Ms. Rathblott has been a leader in the nonprofit sector for nearly 20 years, 15 of which she spent at Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City where she played a central role in its expansion. There she held a series of progressively responsible positions, ultimately serving as associate executive director where she managed a $10 million annual budget and oversaw six major agency departments and corresponding board committees ranging from finance to public relations /marketing to operations. Ms. Rathblott holds a B.A. from Goucher College and an MSW from Boston University. She was the youngest alum awarded the Goucher College Excellence in Public Service in 2005. Ms. Rathblott joined HEAF in January 2013.

Christine Capacillo was born and raised in San Francisco CA to immigrant Filipino Parents. Growing up, she took advantage of opportunity and leadership programs which propelled her to be the first in her family to attend college. She received her B.A. from UCLA in History, Public Policy and Asian American Studies and her M.A. from Columbia University Teachers College in Developmental Psychology with a focus on at risk youth and higher education access. Christine has dedicated her career in ensuring educational equity for underrepresented communities and has worked in the educational non-profit sector for the past 17 years. She has contributed her work in nationally recognized organizations including Summer Search, Harlem Children’s Zone, College Summit, and iMentor. She is excited to serve as HEAF’s Director of Programs. Christine takes pride in her in skills in staff management and development, program implementation and assessment and relationship building. Christine enjoys listening to old school R and B, Hip Hop, learning about various cultures, and traveling with her fiancé Stan and their 4 year old Michael.

Deirdre Bennett comes to HEAF with several years of nonprofit experience. Before coming to HEAF as Director of Finance and Administration she worked at several non profits offering healthcare and educational services. Ms Bennett brings an expertise in all aspects of not for profit accounting. She has a lifelong dedication for helping others and feels working with non profits allows her to fuel this passion. Ms. Bennett is a CPA and earned her BBA at Baruch College.

Lauren Girshon is a strategic thinker with diverse experience who fuses creativity with strong business acumen to achieve results.  She was born in the Bronx, raised in the suburbs of New York City and currently lives with her family in Manhattan.  She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a B.A. in Art History.  She started her career after graduation at Goldman Sachs in London and has subsequently worked in various industries, including non-profit.  Raising her children in the NYC public educational system, she understands the challenges involved in navigating the system and how daunting it can be without the proper resources.  She loves being part of an organization that believes in the potential of every child and which aims to provide equal educational and college access.

Krystal was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. and is the youngest of five boys and the only girl. She is a first-generation college student with a BS in Criminal Justice and a Masters in Social Work and attended both an HBCU ( Lincoln University) and an Ivy League ( Columbia University). Her passion has always been to work with youth and increase youth voice in their communities. In her free time, she enjoys going to brunch, traveling, Netflix and sleeping.

Kinyanna Evans grew up in Brooklyn but later moved to Queens. She graduated with a Major in Education Studies and a minor in women studies from DePauw University. She is passionate about providing space for young people of color to feel empowered and live unapologetically. In her spare time, Kinyanna loves to read poetry and work on her baking talent.  

Kelli is a Philadelphia native and has been in New York for just over two years.  She has a BA in Media Studies from The Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, DC, and a Master of Education in Higher Education and Student Affairs from University of South Carolina.  Kelli first became passionate about working to provide greater access to higher education while serving as a member of Jesuit Volunteer Corps, where she worked with the Corporate Work Study Program at Verbum Dei High School, part of the Cristo Rey Network of schools, in Los Angeles, CA. Kelli has spent her career building volunteer and student programs with Fordham University, Jesuit Volunteer Corps, and LaSalle University.  She brings to HEAF a passion for relationship building and connecting community and corporate partners to the HEAF students and programs in order to raise awareness and deepen our impact.

“The purpose of life is to live a life of purpose.” – Richard Leider. Terryann Jackson is a Harlem native with a B.A. in Communications from City College. Along with her love for marketing and event planning, she brings to HEAF her passion for empowering students to sustain academic excellence and foster their creativity while working towards discovering their purpose.  Terryann believes as global citizens if we all invest in education we are one step closer to making a difference in the world.

L’Toya hails from upstate New York. Her desire is to help students discover their full potential and empower them to be influencers in their local and global communities. L’Toya is a graduate of New York University and has a diverse background, working in museum education, charter school education and various after-school programs.

Calvin Luo is a New York State Registered CPA. He has a M.BA. in accounting from SUNY New Paltz from upstate New York. Prior to
joining HEAF, He worked at PwC, a big-4 public accounting firm, where he focused was for-profit taxes and accounting. Subsequently he worked at Lighthouse Partners, a private hedge fund with $8 billion asset under management. He worked at Citco Financial Services as supervisor. He started out at HEAF in the Finance department as a volunteer. His goal is to use his talents and skills to help the underserved youth and communities.

Damaris Mercado is a native New Yorker and a graduate of Syracuse University in 1992 from the School of Visual and Performing Arts with a BS in Communications. Her background is in the entertainment industry working on productions at the age of 15 alongside her family including her legendary father Ralph Mercado. She has worn many hats, creating, producing, hosting and facilitating all kinds of projects and programs including TV, film, music videos, concerts, music festivals, expos, seminars, workshops and more. She also has attained multiple certificates in yoga, nutrition, and life coaching to help entertainment clients, the community at large, and youth with balancing their lives physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Damaris has two children in college currently and has the passion for education that we look for at HEAF and she is excited to share her experiences with our students in helping them get to and through college!

Phylicia Mussington-Matthews received her B.S. in Psychology with a concentration in neuroscience from Brooklyn College. She always hoped to make a significant contribution to the scientific community but realized the biggest contribution she could make was helping to shape the leaders of tomorrow. The Brooklyn native has 9 years of experience working with youth in both for profit and not-for-profit sectors.

Khin Lay Nwe  is Budget and Finance Specialist with MBA and BS (Mathematics). Before joining HEAF, she worked for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and United Nation Agencies for health development programmes. She has considerable experience in US Government fiscal, multi-year budget planning, contracting, grants  and cooperative agreements process and policies.

Joshua was born in the Bronx and grew up in Washington Heights the youngest of 3 boys. He graduated with a B.S. in Human Biology with a minor in theatre. He brings prior experience working at the non-profit organization Center for Family Life as part of their administrative team. As a product of a Harlem-based after school program he is happy to give back to the community that helped him as a youth.

 

Delasia Rice was born and raised in the Bronx, NY. She received her BS in Psychology with a minor in African and African American Studies from The College at Brockport, SUNY. From a young age she knew the conditions in her area were not great especially regarding education and hoped to use her career to improve it, not just in the Bronx but in all underrepresented areas across the country. She will soon be going back for her Masters in Higher Education Fall 2019 and hopes to receive her Doctorate degree in Educational Policy. Through HEAF, she hopes to not only give back to the community she loves so much but to also gain knowledge on serving the community and utilizing it throughout her career and reaching many more students.

Coming Soon

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Verna Wade is a Chicago native who’s lived in New York for the Past 6 years. She received her Bachelors of Science in Psychology from College of Staten Island and a Masters of Urban Studies from Queens College. Verna always wanted to work in youth advocacy and youth development, but it was not until her move to New York that she began to pursue he career in this field. Her experiences range from youth development programming in New York’s juvenile detention facilities to college access counseling in high schools. She brings to HEAF a passion for youth development and youth empowerment.

Stefin Woolever is a native Coloradan and a graduate of the University of Denver with a B.A. in Theatre. Stefin has pursued a career in acting, in Denver and now here in NYC, while accidentally stumbling into the world of Educational Nonprofits and development work. Prior to HEAF, Stefin was the Executive Assistant and Development and Communications Coordinator at Family Star Montessori in Denver, CO. Stefin brings with him a passion for education and for elevating students to be better and strive for more. Stefin loves to learn and brings with him a passion for HEAF, charisma and theatricality, and a daily smile!