Miel Alegre, Events and Programs Coordinator, joins the 826 Valencia staff after having spent time living and working in a virtual city of books, otherwise called the dot-com division of Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon. She has a background which includes, but is not limited to: event planning, strategic marketing, and ice cream scooping. She has also organized academic conferences, the most recent of which discussed the political and cultural history of maps and mapmaking. Miel holds a BA in Cultural Anthropology and English Literature from Portland State University, and recently earned an MA in Cultural Anthropology from UC Santa Cruz.
Justin Carder, Pirate Store Manager, started interning at 826 Valencia in the Summer of 2007, and hasn't left since. After studying theater at College of Marin (with, among others, the "Log Lady" from Twin Peaks) and earning a BA in Political Science from UC Santa Cruz, Justin heard and could not help but heed the call of the high seas. In addition to his role as the go-to-guy for the San Franciscan Working Buccaneer, Justin enjoys painting and playing drums.
Emilie Coulson, Programs Coordinator, was an all-star 826 volunteer for two years before joining our staff in the fall of 2008. As a volunteer, she once co-taught a poetry workshop so brilliantly that other volunteers paid for her to fly out to San Francisco from Maine (where she was then living) for the release party. She has worked with English language learners of all ages and in many locations, including the Wisconsin Migrant Education Project and the Mid-Maine Regional Adult Community Education Center. She graduated from Colby College with a BA in English.
Marisa Gedney, Programs Director, first became involved with 826 Valencia two years ago in the Writers' Room at Everett Middle School. For the 2006-2007 school year, she was an AmeriCorps member at the Mission Beacon Center at Everett where she coordinated the after school tutoring program. She has several years of classroom experience in her hometown of Los Angeles and in Santa Barbara where she earned a BA in Creative Writing at UC Santa Barbara. She is active in Danza Azteca and loves the strong community of art, culture and youth empowerment in the Bay Area.
Jory John, Programs Director, has worked as a journalist, copyeditor, freelance writer and cartoonist. He has written for both daily and weekly newspapers. For six years, Jory also wrote for the internationally syndicated comic strip "Dennis the Menace," while marketing his own original comic strip to 15 independent newspapers. In addition, Jory worked for 10 years at Camp Winnarainbow, a performing arts camp for children, teaching songwriting, journalism, guitar and juggling. In his free time, Jory has co-created a t-shirt business and humor website which is updated daily. He majored in journalism at California State University, Chico with an emphasis on news-editorial and was twice named its weekly newspaper's "Best Columnist of the Year."
Leigh Lehman, Executive Director, joined our staff in 2005 as a Programs Director, and became Development Director in 2006. As of June 2007, she serves as the Executive Director of 826 Valencia. She has seven years of experience as a middle and high school English teacher in Louisiana and Massachusetts. She also taught EFL in Northern Thailand for two years. After moving to the Bay Area in 2000, she wrote and edited online courses and resources for K-12 teachers at Classroom Connect. She holds a BA in American Studies from Wesleyan University.
María Inés Montes, Design Director, has a BFA in graphic design from California College of the Arts and nearly ten years of experience working for various advertising and design firms. Before coming to 826, she was the art director at Carol H. Williams Advertising in Oakland, where she directed mail campaigns, promotional materials, signage, and web sites.
Cherylle Taylor, Programs Assistant, comes to us through the BAYAC AmeriCorps program. A woman of many talents and extraordinary time-management skills, she has worked as a sales associate, a secretary, a runway model and a freelance hair stylist, all while pursuing a degree in Business Administration from Laney College, Oakland. Although she loves working hands-on in the community, she also has much experience working in PR. Cherylle's diverse skills and experiences all come together at 826, where she assists on a variety of programs each day. One minute a tutor, the next a volunteer coordinator - Cherylle's adaptability, flexibility, humor and quick-thinking mean she's a huge asset to our programming team.
Nínive Calegari, cofounder of 826 Valencia and CEO of 826 National, is a veteran public school teacher who has had ten years of classroom experience. Before teaching in her family's hometown in Mexico, Nínive worked at Leadership High School, San Francisco's first charter school, where she also served on the Board of Directors. She holds an MED in Teaching and Curriculum from Harvard University's Graduate School of Education. Ninive was coauthor of Teachers Have it Easy: the Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America's Teachers. She was also the recipient of Edutopia's 2007 Daring Dozen award, and was appointed to the San Francisco Arts Commission in the spring of 2008.
Lauren Hall, Development Director, moved to the Bay Area from Arkansas, where she earned a BA in American Studies from Hendrix College. Before coming to 826, Lauren worked as a development associate at The Women's Project, a nonprofit focusing on social justice issues in Little Rock, Arkansas. An essay that emerged from her work with the organization was published in the Journal of Social Policy in the fall of 2007, and will be included in the collection Lessons from the Field: Organizing in Rural Communities. She has been deeply involved in all-things-826 since the summer of 2005.
Ryan Lewis, Operations Manager, studied Political Science at UCLA. He then served for two years in AmeriCorps *NCCC and completed projects with multiple organizations including the Charleston and North Charleston public schools, the St. Matthews Community Outreach Center and After-School Program in Charleston, SC, and various groups performing recovery cleanup after Hurricane Katrina. He is finishing his Master of Public Service degree from the Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock, AR, where he focused his fieldwork in education and completed projects in program evaluation, development, and strategic planning with the Boys, Girls, Adults Community Development Center in Marvell, AR and the South African Education and Environment Project in Cape Town, South Africa.
Yvonne Wang, Programs Coordinator, has worked on various social and educational issues, including launching the national anti-drug advertising campaign, Above the Influence, to lower teen drug usage. She has also taught in Guyana, and still serves on the Board of Directors of SAGE, a nonprofit scholarship program promoting higher education in Guyana. In the fall of 2009 she will be starting her MPA in Public and Nonprofit Management and Policy at New York University.