have an intergenerational teaching practice rooted in creativity as ancestral practice.
Xóchicoatl Bello is a two-spirit queer native feminista, brujita, abolitionist, artivist, ceremonialist + earth steward from Los Angeles and southern Mexico. Their life's work is in service to Black, Brown, indigenous, and people of color sovereignty. They believe that in healing the soil, we heal our souls, in surrendering to the land and the people of the earth, we can all be free. Xóchicoatl joins the Kite's Nest family after years as a Boston Public School educator, where their work was in bilingual education and art as a means of resistance. As an educator, Xóchicoatl creates experiences for participants to meet their sacred, to remember their ancestors, and hear the truth that lives in their heart with the support of ceremony, plant medicine, and story. Xóchicoatl maintains an herbal and healing practice through la mala yerba that seeks to connect all people to socially-conscious spirit work. They were lead facilitator of the 2020 Social Justice Leadership Academy and teach Land, Language, Liberación.
Heylan Tsumagari grew up in one of the most magical places, Barrytown, NY - a Hudson River hamlet of Red Hook, NY. She was always encouraged to go outside and to nurture her creativity through nature, whether it be through camping, walking, swimming, fishing, or going into the woods. Having grown up in the Hudson River and by the Catskills, she has always felt connected to the area: she's made many art pieces and built forts from found river objects, and enjoys collecting bugs and plants. As a student, Heylan studied medical anthropology and the intersectionality of health at CUNY Brooklyn. Heylan is passionate about equal access to a healthy body through healthy food: she farms at Hawthorne Valley farm with vegetables and cows, and works for the gleaning organization, Long Table Harvest, working to address immediate food insecurities in Columbia and Dutchess County. She has been working with children since the age of ten, and values spaces that cultivate imagination -- but don't tell you how to imagine. Across all of her work Heylan is interested in all the ways communities can help each other stay healthy and strong, physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, and economically. At Kite’s Nest Heylan has taught Story Arts, Exploratorium, Bricks Buttons & Banks, Myth, the Science of Doctors, Spa Science, Space 2.0 and more!
Briggin Scharf is Happiest outside amongst flowering & fruiting plants, healthy soil and fresh water, Briggin has spent the past decade sharing her curiosities and gratitudes for the natural world with others. She perviously managed elementary school gardens in San Francisco and Poughkeepsie, organized intergenerational family farm visits and cooking classes, and has been a farm worker and student of environmentally conscious agriculture in the Hudson Valley since 2015. As a founding member of Rolling Grocer 19 - an initiative to increase access to affordable, healthy and locally-produced food in Columbia County - Briggin is passionate about collaboratively building and celebrating a just and resilient food system for everyone. She is very excited to support Hudson's youth leaders as they design a magical green space that strengthens the relationships between nature, art, food sovereignty, active mindfulness and the Hudson community.
Suanny Upegui is the founder of Casa Finca, a community organizer, and a psycho-spiritual and shamanic medicine guide. She was born in Choco, Colombia, raised in the mountains of Medellin and in the Amazon, and moved to the US at age 12 away from civil war. As an Afro-Colombian/Indigena in a foreign country it became important to go deep into her own remembering and embodiment. She was brought up with plant medicine in the forefront of our healing ways. Because of this, her ancestors made it clear that her path is to share the wisdom of nature and curate magical experiences to cultivate and support the healing of our individual and collective consciousness wherever possible. Suanny works closely with Indigenous communities of the Amazonian Jungle, Colombian Sierra Nevada, and Local Elders of the Northeast in NY. Her goal is to support in any way possible the needs of the jungle, the Earth, ancestral traditions and our elders' wisdom to be passed on to the new generations in honoring and respect of the people that came here before us. You can find her in ceremony with the land, trees, mountains, plants, the elements and the spirits of the plant world to understand the nature inside and out of us. This connection to the spirit world helps and keeps cultivating her to understand all the gifts and love all living beings have to give us and the fact that all around us is activated and eager to help us. More about her work can be found at CasaFincaNYC.com
Mrs. Pamela Badila is a community leader and elder in Hudson, best known as the matriarch of the Badila clan, a family of visual and performing artists. Mrs. Badila is the Executive Director of her family-based production company, Diata Diata International Folkloric Theater, which she founded in 1985 with her husband, Elombe ‘Andre’ Badila, of The Congo, Central Africa. A resident of Hudson for over twenty years, Mrs. Badila has created and directed 13 years of community theater productions in Hudson. Across mediums -- art, music, dance, theater, education, storytelling, community-building -- Mrs. Badila’s work is deeply rooted in an appreciation of ancestral heritage, and grounded in the ideals of friendship, integrity, courage, love, acceptance, compassion, and loyalty. As an educator she has taught people of all ages, from age 0 to 90, in dozens of organizations and institutions: as an Adjunct Professor in the Afro American Studies Department at the State University of New York, Nassau Community College; as an Instructor in the Hudson After School; as the former Artistic and Cultural Director of Perfect Ten After School; and in partnerships with Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School, Columbia Greene Community College, SUNY Albany, Berkshire Pulse, the Multi Cultural Arts and Technology program, and the Hudson Area Library. We are honored that Mrs. Badila is part of the Kite’s Nest family of educators, too! At Kite's Nest Mrs. Badila has taught Move, Dance Sing!, the Mobile Classroom, Paper Arts, and En Français.
Jalal Sabur is a farmer, activist, educator, herbalist, and the co-owner of a vehicle cooperative. Jalal has previously worked with WESPAC Foundation, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM), and the Potential 2 Power Project in East New York, where he taught young people gardening and cooking, and led Know Your Rights Trainings. He farmed at the Wassaic Community Farm, and then co-founded the Freedom Food Alliance, a collective of small rural and urban farmers, activists, artists, community folks and political prisoners who use food as an organizing tool. With the Alliance, Jalal also co-founded the VROOM Cooperative and Victory Bus Project to connect urban and rural communities and to support families of prisoners with transportation and a box of farm fresh food. Jalal lives in Columbia County where he started Sweet Freedom Farm (in Germantown), and was a co-founder of Wildseed—a Black- and Brown-led, feminine-centered, and queer-loving organic farm and healing sanctuary in Millerton. At Kite's Nest, Jalal has helped lead Space 101/Space 2.0, the Roots & Rebels Garden Club, and has been a lead educator for six summers of the Social Justice Leadership Academy!
Krista Speroni is a songstress, multi-instrumentalist, permaculture advocate, activist & independent educator. She is on a mission of inspiring solidarity through music, movement, and supporting healthy food systems to reclaim the beauty and power of humanity. Since her graduation from MIT in 2012 (BS Brain and Cognitive Science), She has worked with young people across the country in the spirit of learning through play, building solidarity, and developing healthy socio-emotional boundaries. She has taught in a wide variety of educational settings including Hawaii’s public schools, Vermont homeschools, the Appalachian Institute for Creative Learning, the Boston Children’s Choir, and beyond. Her special love of West African music, rhythm, and culture is inspired by her studies with master percussionist and Griot, Lamine Touré, of Dakar, Senegal and his wife, ethnomusicologist and author, Patricia Tang.
Krista has performed in a multitude of venues from Lincoln Center with Gamelan Galak Tika, the ICA in Boston, to the bush in Kaolak, Senegal. She has sung with "The Long Count", a rock opera multi-media installation by Matthew Richie featuring Aaron and Bryce Dessner (The National), Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) and Evan Ziporyn (MIT’s Center for Art, Science & Technology) and played bass with Billy Wylder, a 4-piece folk-rock band based out of Boston with sensibilities from the Sahara Desert. She now resides in the MidHudson Valley, teaching independently and facilitating True Foods HV, a black-led food preservation collective which sources, processes, and distributes edible abundances to the community.
Ngonda Badila is an educator and artist from Hudson, and part of the Badila family clan. Also known as Lady Moon, Ngonda is a singer/songwriter and the leader/founder of Lady Moon & The Eclipse, a multi-dimensional performance arts production; she is also a multidisciplinary artist, seamstress, hair designer and sculptor, painter, healer, (future herbalist), crystal collector, wife, Renaissance woman, and Moon Goddess. A long-time educator, Ngonda began teaching at the age of 15: she’s taught dance/movement, music, art, creative writing and hair in after school and summer intensive programs in both Connecticut and New York, has led programs in partnership with numerous youth organizations for over a decade; and has worked as a preschool teacher, nicknamed a “child whisperer” for her ability to release anxiety from babies and toddlers. Ngonda is the founder of the (forthcoming) Infinity Program, a new community action plan to connect less fortunate youth with CPS, Mental Health, or social work case referrals with professionals in the community as an opportunity to empower, encourage, and inspire youth. Ngonda is certified as a Full Spectrum Doula, and studies psychology at Columbia Greene Community College, and Music Theory and Performance at Hunter College. Of her teaching practice and pedagogy she says, “I like to work in the present time, because there is so much that the day has to teach us… I try not to ask, what has been done? Or what can we prepare for?, but, what can we do now? At Kite’s Nest Ngonda has taught Myth, Fashion Studio, Hair Art, and the Science of Doctors.
Jahnessa Mackey is a youth mentor, community activist, and radio host. A talented public speaker, Jahnessa was the Student Commencement Speaker for her graduation at Columbia Greene Community College in 2017. She has been a long-time radio host on WGXC: 90.7-FM, first as an intern on the popular Drive Time Radio Show, and then becoming a permanent co-host. She launched her own show Slap of Reality in September 2019. In 2020 she co-organized the Juneteenth Freedom March, which brought hundreds of people from Hudson and Catskill together in the Movement for Black Lives. She joined Kite's Nest as an educator with the Social Justice Leadership Academy, and is excited to keep organizing for justice and working with youth from her community!
Vanessa Baehr has worked with various youth programs and gardens in Hudson since 2011. Vanessa did not grow up with much of a connection to nature, but now it is her favorite place to be, to learn from, and share with others. She co-directed the former Hudson Community Garden and helped create the Oakdale Nature Explorers program for summer camp with the Hudson Youth Dept. Vanessa graduated from Columbia-Greene Community College and Bard College with a degree in Environmental and Urban Studies. She is passionate about creating community, land stewardship, ecology, resiliency, diversity, social-emotional health, history, and social justice. Her hobbies include identifying and collecting bugs and plants, ethical foraging, herbalism, roller skating, and hula-hooping. Vanessa is also a mother and enjoys being around the power of kid wisdom and curiosity.
scrap wrenn is a local visual artist and RCYT teacher, and has been offering various children's classes in schools, studios, farms and nature settings throughout the Hudson Valley and Catskills since 2015. She is involved in several learning communities, and draws upon over 10 years of experience with interactive education including public programs in planetaria, museums, art galleries, and community gardens. She offers energies to collaborative Zen Mountain Monastery youth programs, studied holistic education in workshops at the Oak Grove School (Ojai, CA) and Alkion Center (Ghent, NY), teaches creative expression at Marist College (Poughkeepsie, NY), and is currently developing integrative learning curricula within an MEd program (TIES at Endicott College). Learn more at www. scrapworm.info
Char Azad is a cook, baker, organizer, and trauma-healing facilitator working with the abolitionist movement of the Freedom Food Alliance and in support of Sweet Freedom Farm. She grew up in Samarkand and has been working in education, alternative education, community organizing, trauma healing, and reconciliation since arriving in the U.S. 13 years ago. In addition to her work with Kite's Nest and the Freedom Food Alliance, Char is the lead trainer and facilitator with Petra Peacebuilders, the Circle Leader and Healing Companion of Coming Home Healing, and a consultant with the Birth, Breath, and Death institute. Her work (in the kitchen, classroom, and community) focuses on developing individual and community resilience in the wake, or in the face of, traumagenic circumstances. She has lived and worked in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Jordan, Turkey, and Egypt as well as all over the U.S. She learns and works in the lineage of Nkem Ndefo, Dave Berger, Shilpa Jain, Lisa Collins, Elaine Zook Barge, Andrea De La Madriz, Parker Palmer, Peter Levine, DeeDe Bormann, and several honored others.
Antonia Perez is a clinical herbalist, gardener, and artist, born and raised in NYC. They have apprenticed with several herbalists around the Northeast, Central and South America, and Thailand. They graduated from Bard College where they studied environmental and urban studies in 2015 and Arborvitae School of Traditional Herbal Medicine in 2019. They are a community organizer, gardener, and food and environmental justice educator. They are also the co-founder of collectives: Brujas and Herban Cura. They are passionate to share their knowledge with other folks especially in urban centers in order to interrupt notions of individualism and separatism from nature and grow towards collaborative and symbiotic communities.
Nkoula Badila is a multidisciplinary artist, born of Congolese traditions in New York. Nkoula's father was the Founder of the first National Ballet of Kongo, "Ballet Nkodia," going international in 1972. From that influence, she fell in love with the excitement of the world, and the sacred beaded adornments they performed with. After traveling in Central America and Africa in 2012, she fell in deeper love with beadwork - its lessons, messages, and patterns - and began to teach herself. After her father transitioned in 2012, she established Nkodia Beaded Adornments to celebrate her gifts, creations, and to reconnect and share the traditions of her ancestors. Nkoula also founded Grow Black Hudson, an initiative that aims to reconnect her Black + Brown community to the plant knowledge of our ancestors, spread access to fresh food. The program also opens space to talk about sustainable lifestyles as well as returning to the earth, natural plant medicine, and meditation. Established in mid-June, she has built 17 raised-bed gardens together with these families. Nkoula also teaches youth programs like dancing and drumming, beading, and crafting. She makes nusic, gardens, farms, and is also in Lady Moon and the Eclipse, a Sisterly Cosmic soul band based. You can find her adornment creations online at Nkodia.art. Follow the progress with the gardens via @growblackhudson and follow her family dance company Diata Diata International Folkloric theatre for community events and traditional Kongolese shares.
Ntangou Badila is a Congolese visionary based in Brooklyn N.Y. Raised in a multifaceted household of self-employed artist parents, with nine siblings, perpetual nurturing toward the exploration of creativity as a lifestyle. Having recently transitioned from an extensive career in the Pastry Arts, the burgeoning of more artistic freedom has allowed her passions to flourish. In the past five years, she has been featured on Afro Punk, Okay Africa, and Demur. She was also the cover artist for Snax Magazine’s phoenix issue 2019. Badila has spoken on artist panels and radio podcasts, works as a teaching artist in several city high schools, and has presented her work in numerous collaborative art shows throughout New York City. Queendwombmen, her first solo show. debuted in spring 2017 and she continues to push her vision and creations for the world to enjoy illustrious indulgences. Her sophomore exhibition in 2019 displayed at the Hudson Area Library, titled Gemini Moon, featured in this collective exhibit are pieces from Pop Culture, a rendition of indigenous tribes throughout regions of Africa in futuristic vibrant colors boldly showcasing sacred women in a contemporary fashion. ALIGNMENT are pieces abstracting anatomy and relinquishing the boundaries on ideal body image. Badila’s works are heavily influenced by women. She notes: “I am a strong advocate for the magic that we are.'
Nina Barry is the Media Club co-teacher at Kites Nest and enjoys taking photos for many of the programs. She studied alternative education and design at the Eugene Lang, the New School in NYC. She spent 3 years working as a farm based educator in Ghent NY and as the after school farming teacher for Hudson School District. She is a freelance photographer and designer. Nina also has a certification in transformative justice and loves learning about different kinds of education styles. Her hobbies include gardening, sewing, photography, drawing and painting, all of which she loves sharing with her children.
Molly Allis is a multi-media artist and musician based in Los Angeles. She designs and constructs interactive environments that encourage audience participation and improvisation within a narrative. Working primarily with recycled materials, she re-imagines everyday objects that serve as props for participants to play with. Her work raises questions around the boundaries of material reality through activating a world of make believe. The hidden potential within discarded objects extends into her work with children, where she teaches kids how to use tools to build large-scale structures out of recycled materials. Her award-winning animations have screened in festivals internationally, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Madrid Experimental Molly Allis (Lead Teaching Artist, Cardboard City) Film Festival, and the Linoleum Festival in Moscow. She has worked with the Bread and Puppet Theater in Vermont, and Great Small Works Toy Theater Company in Brooklyn. She plays the drums in an all-ages, female circus project in elementary schools centered around empowerment, and teaches rock band and chorus classes to youth. Molly received her BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in Theater Directing/Design, and her MFA from California Institute of the Arts in Integrated Media and Experimental Sound Practices. At Kite’s Nest, Molly has led Camp Cardboard.
Deja Beauford was born in Philadelphia and raised in Delaware until 10 years of age, before moving to Hudson, NY. Deja is a skilled athlete: she plays basketball at Hudson High School and for an AAU team called the Lady Hawks, and plays for the JV softball team. One of her role models is Lebron James, who said, “Talent is given, greatness is earned”. Deja has worked as a Youth Fellow at the Social Justice Leadership Academy, and as an Assistant Educator during the Kite’s Nest afterschool program.
Ingrid Romero is an educator, creative, organizer and rebel an educator. Ingrid grew up in NYC, with deep roots in the Andes of Colombia, and has been active in grassroots organizing, movement building and youth-led social change since she was 14 years old. She rose as a feminist youth worker at Sadie Nash Leadership Project, worked as a Sister Sol Chapter Leader with the Brotherhood Sister Sol in New York City, and has completed trainings from the School of Unity & Liberation (SOUL), the Highlander Center and Theatre of the Oppressed NYC. Currently, she she is a worker-owner of the Rebellious Root Collective, a youth work-facilitation cooperative, and involved in local resistance and media projects in NYC and Colombia. Kite’s Nest Ingrid is a lead educator with the Social Justice Leadership Academy.
Kristen Jones runs the after-school Roots & Rebels Garden Club at Kite's Nest, where she teaches urban gardening to dozens of kids of all ages. Born and raised in the Hudson Valley, Kristen has 7 years of experience as a landscaper, and is also the co-owner of the floral design company Roots and Stems. In addition to her work as an urban gardener and floral wizard, Kristen has a B.A. in journalism from Purchase College and a graduate certificate in non-profit management from LSU Shreveport. Kristen first dipped her toes into community service as a youth, when she spent 6 years as a 4H member. Since then, she has volunteered and worked for numerous local non-profit organizations, and in 2009, spent a year of national service with AmeriCorps NCCC. Kristen has worked with a wide variety of youth, including teaching a Summer-long journalism class at Camp Manitou in Maine, and providing direct care for at-risk teens through Berkshire Farm Center and Services for Youth. Kristen has a deep connection and love for the Hudson River, and currently resides in Catskill, where she enjoys spending time on her planted-up porch, overlooking the creek. In her free time, you can find her snuggling with her cats, traveling, catching live music, journaling, kayaking, camping, cooking, and cross stitching.
Emily Carpenter is an educator, organizer, gardener, landscaper and community advocate living in Catskill, NY. Emily volunteers with the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement, which does deportation defense, policy advocacy, popular education, and direct family support with immigrant communities in Columbia & Greene counties. She's currently earning her MSW from SUNY-Albany, to further her path as a trauma recovery worker and community worker. She's also a gardener and landscaper, and loves all growing things, especially people as we grow and discover new skills! Emily is teaching Spanish at Kite's Nest, having learned Spanish while working with a social justice organization in El Salvador.
Chelsea Arend: Growing up in the small town of Tehachapi, California, Chelsea found her home in the theatre. After studying Theatre for a time at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Chelsea earned her BA in Liberal Studies from Humboldt State University and proceeded to teach a variety of subjects—including math, science, music, and art—at a local charter school. She also performed in Guinea Gbe, an all-women West African drum and dance collective, participated in spoken word poetry competitions, and founded a bi-weekly women’s empowerment circle. Beyond her work at the charter school, Chelsea’s experience as an educator includes volunteering in after-school programs in Cusco, Peru; teaching a sexual education workshop for girls; and co-leading an improvisational theatre club at Hawthorne Valley Farm School. Chelsea moved to Hillsdale, NY three years ago and has since earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont’s Goddard College. Writing is one of Chelsea’s greatest passions and she believes it is a powerful tool for people of all ages, an instrument that can be used to cultivate both imaginative play and healing, and to foster communion.
Roberto Rossi is a co-artistic director of the Obie Award-winning theater company Great Small Works. He has toured extensively with GSW, Bread & Puppet Theater and the Boston Puppeteers’ Cooperative, garnering for one of his theater pieces a UNIMA Citation of Excellence. Roberto is also an educator who has created and led classes in design, mask-making, puppetry, acting, printmaking and architecture in environments including K-12 public schools, universities, walk-in community centers and agricultural cooperatives. He has staged puppet pageants for Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors , the Brooklyn Museum, New Haven’s Festival of Arts and Ideas as well as for municipalities in Europe and Asia; he has also co-curated and designed festivals of miniature theater together with Great Small Works at HERE, Theater for the New City, and St. Ann’s Warehouse in New York. He holds a Master’s Degree in Architecture as well as a Master’s Degree in Performance Studies. Roberto is teaching the afterschool Architecture Studio with Kite’s Nest.
Inés Chapela is an artist, environmentalist and writer born in Switzerland and raised in California. Her life has been profoundly shaped by her time spent living abroad, most notably a long period in Norway and over three years of living in Mexico. Today, she spends most of her time in the Hudson Valley, where she gains inspiration and vitality from spending as much time outdoors as possible. Inés has a background in sustainable agriculture and has studied in both the arts and social sciences. She loves any opportunity to speak her mother tongue, and is excited to teach En Español, which will present an opportunity to share her cultural heritage and her love for language. Inés is teaching En Español with Kite’s Nest.
Victoria Cox is a farmer and educator currently caretaking at Turkana Farms. She grew up in East Tennessee and has worked in environmental education and restoration everywhere from the Marin headlands to downtown Manhattan, and once caught a seahorse in the Hudson River. She spent four years as a Storytelling Exco instructor while at Oberlin College, and recently worked as a preschool teacher with Little Darlings Farm School, both of which deeply informed her preferred pedagogy of learning through listening. She loves foraging, fiber crafts, zines, dogs and Dolly Parton.
Alexander Guerrero is a scenic painter and carpenter for film and theatrical productions. Specializing in faux finishes and obscure techniques, Alex's work brings sets and spaces to life through a complex blend of material manipulation, application, and time. His work can be seen in such projects as The Jinx (HBO. 2014), The World Wars (History. 2013), The Better Angels (dir: A.J. Edwards. 2013), and as a craftsperson on HGTV's Flea Market Flip. Recent theatrical clients include The Schubert Theater and Yale University in New Haven, CT, The Fisher Center at Bard University, and the Manhattan School of Music. In addition to his work as a Scenic painter, Alex apprenticed at Mass MoCA during the install of the Sol Lewitt Retrospective, as a word-of-mouth handyman, and a visual artist and illustrator. He lives and keeps a studio in Hudson, NY. You can often find him building installations and helping out at Kite’s Nest, or teaching classes - from Data Arts and Writers Club.
Nicole LoBue, co-founder of Kite’s Nest, former Education Director and Educator. A professional chef, herbalist, and educator, Nicole LoBue is a co-founder of Kite’s Nest, and served as Co-Director from 2012 - 2016. Nicole also founded the Alimentary Kitchen, a commercially-certified kitchen serving as both a classroom for the children of Kite’s Nest and a site for catering special events, community dinners, and pop-up events. Nicole’s love for food-as-healing informs and permeates her practice across fields, and her work has always linked food, wellness, and education: from managing her own catering company and collaborating with renowned kitchens and chefs, to running cafés and apothecaries with children and teenagers. Nicole’s workshops integrate food-craft and food justice, nutrition and herbalism, history and power, fiber and textile arts, craft and shelter, outdoor education and ecology, magic and story, promoting and encouraging the health and autonomy of young people. At Kite's Nest she supported educators and developed curriculum and pedagogy, designing and teaching many classes, including: Guts Trees & Blueprints, Hi Fi Cli Sci, Extra Sauce: Cuisine Lab, Hidden Histories, Future Worlds, Re-Sound, Sound Studio, All Ears, Spin Weave Dye, Give Me Shelter, Myth, Potion Lab and Potion Camp, Umami, the Social Justice Leadership Academy, From Scratch, Exploded Axon, Wood & Wool, Viral, Alimentary Cafe, Salt to Taste, Hidden Forest, and Secret City.
Lucy Segar is an educator, writer and dancer, originally from Vermont. Lucy has worked as a Lead Educator at Kite's Nest, and served as our Interim Education Coordinator in 2016/2017, designing programs and curriculum, and developing pedagogical trainings for teachers. Lucy studied writing at dance at Oberlin College, and earned her MFA in writing from Columbia University. She relocated to the Hudson Valley after six years teaching movement, writing, and conflict resolution at a community-based school in Brooklyn, NY. She is currently pursuing her Master of Arts in Teaching at Bard College. In addition to teaching classes at Kite’s Nest (workshops that include writing, movement, boating, science fiction, outdoor exploration and observation), she has also taught English at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and works with the Hudson Sloop Club. At Kite’s Nest, Lucy has taught Places & Spaces, The Book, the Notebook Club, Hi Fi Cli Sci, Field Notes, Future Worlds, Movement Lab, Potion Camp, and the Hudson Sloop Club Camp.
David Eustace is a visual artist born and educated in Toronto, Canada. Through paintings on canvas and site-specific installations, his work deals with tracking and recording such phenomena as celestial movements and seasonal change. (You can learn more about his work here.) He currently lives and works in Germantown, NY. At Kite’s Nest, David has taught Time Lapse, Hi Fi Cli Sci, Places & Spaces, Bricks Buttons & Banks, Paint the City, Give Me Shelter, and CheckMate: Analog Game Design and How We Got to Now.
Emmanuel Carr-Hinds is a graduate of Catskill High School, Questar III BOCES, and Hudson Valley Community College. Born in Hudson and raised in Catskill, Emmanuel is a passionate and skilled illustrator and painter, a fisher, and a friend to all. He has worked as a maintenance assistant at the Catskill Housing Authority for 4 years, and was an intern at Main Care. Emmanuel believes everyone has a good side, but they just need someone with a positive attitude to bring it out. He worked as a Senior Youth Fellow at the Social Justice Leadership Academy, a mentor with the after school Space 2.0, and an educator with Outdoor Adventures.
Lia Friedman is an educator, farmer, and freelance writer and editor based in Hudson. She earned a degree in Russian Literature from Columbia University and continues to keep a toe in the Slavic studies world by editing and translating academic work. She began working with young people ten years ago leading summer backpacking, canoeing, and farm service trips, and most recently worked as a residential ecology educator on the Maine coast. She loves sharing experiences in nature with young people. Lia has previously taught Story Arts and Garden Club and currently teaches Talking Earth and Botany and the Body.
Ken Reichl has a background in Physics and worked on building experiments that very precisely measure greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere via the U.S. Department of Energy for 7 years. While growing his music career in parallel all the while, he left DOE in Fall 2017 to jump off of that plateau into music business land where he is the drummer with Lady Moon & The Eclipse, based in Hudson and Brooklyn. Bringing his unlimited energy and enthusiasm for engaging in youth empowerment, Ken started co-teaching/learning at Kite’s Nest in Fall 2017. Ken is also working with the Youth Center to establish the Hudson Youth Bicycle Cooperative, a youth-driven full bike repair workshop at Oakdale Park set to launch in Summer 2018, as well as building an artist-owned music management and media company, Star People Co. At Kite's Nest Ken has taught Sci Fi Notebook and Math in Music.
Sheridan Alexander is an actor and educator, currently co-teaching the after school Spotlight: Improv class at Kite's Nest. Originally from Peekskill, NY, Sheridan graduated from the University at Albany where he studied communications, sociology, and theater. He's interested in acting professionally, and is currently taking classes to be a stunt double. In addition to his passion for theater, Sheridan has worked as a carpenter at Bard College, likes to spend time outside, does jiu jitsu, and competes on a dart team!
Kevin Bose has an endless supply of curiosity for bird language, wild plants, tracks, critters, stories, and any other natural mystery. He is grateful to have shared this enthusiasm with young people, as a mentor for eight years at Forest Floor Wilderness Programs in Asheville, North Carolina, and as an educator at Flying Deer in East Chatham, NY. Kevin sees nature connection as a powerful tool not only for bringing out an individual’s gifts, but also for rebuilding the "village" in the human community. Kevin is graduate of the Regenerative Design and Nature Awareness Program, focusing on nature mentoring, culture repair, and permaculture design, and holds a master's degree in Culture, Ecology, and Sustainable Community. At Kite's Nest Kevin has taught Biomimicry, How We Got To Now, and Outdoor Adventures.
Chloe Caldwell was born in Spencertown, New York, and is the author of one novella and two essay collections. She has taught Creative Writing at Hudson Opera House, Omega Teen Camp, and taught College Essay Writing at Gotham Writer's Workshop. She currently teaches Narrative Nonfiction at Catapult in NYC and online at Litreactor. She hosts writing retreats at Millay Colony for the Arts and Spruceton Inn. Chloe lives in Hudson, NY. At Kite’s Nest, Chloe has taught Writers & Illustrators Club. www.chloecaldwell.com
Margot Becker is a textile artist and educator living in Hudson, NY. She works at a sheep and goat farm in Columbia County called Buckwheat Bridge Angoras, where she works with animals and in the farm’s solar and wind-powered fiber mill, making and dying yarn. Margot earned a BA from Bard College. She is passionate about being a part of the making process from start to finish, from the birth of a lamb to finishing a woven wool shawl, and sharing her work with young people. At Kite's Nest, Margot has taught Spin Weave Dye, Give Me Shelter, Wood & Wool, Give Me Shelter (II), and Fashion Studio: Weave & Stitch.
Bryan Lauas, originally from Los Angeles, is one of the founders of the Catskill Maker Syndicate, an organization dedicated to capacity-building, reskilling, and endless pranksterism based in Catskill, NY. Bryan has pursued a life of permanent semi-retirement; he has worked in various capacities as a carpenter, electrician, mechanic, broadcast engineer, system integrator, programmer, fabricator. He's a machine whisperer, with a newfound interest in the human machine - exploring what makes our body-mind-spirit tick as individuals and collective organisms. At Kite's Nest, Bryan has brought his appreciation for glorious chaos to the classroom, helping with How Stuff Works and co-teaching the after school Robotics at the Catskill Maker Syndicate.
Paige Gbasie. In addition to working with Kite's Nest as an educator, Paige was a core part of our team in 2016 as administrative assistant. At Kite's Nest, Paige taught Rising Up, Space 101, and two years of the Social Justice Leadership Academy (2015 and 2016). Originally from Philadelphia, PA, Paige Gbasie also worked with youth in Hudson as an Americorps volunteer and with the Staley B. Keith Social Justice Center. She has a B.A. in Social Action/Social Change from Bard College at Simon's Rock. She also practices jiu jitsu.
Tony Kieraldo is a freelance pianist, pen & ink artist, teacher, accompanist, composer and musical-director that lives in Hudson, NY. Tony has spent ten years freelancing as a musical-director for two non-profit children’s dance companies, National Dance Institute and Celebrate the Beat. He has recorded, performed, and toured internationally with various musical groups and performed genres of all kinds since 1998 including jazz, classical, rock, hip-hop, sufi, folk and avante garde. From 2010-2011, Tony was director/arranger/lead teacher for an American elementary school youth orchestral program based on the world renowned Venezuelan, El Sistema in Avon, Colorado. In 2014, Tony performed at the White House in Washington D.C. for first lady Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama as part of the President’s Council for Arts & Humanities called Turnaround Arts. At Kite's Nest, Tony has taught Re-Sound and Sound Studio.
Isa Coffey is a mother of two, a long-time sex educator, a nurse, and the Founder and Director of WiseBodies, an organization dedicated to real sex education based in Chatham, NY. Isa began formal training in healthcare at 19, when she worked at Womancare Feminist Women's Health Center in San Diego, California. She’s worked at the Chelsea Women’s Health Center, a neighborhood women’s community clinic; helped to develop and run Womancap, a women’s cervical cap site in midtown Manhattan; worked as a Registered Nurse in Labor and Delivery at Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn; and created a position to teach health and sexuality to high school students and run a small in-school clinic at Satellite Academy High School on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Since moving to the area in 2000, Isa has taught whole-being sexuality classes and workshops to pre-teens, teens, women, and men at local public and private schools, yoga centers, private homes, in community centers and with youth organizations. Isa also provides mentorship and training to young educators, and guidance to Kite’s Nest and other organizations in navigating conversations and conflicts around sexuality, gender and consent. Isa and WiseBodies have partnered with Kite’s Nest to run Teach It, Know It, Write It; Know!, Botany & The Body, and Hudson Girls Alive.
Matt Bua makes small scale improvised buildings, hand-built people's museums and roadside attractions. His recent work takes form in fantastical spaces that redefine and re-imagine found objects and sustainable resources as functional elements in architecture. Bua's present project is the collaborative construction of small scale examples of vernacular, experimental, and visionary architecture on a piece of land in Catskill, NY which also contains lithic remains from cultures from the past. This led him to write his most recent book "Talking Walls: Casting Out the Post-Contact Stonewall Building Myth, published in 2016 by Publication Studio. Bua has shown work internationally at exhibitions and public spaces including Mass MoCA, PS1/MoMA, Brooklyn Museum, Lake Coniston in the UK, and on Roosevelt and Governor's Island. The book "Architectural Inventions: Visionary Drawings" which grew out of the on-line active archive was edited in collaboration with Maximillian Goldfarb and published by Laurence King in 2012. Be on the lookout for the Awaken Rip Van Winkle sculpture in Catakill and the Prankster Peoples' Museum in the Prattsville Arts Center. You can see his work here, here, and here! Matt Bua has taught Design Build and Paint the City at Kite's Nest.
Shanekia McIntosh is a writer, poet, programmer, and educator born and raised in Brooklyn and now based in Hudson, NY. Shanekia is the Youth Services & Programs Assistant at the Hudson Area Library, where she designs and coordinates the library's youth programming. Shanekia has performed her writing at the New Museum, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art’s TBA Festival, September Gallery, Powrplnt, and Basilica Hudson, among other places. Her writing has been exhibited in shows at the 511 Gallery in Portland, Basilica Hudson, and the New Museum. McIntosh has programmed for a variety of art spaces and educational institutions, and worked as the Program Director of WGXC: Hands-on Radio, a participatory media project and community radio station serving Columbia and Greene Counties. At Kite's Nest Shanekia has taught the Media Arts & Technology Winter Break Camp.
Kaya Weidman is a co-founder and the Executive Director of Kite’s Nest, where she oversees all day-to-day operations, administration, and organizational development, and runs the River City Garden. Kaya began living in Columbia County twelve years ago as a land steward and farmer, when she started a collectively-run CSA called Germantown Community Farm on land where she continues to live. After traveling throughout Mexico and the US teaching about radio production and transmission as a tool for organizing and empowerment, she co-founded the local community radio station, WGXC 90.7-FM, Hands-On Radio in 2008. Growing up, Kaya was supported to make choices about her own educational path, and she’s passionate about supporting young people in having the power to make choices about where and how they learn. At Kite's Nest, Kaya has taught Rising Up, Roots & Rebels, PB&J: Print, Broadcast & Journalism, Woodworking for Girls, Lens, Fork & Trowel, Winter Writer's Group, Status Update, the Social Justice Leadership Academy, and Math for Explorers.
Sara Kendall is the co-founder and former Assistant Director and Communications Director at Kite's Nest. She's interested in the way cities change, how people can participate in shaping their neighborhoods, and the things young people say on the radio. She helped to start Kite’s Nest, and worked on organizational and program development, visioning, communication, and fundraising, as well as teaching. Sara has an interdisciplinary M.A. (in geography, oral history, and education) from Concordia University, and teaches Geography at Dawson College in Montreal. Sara was the founding station manager of WGXC: Hands-on Radio, a community radio station and participatory media project serving Columbia and Greene Counties. In 2012, She helped to launch the Oral History Summer School 2012 in Hudson. At Kite's Nest, Sara has taught Secret City, the Geographies of Stuff, PB&J: Print, Broadcast & Journalism, On The Street, and the Social Justice Leadership Academy.
Sam Merrett is a mechanic, an engineer, a boat captain and an educator living in Hudson, NY. He runs Full Circle Fuels, and alternative fuel business; works as the engineer for Hudson Cruises, a local company that runs three commercial boats; and is currently working on a 68-foot steel sailboat, called the Apollonia, a project with future possibilities for local freight, environmental tourism, and education. Sam graduated from Oberlin College with a degree in Environmental Studies; he is also red cross CPR and First Aid certified, and ASA level 101 and 103 certified. Sam is a boating enthusiast, a parade enthusiast, and an all-around enthusiast for ambitious, seemingly-impossible collaborative projects. A founding member of the Hudson Sloop Club, Sam has worked as a lead educator for afterschool programming at the public school, and helps run the Hudson Sloop Club Camp 2015 & 2016 at Kite's Nest.
Christin Ripley, originally from St. Petersburg, FL, is a professional artist and mariner. She studied sculpture at the Cooper Union '06. She has a 100-ton Inland USCG captain license, and is a certified US Sailing Instructor, having taught at sailing schools in NY Harbor, Baltimore, and Cape Cod with both youth and adults. She has also worked on several traditionally rigged "Tall Ships" and at "South Street Seaport Maritime Museum". She feels that sailing can be a vehicle for a visceral understanding of physics, trigonometry, and appreciation for our natural world. She now runs a freelance design and fabrication business out of Catskill, NY called "Studio 'n the Round," focusing on sign-painting, sewing, marbling, printmaking, woodworking, and "Community Supported Editions," a subscription-based art project following a farmer's CSA model. Ripley works with the Hudson Sloop Club, and helps run the Hudson Sloop Club Camp at Kite's Nest.
Brianna Pope is the Program Coordinator for the Staley B. Keith Social Justice Center. She has previously worked for Solidarity Strategies, a political consulting firm in D.C. that focuses on the campaigns of POC candidates, as well as free legal clinics in her hometown. She is an author of primarily fiction, but has become passionate about the personal essay, free-form poetry and creative non-fiction. By using the personal essay as an anchor, she created women of color writing groups in order for the young women of Simon's Rock to have a place to create art and share their truths. Originally from San Diego, Brianna landed in Hudson after obtaining her B.A from Bard College at Simon's Rock in Political Studies and Modern Literature. At Kite's Nest, she has taught the Social Justice Leadership Academy.
Chris Weidman, PhD., recently retired marine scientist from the Woods Hole area on Cape Cod, was the Director of Research for the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (sister Reserve to the nearby Hudson River NERR) for the past 15 years. In his twenties, he worked as a commercial fisherman on Cape Cod before moving with his young family to an intentional community in upstate NY in the early 1980s, where he ran the maple sugaring operation and taught science and math to the community’s kids. He received his BS in Water Resources at SUNY-Oneonta, and his PhD from the Joint Program of MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. His doctoral research focused on reconstructing ocean climate histories over the last 1000 years, using the chemical composition of clam shells and fish ear bones. For the last 10 years he has run the maple sugaring and forest management operations at the nearby Germantown Community Farm, home to his daughter and Kite’s Nest Co-Director, Kaya. Inspiring kids to learn, love and use mathematics as a way to deeply experience the world around them has been his passion for the last four decades. At Kite's Nest he has taught Math for Explorers.
Cara Turett is a graphic designer, artist, teacher and aspiring carpenter living in Hudson, NY. Her design work focuses on supporting community-based businesses and non-profit organizations, often combining handcrafted imagery with digital tools. Her art focuses on collections, and the ways that objects tell stories and hold memories. Cara has taught horticulture, environmental education and art in Hudson, New York City, and Ohio, and is currently teaching art classes at a local detention facility. At Kite’s Nest, Cara has taught classes in science & storytelling and woodworking. She holds a BA from Oberlin College in Art and Environmental Studies. She is passionate about trees, biology, and exploring Columbia County. At Kite’s Nest Cara has taught Field Notes, Woodworking for Girls, and Wonder & the World.
Claire Cousin. Born and raised in Hudson, Claire is a passionate advocate and organizer for youth in Hudson, working to give young people growing up here the support and mentorship to reinforce their purpose and passions. Claire is the Community School Parent Coordinator for the Community Schools Initiative in Hudson. She has worked as an Education Mentor with the Hudson Promise Corps (Americorps), Chair of the Youth & Young Adult Committee of the Staley B. Keith Social Justice Center, a Family Team Meeting Facilitator with the NYS Office of Children & Family Services, and a member of the Columbia County Youth Advisory Board. Claire is also a singer, poet, and a young single mother of Ilicia, (Stookie), age 3. At Kite's Nest, Claire founded and runs the weekly teen-space Space 101, and teaches with the Social Justice Leadership Academy.
Claudia Abbott-Barish is an Herbalist and Certified Restorative Practitioner. She has cultivated an avid fascination with and love for plants since she was small. In her adult life she has extensively studied and applied Botany, Herbal Medicine, Ethnobotany, Sustainable Agriculture, Popular Education, Anti-Oppression and Social Justice. She lives in Milan, NY on "The Herbal Acre", part of a 5-acre mixed forest and apple orchard. Here, she grows medicinal plants for personal and public use and teaches adult herbal medicine making classes. She also makes medicine for local practitioners and is training as a Transformative Mediator in Poughkeepsie. Her long-term goals include the development of an integrated women's health and justice collective. At Kite's Nest, Claudia has co-taught Potion Camp and Potion Lab.
Ira Marcks is an artist and educator. He draws, writes and inspires creativity through his home-base, Tiger Trap Studio in Troy, NY. He works with libraries, schools, museums, art centers and other educational institutions to develop workshops with a focus on visual storytelling as a tool for sharing ideas and information. At the 2012 National Art Education Convention, he presented his work on integrating visual art and mathematics. His work has appeared in various national publications and comic anthologies. For a time he was a regular contributor to Hugo Award Winning strange fiction magazine, Weird Tales. His latest artworks and workshop dates can be found at iramarcks.com. At Kite's Nest, Ira has taught Comics Club.
Jennifer Wai-Lan Strodl received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Creative Writing from Princeton University, where she studied fiction with writers such as Toni Morrison, Joyce Carol Oates, and Russell Banks. She has been a comic book editor at Marvel Enterprises and is currently a writer for Bard College. She holds a Master of Arts in Teaching from Smith College and has traveled the world teaching kids in China, Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. She now lives in Ghent, New York. At Kite’s Nest, Jenny has taught Hidden Histories, Myth, and Story.
LJ Amsterdam is a youth worker, political action organizer, and dancer from New York City. One year ago, she moved to Millerton, NY to support the development of The Watershed Center, an education and retreat space for social justice activists. Her academic background is in African-American Studies and Ethnomusicology and she received her B.A. and M.A. from Columbia University. She has worked with indigenous communities on the front lines of climate change, homeless groups and homeowners fighting foreclosure, young people in and outside public schools, and as a heavy metal DJ. Currently, she also organizes youth in Great Barrington, MA, and writes about hip-hop and decolonization. At Kite’s Nest, LJ has taught Rising Up, Movement Lab, We Are Hudson, and the Social Justice Leadership Academy.
Ngounga Badila is an artist, performer, boxer, fisherman and educator in Hudson, NY. Ngounga performs with his family and the Diata Diata International Folkloric Theater. He has worked with children and teenagers through the Hudson Afterschool Program and Kite’s Nest. At Kite’s Nest, Ngounga has taught Rhythm, and fishing with the Hudson Sloop Club Camp, and has. been a guest teacher with Story Arts.
Nick Pomeroy. Originally from Portland, Oregon, Nick is an artist and educator living in Germantown, NY. Nick studied sculpture in the U.K., and has since worked with a range of crafts, materials and trades, as a restoration carpenter and as a sculptor. As an educator, Nick has worked with children, high school students and people with special needs, teaching sculpture, drawing, art history, and history of architecture. Throughout his work, he’s interested in experience: the universal aspects of how we experience materials, colors, shapes, and the natural world around us. At Kite’s Nest, Nick has taught Geographies of Stuff.
Nick Zachos. Born and raised in Columbia County, Nick attributes his love of the outdoors to the countless hours he has spent exploring the wild spaces of this region. Nick was trained in boat-building at the Carpenter’s Boat Shop in Pemaquid, ME, and is a graduate of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). A craftsman, boat-builder, and educator, Nick is the founder of the Hudson Sloop Club. At Kite’s Nest, Nick has taught Hudson Sloop Club Camp, Wood & Wool, and Hidden Forest.
Peter Nowogrodzki. Originally from upstate New York, Peter Nowogrodzki is a writer and poet. His writing draws on a diverse background of experience that ranges from research on the behavior of tree swallows at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, to the production of a documentary about resident peregrine falcons on the skyscrapers of Cleveland, Ohio. In the summer of 2013, he co-facilitated a writer's workshop in the old Hudson TK school. He recently read and enjoyed Ursula Le Guin's Gifts, the first book in the Annals of the Western Shore series. At Kite’s Nest, Peter has taught Status Update, Winter Writer’s Group, and the Hudson Sloop Club Camp.
Cedrick Fulton is the Deputy Director of the Staley B. Keith Social Justice Center, a grassroots, non-profit organization leading a movement for racial justice in Hudson, NY. Cedrick a lifelong resident of Hudson, dedicated to empowering young black men and women to resist the marginalization of their communities. He is also an organizer, educator, writer, speaker, and a devoted father of two. Formerly incarcerated, his work comes from his own lived experiences of systemic injustice with an intimate understanding of the systems most impacting peoples; lives. He holds an A.A.S. from Bronx Community College, and a degree in Political Science from Framingham State. In addition to his work with SBK, Cedrick has worked with ReEntry Columbia, Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood, and a wide range of individuals and organizations working together to create long-term, transformative change. At Kite's Nest, Cedrick has taught the Social Justice Leadership Academy 2015, SJLA 2017 and Space 101.
Rob Kalin works at the Catskill Mill, where he makes furniture, bakes bread, and is learning how to sew clothes. Rob grew up in Boston, dropped out of school, and moved to Brooklyn -- and has since vowed to never live in a big city again. He lives on land just outside the town of Catskill, where he’s learning how to farm. He has two incredible and almost-overwhelming daughters, Zia and Kora. They speak little and understand everything, which is something Rob is striving towards. They also love to sing and dance, two more of Rob’s aspirations. At Kite’s Nest, Rob has taught Give Me Shelter.
Albert Flores has been taking stuff apart since he was a kid. His first love is math, the discipline in which he holds a B.A. As an educator and creative problem-solver Albert is passionate about sharing knowledge, and helping to demystify aspects of daily life. For fun he plays golf, practices sleight of hand, and learns things both practical and esoteric. Albert is part of the Catskill Maker Syndicate, and at Kite's Nest has taught How Stuff Works and Robotics.
Tara Lisa Foley is originally from Manhattan, where she went to LaGuardia High School for art and later went to Sarah Lawrence College for her BA. Her teaching career started in Japan, where she taught English for three years while traveling much of Asia. For the following ten years, Tara lived and worked as an artist and an art educator in San Francisco. As a recent graduate of CalArts with a Masters in Fine Art (class of 2013), Tara is now located in Los Angeles, but joined Kite’s Nest for two quarters in 2014. At Kite’s Nest, Tara has taught Exploded Axon and On the Street.
Tess Diamond is passionate about cooking, agriculture, experiential learning and education. Originally from California, Tess holds a BA from U.C. Santa Cruz, with a focus on Community Studies. Her interest in cooking and garden education began during her time at The Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, she has since worked as a food systems and gardening educator in Los Angeles, at Bard High School in NYC, Simon's Rock College in Great Barrington and at Kite’s Nest. Tess has years of commercial vegetable and herb cultivation experience and is particularly interested in food preservation. She currently runs North Plain Farm and Blue Hill Farm with her partner in Great Barrington, and is a new Mom. At Kite’s Nest, Tess has taught Salt to Taste and From Scratch.
Lavender Suarez is a sound artist and healer living and working in Hillsdale, NY. After touring North America performing sound art compositions for over ten years, she went on to study sound healing with the founder of the Sound Healers Association, Jonathan Goldman. She became a certified sound healer in September of 2014 and opened a private practice shortly after. At her office she provides services based on sound and energetic methods of healing to people of all ages and backgrounds. Lavender has also studied the sound and music-based philosophy "Deep Listening" with its founder Pauline Oliveros. She has spoken about the healing properties of sound and the affect sound has on one's mental state at MoMA PS1, Oral History Summer School, EMPAC and others. She has a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in artistic therapies from St. Thomas Aquinas College. At Kite's Nest, Lavender has taught All Ears. www.lavenderhealer.com
Teequan Davis