Staff and Leadership
Our Team, Our Family
The Braid is led by Ronda Spinak, Founding Artistic Director along with a team of extraordinary individuals committed to working passionately and tirelessly to advance the ideal that the lives and experiences of Jews in America, in all their diversity, must be represented on stage and in programming, and must be documented for posterity.
We are blessed to continuously inspire and draw in talented community members to do their best work and apply their skills, passions, connections and expertise to help The Braid thrive.
STAFF
RONDA SPINAK created and produces The Braid’s Salon Theatre Series, curating more than 75 original Jewish-themed salons and adapting many of the pieces performed. She graduated from Stanford University, and holds degrees from UCLA (MBA) and USC (masters in professional writing). Ronda’s plays include Stories from the Fringe and festival-winner Oscar Wilde’s Wife, a favorite at the Ashland New Play Festival and Dayton’s FutureFest. She has written for the Emmy Award-winning children’s show Rugrats and authored the critically acclaimed nonfiction book, ProBodX: Proper Body Exercise (Harper Collins). Ronda is on the board of the Association for Jewish Theatres and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.
SHARON LANDAU oversees The Braid’s strategic planning, grants and operations, bringing the organization 20 years of non-profit leadership experience helping programs and organizations scale and thrive. As a former non-profit director and consultant, she engaged multidisciplinary stakeholders to design, pilot, scale and evaluate innovative public health access programs at local, state and national levels that became replicable models, including CA’s EC Pharmacy Access Program. She is a published researcher and program evaluator. She previously worked in management consulting for Kaiser Permanente. She holds a masters in public health from UCLA and is an alumnae of CA Women’s Policy Institute and Center for Collaborative Planning’s Leadership Institute. Currently she also serves as a mentor for Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Interdisciplinary Research Leaders.
SUSAN MORGENSTERN, an actress since age five, crossed into directing while co-teaching American Musical Comedy with Tom Lehrer at UC Santa Cruz. She taught and directed at Stage Door Manor, a renowned performing-arts camp in upstate New York. In Los Angeles, for Theatre West, Susan directed All in the Timing, Just Too Cool, Saturday Night at Grossinger’s, and The Socialization of Ruthie Shapiro. At Falcon Theatre she directed Leap, Surviving Sex, and The Psychic; for Cabrillo Music Theatre Happy Days, a New Musical, by Garry Marshall; and for Skylight Theatre, an INKubator series and an extended-run production of Meryl Cohn’s comedy Reasons to Live. Susan consultants as show director for Disneyland, directs The Braid’s salon shows and mentors NEXT fellows.
DAVID CHIU is a West LA-based screenwriter and two-time NEXT at the Braid Emerging Artists Fellow. Television: LORE (Amazon Prime). The Braid: True Colors, Inside Our Time, For Goodness Sake (also Director), I Am a Jew, Who’s Hiding Now? and The Rest is History (also Director & Literary). Represented by The Gersh Agency and Authentic Talent & Literary. Member of the Board of Trustees at Temple Isaiah of Los Angeles; recipient of its 2019 Emerging Leader Award. Environmental activist and volunteer on various electoral campaigns. Jew of Color, of Litvak and Cantonese heritage.
ANDREW FROMER first joined The Braid as a fellow in the NEXT Emerging Artists Council in 2016. He continued on to do a second year of the fellowship while also serving as a digital media consultant for the organization launching and managing its podcast initiative and social media platforms. In 2019 he joined The Braid staff as the organization’s first Assistant Artistic Director and coordinator of the NEXT program. He holds a BFA in theater from UC Santa Barbara, and has experience as a filmmaker, actor, editor and director.
Originally from Boston and based in Los Angeles, Lisa is a creative producer of arts and cultural programming. Her experience includes developing innovative projects and programs for the Jewish non-profits Reboot, East Side Jews, and Yiddishkayt. Also an award-winning playwright, Lisa’s work has been developed and produced across the country. She is passionate about creating and sharing stories that inspire empathy, empowerment, and healing. Since visiting Vilnius, Lithuania, Lisa has embarked on several related projects including FANIA IN THE FOREST, an original TV pilot about a young Jewish female resistance fighter (Top 5 Finalist, ScreenCraft Fellowship), and VILNA: A RESISTANCE STORY, a new musical about a group of young artists who become underground resistance fighters. A graduate of Wesleyan University with an MFA in creative writing from Lesley University, Lisa lives in the neighborhood of West Adams with her actor husband, Chet, and their two dogs, Scout and Cosmo. Lisa is a proud member of the Dramatist Guild, Independent Writers Caucus, and Maestra. lisakennergrissom.com
Jodi Marcus first came to The Braid as a patron, and now helps to bring people together to laugh, cry, and share in the human experience by booking Braid shows across the country. Prior to joining The Braid team, Jodi worked for 18 years in the nonprofit sector as a fundraiser for Jewish National Fund in the Greater L.A. office, and as a fundraising/program evaluation consultant. Jodi saw half of the world as a dancer, and is now a writer of short stories and working on a novel for middle grade readers (10-12 year olds). Jodi holds a BA in communications, public relations from Cal State Fullerton and a MPA from Cal State Northridge.
RACHEL MARCUS brings a rich background in Jewish communal leadership, ritual facilitation, and program design. She most recently served as the Mikvah Manager at American Jewish University, where she guided individuals through meaningful lifecycle transitions and cultivated deep partnerships across the Jewish community. A graduate of UC Berkeley with a degree in psychology and Jewish studies, Rachel is currently pursuing her master’s in Jewish nonprofit management at Hebrew Union College. She also serves as a Moishe House resident in Los Angeles, where she curates innovative and inclusive programming for young Jewish adults. Rachel is passionate about storytelling, spiritual care, and creating welcoming spaces that help people feel seen and connected. She’s thrilled to bring her warmth, creativity, and relational vision to The Braid team.
SUSIE YURÉ has proudly worked with The Braid for sixteen years. She has produced musical theatre productions, classical concerts, and cabaret performances. Susie has volunteered in nonprofit organizations in which she has held leadership roles in fundraising, event planning, facilities coordinating, programming, membership, marketing, and administration. She holds a BA and MA in elementary education from USC (where she met her husband), along with her California lifetime teaching credential.
ROSE ZIFF came out of retirement to work for The Braid after working at UCLA Medical Center for 33 years, where she functioned as “den mother” to more than 1000 interns, residents, and clinical fellows at UCLA, the VA, and Olive View-UCLA Medical Centers, providing resources and support. Rose is currently serving on the Board of Directors for Lev Eisha, a Jewish women’s non-profit religious organization and spiritual community. Her hobbies include gardening, visiting Providence St. John’s Hospital with her therapy dog, and hosting a monthly book club.
Joshua Reuben Silverstein is an award-winning actor, comic, writer, beatboxer, and educator. His various performances and productions throughout the country have received admiration from creative geniuses ranging from Norman Lear to Prince. His solo show, The Joshua Silverstein Show, received rave reviews during its preview at the Greenway Court Theater in Los Angeles in 2014 and when it ran at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles in 2016. That version, titled Tell Me I’m Pretty included a three-piece band accompanying Joshua as he playfully wove through personal narratives pertaining to race and gender constructs in America. Using devices including pantomime, beatboxing, rapping, and spoken word, Joshua created a show that continues to inspire, challenge, provoke and motivate.
As an educator, Joshua has designed and guided countless theater, improvisation and spoken word workshops, as well as in-school residencies, all designed to create a safe and open space where students of all ages indulge in the freedom of creative expression. He has passionately cultivated and facilitated programs that explore a proactive approach to inclusivity and community building. His underlying goal is to always create a safe and open space where students of all ages can safely engage in vulnerable dialogue without judgement.
Since the early 1990s when he began his training as a member of the National Conference for Community and Justice, Joshua’s work has been focused on the fight against discrimination and bigotry, specifically addressing the question of how to build representative communities that spotlight inclusivity and equal justice.
His workshops have created safe and open environments around these topics at organizations such as A Season For Nonviolence, Agape International Spiritual Center, private and public schools across the country and several synagogues and Jewish organizations. He is frequently invited to speak at organizations that are looking for guided dialogue around the topics of justice and inclusivity, and he continues providing education, advocacy and inclusive community building by consulting at recreational camps, religious and secular institutions that seek to address issues of access and inclusivity. During the pandemic, Joshua has been facilitating his weekly introspective creative writing workshop sessions called: Process Out Loud.
Cinthya Silverstein is a mother, photographer, and dedicated autodidact living and working in Southern California. With a degree in Anthropology from the University of California Los Angeles, she is a natural observer, documenting the world around her by making images. Her work focuses on the power of visual narrative and addressing constructed ideas around space and identity. Her most current work focuses on addressing the visuality of birth, focusing on how birth photography can augment agency and liberation that can empower Black and Brown birthing bodies and impact maternal health outcomes.
Dillan@the-braid.org
DILLAN COHEN is a producer, writer, and creative strategist whose work spans film, scripted series, live programming, digital projects, and community building. A two-time Braid NEXT Emerging Artist Literary Fellow, his creative work includes the acclaimed sci-fi series Man in Space, distributed through Realm Media, and the short film As Is Tradition, which screened at the LA Shorts International Film Festival. He has also worked extensively in the Jewish nonprofit and community space, developing programming, events, and creative experiences in collaboration with organizations across Los Angeles. Across his work, Dillan is passionate about bringing people together through storytelling and creating spaces where artists, audiences, and communities can connect and collaborate.
HONORARY BOARD
Celebrating Jewish celebrities that are proud to support The Braid.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
RONDA SPINAK created and produces The Braid’s Salon Theatre Series, curating more than 60 original Jewish-themed salons and adapting many of the pieces performed. She graduated from Stanford University, and holds degrees from UCLA (MBA) and USC (masters in professional writing). Ronda’s plays include Stories from the Fringe and festival-winner Oscar Wilde’s Wife, a favorite at the Ashland New Play Festival and Dayton’s FutureFest. She has written for the Emmy Award-winning children’s show Rugrats and authored the critically acclaimed nonfiction book, ProBodX: Proper Body Exercise (Harper Collins). Ronda is on the board of the Association for Jewish Theatres and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.
LYNNE HIMELSTEIN has dedicated herself to the Jewish community, assuming leadership positions on the board of National Women’s Philanthropy. In great demand as a speaker on Jewish philanthropy, she has traveled around both the United States and Israel, inspiring people to give to Jewish organizations. She is currently the chair of Lion of Judah Endowment for the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles.
PATRICIA LINDEN is formerly the Director of Financial Management at the RAND Corporation, a non-profit policy research organization based in Santa Monica. She brings 30 years of financial management experience to her role on the Board of The Braid and holds an MBA from UCLA. Prior to RAND she worked in public accounting for nine years with a specialty in entertainment and non-profits and worked in the film production and sports entertainment industry for six years prior to joining RAND in 1984.
Sr. Rabbi, Valley Beth Shalom Synagogue
Mary Kohav is a community relations veteran and social impact leader with more than 25 years of experience across Southern California’s public, private, and nonprofit sectors. As Westside Area Manager, Local Government Relations at LA Metro, Mary serves as the agency’s representative for the region’s westside cities, fostering partnerships and transit-first programs with elected officials, staff, faith, business, industry, and community leaders, Previously, Mary served as Social Equity Lead at global engineering firm Mott MacDonald, where she helped shape equitable infrastructure strategies and reparative community outcomes. She also founded and led social equity, interfaith dialogue, and civic leadership initiatives at the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. A recognized public speaker, author, and award winning influencer, Mary is known for convening diverse stakeholders around shared solutions that drive lasting social impact. She is also an advisory board member for JAHM-LA and co-founded its 3-year “Light the Path” initiative promoting cross-cultural local heritage and learning across neighborhoods by activating transit as shared civic space, in the lead up to the LA 2028 Olympic and Paralympic games.
JENNIFER ROTH KRIEGER worked in local politics for over 30 years, beginning with NYC Mayor Ed Koch. Her professional life in Los Angeles included working for County Supervisor Ed Edelman, serving as Deputy Mayor under Richard Riordan and working as Special Assistant to City Attorney Mike Feuer. Raised just outside of New York City, she has long embraced her Jewish identity – as a Wexner Fellow, member of the Jewish Women’s Initiative, a mentor through JVS-LA, and as an active member of the Nashuva community. She joined the Board of Directors of The Braid in 2018. She lives in Santa Monica with her husband Dr. Lauren Eric Krieger, where they have raised their three children – Samantha, Noah, and Ezra.
SHARON LANDAU oversees The Braid’s strategic planning, grants and operations, bringing the organization 20 years of non-profit leadership experience helping programs and organizations scale and thrive. As a former non-profit director and consultant, she engaged multidisciplinary stakeholders to design, pilot, scale and evaluate innovative public health access programs at local, state and national levels that became replicable models, including CA’s EC Pharmacy Access Program. She is a published researcher and program evaluator. She previously worked in management consulting for Kaiser Permanente. She holds a masters in public health from UCLA and is an alumnae of CA Women’s Policy Institute and Center for Collaborative Planning’s Leadership Institute. Currently she also serves as a mentor for Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Interdisciplinary Research Leaders.
JANIS C. NELSON has worked in the entertainment industry for over 40 years. She is an entertainment attorney with the law firm of Cowan DeBaets Abrahams + Sheppard, LLP in Beverly Hills, representing production companies, financiers, producers, writers, directors and actors working in theatre, film, television, publishing and new media. She has served on the boards of several prominent arts and media organizations, including Women in Film, Los Angeles Ballet and Dance Camera West. She began her career at the Repertory Theatre of Lincoln Center in New York City and she is a graduate of Barnard College and the UCLA School of Law.
GAIL REIMER is the founder and former executive director of the Jewish Women’s Archive. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, Reimer began her professional career as a faculty member of Wellesley College shortly after receiving her PhD in English and American Literature from Rutgers University. Reimer is the co-editor of two anthologies of Jewish women’s writings – Reading Ruth: Women Reclaim a Sacred Story and Beginning Anew: A Woman’s Companion to the High Holy Days, and the executive producer of Making Trouble, a documentary on Jewish women comedians, and creator of the short documentary In the Footsteps of Regina Jonas. She was named by The Forward as one of the 50 most influential Jews of the year (2001) and by Women’s e-news as one of its 21 Leaders for the 21st century (2006) and honored with the American Jewish Distinguished Service Award from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (2012) and the Lee Max Friedman award for distinguished service in the field of American Jewish History by the American Jewish Historical Society (2014). She lives with her husband in Brookline, Massachusetts.
JACKIE WEINTRAUB’S career has included several professional areas including film production, nonprofit development and administration, physical fitness personal trainer and preschool teacher. She is presently Vice Chair of the Board of The Braid, and has served as a volunteer for seven years. Jackie co-founded the Los Angeles Children’s Museum, reopened today as The Discovery Cube LA. Jackie is currently developing several film projects.
LISA WESTERMARK is a co-founder and partner at Beverly Hills Private Wealth, where she brings a thoughtful, relationship-driven approach to advising individuals and families across generations. With a deep interest in behavioral finance, Lisa is passionate about understanding what motivates investors, enabling her to better anticipate client needs and align their financial strategies with their personal values and long-term goals. Her beliefs in strategic planning and the emotional drivers of financial decisions led her to earn the Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®) designation in 2020, integrating technical expertise with a human-centered approach to advising. Since beginning her career in wealth management over a decade ago, Lisa has developed a strong reputation for forming enduring relationships with families, often working with multiple generations, and has a particular affinity for advising the next generation of investors. She regularly meets with the adult children and grandchildren of long-standing clients to define their goals, implement investment plans, and teach the fundamentals of financial literacy. She is also a committed advocate for empowering women in finance, hosting educational seminars that address the distinct financial challenges and opportunities women face at different life stages. Lisa is a proud member of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles’ 2024/2025 Community Leadership Institute (CLI), an elite program designed to cultivate the next generation of lay leaders and philanthropists in LA. She also shares her love of music and formal vocal training by regularly singing at Stephen Wise Temple. Lisa holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre from the prestigious Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Kainoa, and their inspiring blind rescue dog, Poppy. Outside of work, she is an avid traveler and lover of classical music, theatre, art, and world history.
CONSULTANTS
Lisa Cirincione
Stuart Downey
Lisa Clumeck Graef
susan@landesmanndesign.com
Jerry Prendergast
Cinthya Silverstein
Joshua Reuben Silverstein is an award-winning actor, comic, writer, beatboxer, and educator. His various performances and productions throughout the country have received admiration from creative geniuses ranging from Norman Lear to Prince. His solo show, The Joshua Silverstein Show, received rave reviews during its preview at the Greenway Court Theater in Los Angeles in 2014 and when it ran at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles in 2016. That version, titled Tell Me I’m Pretty included a three-piece band accompanying Joshua as he playfully wove through personal narratives pertaining to race and gender constructs in America. Using devices including pantomime, beatboxing, rapping, and spoken word, Joshua created a show that continues to inspire, challenge, provoke and motivate.
As an educator, Joshua has designed and guided countless theater, improvisation and spoken word workshops, as well as in-school residencies, all designed to create a safe and open space where students of all ages indulge in the freedom of creative expression. He has passionately cultivated and facilitated programs that explore a proactive approach to inclusivity and community building. His underlying goal is to always create a safe and open space where students of all ages can safely engage in vulnerable dialogue without judgement.
Since the early 1990s when he began his training as a member of the National Conference for Community and Justice, Joshua’s work has been focused on the fight against discrimination and bigotry, specifically addressing the question of how to build representative communities that spotlight inclusivity and equal justice.
His workshops have created safe and open environments around these topics at organizations such as A Season For Nonviolence, Agape International Spiritual Center, private and public schools across the country and several synagogues and Jewish organizations. He is frequently invited to speak at organizations that are looking for guided dialogue around the topics of justice and inclusivity, and he continues providing education, advocacy and inclusive community building by consulting at recreational camps, religious and secular institutions that seek to address issues of access and inclusivity. During the pandemic, Joshua has been facilitating his weekly introspective creative writing workshop sessions called: Process Out Loud.
ADVISORY COUNCIL
LINDA ALLEN grew up in Southern California. After receiving a BA in English at Pitzer College she moved north to the Bay Area. As a young mother, she volunteered in the Saratoga schools and at Congregation Shir Hadash. From 2009-2019 she was the Program Manager for The Jewish Chaplaincy at Stanford Medicine. In her “free” time, she loves to travel, quilt and garden, spreading the word about the benefits of gardening with native plants.
She continues to volunteer at Congregation Shir Hadash. In 2023 she was a founding member of the bay area committee formed to ensure The Braid would have a continuing presence in the Northern California mid-peninsula and south bay region. She was the author of “Hope” which was included in Traveler’s Prayer. She is married with two adult children and 3 wonderful grandsons.
LIZ ALTMAN is a native Southern Californian. She received a BA in economics from the University of Michigan and a JD from SMU. She has volunteered for various organizations and currently is a captain of a tennis team. Liz produces the popular South Bay Salon for The Braid and lends the organization her expertise in real estate. When she is not devoting her time to The Braid or playing tennis, she works for a real estate management and development company, where she has been a vice president for the past 20 years. Prior to that, she worked as an in-house real estate attorney for two major retailers. She is licensed to practice law in Texas. She is married and has two adult children.
SUSAN BASKIN has written extensively for film and television. Violet, a film she wrote, won an Academy Award. Susan has published essays in various magazines, among them The Los Angeles Times Magazine and Los Angeles Magazine. “I, Citizen,” a piece she wrote for Jewish Women’s Theatre, was commissioned for the Fall 2018 Fundraiser. “The Perfect Dive” was performed in the March 2019 JWT production, It’s A Life. Susan is currently at work on a novel.
JULIE BRAM is a full-time community volunteer and activist. As a founding partner of the Jewish Venture Philanthropy Fund, she has been blessed to work with many remarkable nonprofit organizations. Her passion lies in using education and communication to effect positive change in the world. Julie and her husband Steve are founding partners of the Jewish Venture Philanthropy Fund. Julie currently serves on several advisory boards for a wide variety of charitable causes, including the Hand In Hand schools in Israel that educate Israeli Arab and Jewish children together; the American Jewish Committee; The Zelikow School of Jewish Nonprofit Management at Hebrew Union College and the Braid. When not fighting the good fight, Julie can be found playing with her two grandchildren, Ezra and Lyla, who affectionately call her Juju!
ROBBIE DIAMOND was born and raised in Los Angeles, attending Dorsey High School and Cal State Northridge. She has worked in many fields including founding the Kindergarten Extended Day Program at Warner Avenue School, which was the predecessor to the STAR Education program. Robbie was a personal assistant to real estate developer and art collector Arthur Gilbert for twelve years, and then, upon his death, she became the administrator of The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation. She has volunteered with many groups over the years, including The Beauty Bus, P.S. Arts and the Entertainment Industry Foundation. Robbie loves to bake, read, travel and spend time with her family, including her two grandchildren, Oliver and Quinn.
GAIL ISRAEL has a MFA in writing for children and young adults from Hamline University and is currently working on a collection of short stories for adults. Her poems and short stories have been recognized for distinction by Writer’s Digest and New Millennium Writings. Gail has volunteered and supported the work of numerous Jewish, humanitarian, environmental, and local non-profits including The Jewish Federation, Camp United in Harmony, the Geffen Theater and the NRDC. Gail grew up on Long Island and currently lives in Los Angeles where she and her husband, Bob, have raised their two wonderful children, Jesse and Raychel.
SUZANNA KAPLAN was born in Mexico City, to an American mother and Mexican father, and grew up speaking English at home and Spanish everywhere else. As an actress and dancer, she performed in some of Mexico’s famous Vaudeville stages, as well as acted in commercials, films and on the stage. Suzanna moved to the US where she partnered with her best friend in a translation service and language school. Being young, they sold it as soon as it was making money and took off for Europe, eventually landing in Israel, which stretched out to 6 years, a husband, and a baby. Back in the US, Suzanna has focused on Hispanic advertising but mostly on doting on her three kids, and four grandchildren!
CAROL KIRSH is an Advisory Board Member with the Braid and served as San Francisco/Bay Area Producer, hosting the first “at home” salon in San Francisco in 2012. She earned her MSW from the University of Michigan and worked with adolescents, older adults and homeless families. She later lived in Hong Kong where she was an executive search consultant for two major international search firms, followed by several years living in Bali and Micronesia. A native Floridian, she and her husband now split their time between Colorado and Hawaii.
LISA PEARL ROSENBAUM is a writer and dramaturg at The Braid, the Los Angeles based theater and arts company, where she also develops and moderates programs that give voice to diverse and compelling Jewish voices. Her award-winning novel, A Day of Small Beginnings (Little, Brown & Co, 2006), a multi-generational story set in Poland, was inspired by her family history, and that of her in-laws, Polish Holocaust survivors. Stories from the Violins of Hope, her play about the remarkable Israeli violin maker who restored instruments that survived the Holocaust, drew from her lengthy interviews with Amnon Weinstein himself. A video of the Braid’s production was created during the pandemic in 2021, with actors performing from scripts, without sets or costumes, accompanied by musicians from the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony. It was shown globally, and at the United Nations. A full stage production of the play, written with Ronda Spinak, was performed in 2023 at the Bondi Beach Pavillion Theatre in Sydney, Australia. Lisa is delighted The Violin Maker, based on Stories from the Violins of Hope, is having its American premiere. She is a proud member of The Dramatists Guild.
ARLENE SARNER, an award-winning writer/producer, has written for every major movie studio, including Universal, Fox, Columbia, Paramount, Disney, Warner Brothers, Tri-Star, and Orion, as well as TV networks ABC, CBS, CBC, and VHI. Her film work includes Academy Award-nominated Peggy Sue Got Married and Blue Sky, starring Jessica Lange in her Academy Award-winning role. Arlene and husband and co-writer Jerry Leichtling turned Peggy Sue Got Married into a stage musical and mounted a successful production in London’s West End, with a US production now in the works. Arlene recently completed a feature film and a Canadian Pay Cable TV series about acclaimed pianist Glenn Gould. Her stage musical, I Only Have Eyes for You, completed a successful run at the Montalban Theater in Hollywood. Arlene and Jerry Leichtling’s biography of acclaimed musician and political activist Corky Hale Stoller, UNCORKED, was recently released. Arlene is currently working on a new stage musical.
SANDY SAVETT is a retired family and child therapist. For over 20 years she worked with at-risk families dealing with abuse, neglect and cultural difference in child rearing. She developed her love of theatre in Toronto and frequent family visits to New York.
DEBORAH SILBERSTEIN SHKUROVICH was born and raised in Mexico City, where she graduated summa cum laude from the Universidad Iberoamericana with a BA in communications. She worked as copywriter at Foote, Cone and Belding in Mexico City, and then moved to the US to pursue a MSJ from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Upon graduation, she worked as managing editor at Cahners Publishing. While raising three children, she works as a freelance translator and is a certified college counselor from UCLA. Deborah is the author of “Learning to Howl,” which was featured in The Braid’s Chutzpah and Salsa salon show.
SIRIDA TERK, a child of the de facto segregated South and of two professors, grew up balancing intellectual curiosity and personal drive with a love of ballet, modern dance, and theatre, a through-line being the power of narrative. She combined her passion for ancient history, languages, cultures and human behavior with her desire to educate “informed and empathetic citizens of the world” by becoming a middle and high school teacher and has been an educator for over 23 years. As a Jew of color and by choice, Siri serves as Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator for Milken Community School where she also teaches social science and English.
MARILEE TOLWIN has worked as a registered nurse in the areas of mental health and substance abuse for more than 28 years, and her dedication and expertise have led to many positions of leadership, including directorship of a hospital. Currently serving on the board of directors of Tolwin Psychiatric Medical Group and volunteering at various Jewish organizations, she is now pursuing her lifelong passion as a painter and interior designer. Marilee’s paintings have been exhibited in select group exhibits in Los Angeles and across the United States, and she has been The Braid’s resident artist since 2013 and is director of the Braid Gallery.
The Braid is also supported by our dynamic community of Artists in Residence and NEXT Emerging Artists Fellows and Alumni.
