Senior Manager, Education Program
Ana Stern
Ana is extremely thrilled to join the Moth! Although she has traveled all over the world, she is a die-hard New Yorker with a bachelor’s and MPA from New York University. For over 10 years she has worked with programs that amplify and promote young people voices, their stories, and their dreams. The current chapter of Ana’s story features bike rides through Brooklyn, her two cats Andre 3000 and Big Boi, getting her hands dirty with her pottery craft, speaking different languages, reading books in the park, and now being a team member at the Moth!

Manager, Education and Instructor Programs
Melissa Brown
Melissa Brown is The Moth’s Manager, Education and Instructor Programs. As an instructor with The Moth's Community, Education, and MothWorks programs since 2011, Melissa has taught storytelling to high school and college students across NYC, as well as exonerees at the Innocence Project, individuals living with disabilities at Upstream Arts, team leaders at Google, mentors and mentees at Bloomberg and Summer Search, and storytellers at Rikers Island, Muslim Writers Collective, and Center for Court Innovation, among many others.

Melissa has also taught public speaking, communication, and theatre at CUNY and worked as a teaching artist and curriculum developer at B.A.M..  She is Co-Artistic Director of ARTBARN - a theatre company that creates immersive performances that draw on the stories and history of the spaces they are performed in- and the co-founder and Education Director of Other Shore - a company that partners with social justice organizations to employ storytelling and theater toward a more equitable future.

Assistant Producer, Education
Jonathan Cabral
Born and raised in the South Bronx to Dominican immigrants, Jonathan has always been fascinated with storytelling. He comes from the world of podcasting where he has previously worked with PRX, Futuro Media, and WNYC. When he’s not obsessed with storytelling he’s busy watching Soccer and finding the best blue cheese. Jonathan is thrilled to be part of the education team where he can assist in giving folks the tools and platform to tell their stories.

Program Coordinator, Education

Carmen Zapata

Carmen listened to The Moth every weekend growing up. She has lived in Southern California, Spain, and Jordan. She settled in NYC for college and has yet to leave. Growing up in different cultures and places led her to have a deep appreciation for the gift of the gab (also known as storytelling). In New York, you can find her eating dollar oysters, the #4 at king dumplings, and taking her dog everywhere she goes.

Hannah Allen is a Brooklyn based performer, choreographer and teaching artist. She received her BFA in Drama from NYU Tisch where she studied at Atlantic Acting School. Her work in educational programs around the city focuses on student driven theater, writing and movement exploration. As an interdisciplinary artist, HannaH seeks collaborative spaces with an emphasis on process and community building. She loves frolicking in nature and swimming in the ocean (no matter how cold!)

Priscilla Bustamante is an educator, interdisciplinary researcher, and teaching artist who deeply believes in the power of storytelling to facilitate healing and connection. She is working on her PhD in Critical Social Psychology, doing participatory action research in partnership with grassroots community organizations across the city to advance activism for intersectional equity and liberation. Born and raised in Queens, Priscilla is also a former dancer, an R&B music lover, and an avid sunset walker who is honored to join The Moth community!

Anooj Bhandari is a community organizer and experimental performance maker/ multi-disciplinary artist. Currently coordinating community-based training cohorts and youth organizing/programming at New York City’s Restorative Justice Initiative, Anooj is also a company member of the New York Neo-Futurists, Fresh Lime Soda Productions, and Agile Rascal Bicycle Touring Theater ensembles, a devised theater professor at the School of the New York Times, and has been an artist-in-residence with the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporic Arts and The Asian American Arts Alliance. He believes in the synonymy of being spiritual, artist, abolitionist, and friend, as his guiding compass to living a life where his body can be a home to himself and others.

Amy Shoshana Blumberg is a theater director, dramaturg, and teaching artist based in Brooklyn. She is co-producing artistic director of the after-image, a passionately postmodern theater company, with whom she creates devised dance-theater works. She also collaborates with IKantKoan Games / Jessica Creane (Chaos Theory), GREYZONE, and MeenMoves. She holds an MFA in Theater Directing from Temple University and a BA in Africana Studies and Dance from Barnard College. She loves going on adventures, particularly if they involve snacks.

ChazzGiovanni* Bruce is a polymathic generator, taster & "tool". Hailing from Harlem & Queens, New York, ChazzGiovanni* co-founded the production and community-building body NGRcreative in 2016. NGR is dedicated to activating Black Creation, joy, and reclaiming space and land. The physical, mental and spiritual spaces inside, around, and of us.

As an actor, you can catch him as an assortment of characters on Left3TV, as Tartuffe in Moliere's classical play, in Carlton Daniel Jr.'s coming of age tale Homegoing playing the role of Meech, and on HBO's Random Acts of Flyness as young Tio. ChazzGiovanni*'s work is centered around community enrichment, education, science, justice, creation, and love; blooming from both interpersonal & cosmic radicalism. Chazz is SUPER excited to be joining and fluttering alongside the rest of the MOTH squad.

Caroline Burkhart is a performer, director, choreographer, and teaching artist based in New York City. She holds a BA in Liberal Arts from Sarah Lawrence College, and has taught theatre and dance to students across New York and Connecticut. Her work is rooted in collaboration and guided by each student’s unique voice, physicality, and expression. Caroline has developed new work with FRIGID New York, the after-image, and La MaMa E.T.C., and has performed at MoMA PS1, Target Margin Theater and the Brick. She is a big fan of laughter, nature walks, and cannolis.

Kujegi Camara is passionate about creating meaningful connections across different platforms, entities, and people. Kujegi gets the most excitement when she is supporting others and working to improve the processes and systems they are in, when she is sharing her poetry with others, and when she is baking banana bread for her family and friends. Kujegi was a storyteller for The Moth's Community Program and with the help of The Moth Team unearthed a story of how the birth of her eldest daughter empowers her to love herself unabashedly. She believes there are stories in all of us, like flowers, waiting to blossom, and is looking forward to helping others find their way with words.

Hanna Campbell comes from a lineage of educators, most notably her father and grandmother. Her family’s commitment to education is what inspired her passion for working with young people and working towards educational equity. Hanna has been a member of The Moth's EDU team since 2016. At various points, in addition to working as an instructor, she's served as the Supervisor for Higher Education Initiatives and the EDU program's Senior Manager. She loves a good cup of coffee, reading a great book, and taking trips to Jamaica with her family.

Vera Carothers is a writer, audio producer, and educator. Currently, she is an MFA candidate in Nonfiction Writing at Columbia University's School of the Arts. Previously, she worked as an assistant producer at WNYC and traveled the country as a bilingual facilitator with the StoryCorps Mobile Tour. Her audio work has been featured on NPR's Morning Edition, NPR's Latino USA,WNYC, WAMU and Panoply. She holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Brown University, where she won the Casey Shearer Memorial Award for Excellence in Creative Nonfiction. She was also awarded the Impact Providence Grant for her work compiling a bilingual oral history of a Latino community in Rhode Island. She loves eating empanadas and riding her bike, preferably at the same time.

Eric Carrera is a rising sophomore at New York University. An All-City alum, Eric is an aspiring creative and hopes to use storytelling to illustrate the communities he grew up in. You can find him jogging in and around Southern Brooklyn, free writing in between classes at Washington Square Park, or listening to the latest Logic album. On a lighter note, one of his medium-term goals is playing a background character in Law and Order SVU.

Arlene Chico-Lugo is super excited to be joining The Moth’s Educational team. She is a seeker of truth, meaning, justice and joy. When she’s not being co-founder of Liberation Arts Collective, performing, producing, consulting medical students on interpersonal communication skills, teaching, organizing, or emailing you might find her dreaming of a vacation...and then thinking about how that vacation can turn into a project.

Shana Creaney received her Bachelor's from Fordham University and her MA in Literature from City College. She attended The Moth's Young Women's Voices Festival and her story was featured on the 10th Anniversary podcast. She has had poetry published at The Poetry Shed and her fiction appears in Sword and Sorcery Magazine and RIPE, while productions of comedy sketches and longform plays have been staged through Fordham University, Poor Mouth Theater, and The Tank. In addition to being a Moth Instructor, she currently teaches the freshman writing courses at City College. She has won the David Dortort Creative Writing Award of Playwriting and was longlisted for the Stauch Book Prize. She has presented at City College's annual Graduate Student Literature Association, Pacific American Modern Language Association, and Popular Culture Association academic conferences. She is a native of the Bronx and enjoys strong tea, bad weather, and scary movies.

Chris De La Cruz is a regular host for the Moth High School Slams. He is a comedian, storyteller, and social justice educator originally from Dayton, Ohio. He works as a Youth Development Specialist at South Bronx Community Charter High School and has most recently been featured on Refinery29, The Food Network, and SXSWedu as a keynote speaker.

Nestled in the intersections of decolonization, immigration, youth work, healing justice, land and herbalism, Jasmín Durán’s work seeks to uplift, celebrate and preserve the legacy of ancestral healing, wisdom, and technologies in the diaspora. As a child of immigrants, Jasmín embodies a deep understanding of the challenges and joys of the migrant experience and previously worked in an immigrant-centered nonprofit in the South Bronx where she developed and ran programming for high schoolers. An age range she finds ideal for retrieval and recovery of ancestral memory. As an educator, her work is participatory, culturally aware, youth centered and trauma informed. Today, she continues to support youth in NYC, working in an anti-violence organization where she co-creates brave spaces with young people to unpack, question, dream and activate.

Jasmín has a B.A. in International Relations & Food Studies from Syracuse University (2015). In 2020, she completed a Spiritual Herbalism Apprenticeship under the guidance of Master Herbalist Karen Rose at Sacred Vibes Apothecary in Brooklyn, NY. She has worked extensively at local community gardens and in organic farm projects abroad. Today, you can find her communing with plants at her local community garden, making medicine, vending her herbal line meztli medicinals, organizing mutual aid herbal efforts and healing clinics for her communities and developing community care and healing justice curriculum - all practices working towards a liberated world rooted in radical hope, love and true reciprocity with the land and each other.

Mariama Diallo is an alum from the Brooklyn High School of the Arts Moth team. She’s really excited to join the team as an Instructor and begin to work with storytellers. When she is not singing to herself, she is often happily standing on egregiously long theater rush ticket lines.

Yadira De La Riva is a theater artist from El Paso, Texas/Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. She is an alumna of UC Santa Cruz and NYU where she wrote, performed, and produced One Journey, a one-woman show exploring US/Mexico border identity, which she toured throughout the U.S. and along the U.S./Mexico border. Her recent acting credits include: Zoongoro Bailongo (New York Children’s Theater), La Negra (BRIC), Alonzo (2019 New York Latino Film Festival), Noche de Alebrijes (One Blue Cat and Art VallARTa) and Carla's Quince (The Voting Project). As an educator, she has taught theater-making and storytelling with diverse communities, non-profits, universities, and cultural centers throughout the U.S. and internationally. Yadira is dedicated to liberating storytelling and thrilled to join The Moth's Teaching Artist Community! www.yadiradelariva.com

Casey Donahue has been a lead instructor with The Moth since 2012, where she has worn many hats, including that of the Moth's Community Program Manager and Curatorial Associate.  As a speech coach, Casey has shaped TED Talks, British Vogue interviews, and wedding vows, among other things. She has also partnered with organizations such as the Supportive Housing Network, Caring Across Generations, Girls Who Code, the American Jewish Historical Society, Pioneer Works, and the Reproductive Health Access Project to help people shape their personal experiences into powerful stories.  She holds an MDiv from Union Theological Seminary, loves officiating weddings, and eats ice cream for breakfast sometimes.

Shani Douglas is a human being - artist, educator, student of life, youth advocate, and restorative justice practitioner, from Oakland, California. The embodiment of peace, freedom, love, creativity, healing, and self-expression is her life’s greatest pursuit, and she has spent her journey on earth thus far cultivating these values within herself while encouraging and empowering others to do the same. With a BA in social work and a heart for healing, she has served youth, families, and communities for 10+ years. Her love of storytelling was first cultivated through film and songwriting at an early age, and thus her passion for “The Arts” was born. Currently studying acting at New Federal Theatre, Shani is faith walking her way into the life of her dreams. One where love, dignity, integrity, authenticity, connection, wellness, liberation, and joy are the highest priorities. Honored and grateful to be joining The Moth team! 

Ciera Dudley is an educator, illustrator, and writer excited to join the Moth team. She holds a BA in Urban Studies from UC Berkeley and has worked for four years in education, focusing on the intersection of urban planning, geography, and storytelling. She currently leads workshops at Green-Wood Cemetery and Brooklyn Children’s Museum with youth visitors. Since 2017, she has organized with the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, documenting and fighting displacement and eviction in New York City through oral history, cartography, and data visualization. Originally from California, she has a low tolerance for cold weather and a high tolerance for people complaining about traffic.

Megan Xotchilt Espinoza grew up in Southeast LA and was raised on stories that fueled her fervent curiosity about timing and life's happenings. This prepared her in her work and undergraduate career to understand the reverence in meeting strangers turned companions of truth when they’d share stories about their lives. With the support of family, friends, mentors, and community she has earned a Bachelor of Arts in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. You can find her documenting her dreams, running among the trees, conjuring a poem or two, burning her coffee or tea just right, rewatching The Matrix, or religiously reciting the lyrics to Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst.

Jasmine Francois is a theatre artist, storyteller and Applied Theatre Practitioner, and aspiring writer from Riverside, California. Most recently she worked as a Teaching Artist Americorps Fellow with ArtistYear at PS 171 in Astoria, Queens. She created a theatre curriculum for the school and taught different theatrical styles such as playwriting, movement, puppetry and acting to students in Pre-K to 5th grade. Jasmine is also a proud alum of the Teaching Artist Project. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Drama and History from Ithaca College in 2011. After graduating, she taught in English in Japan with the JET Programme for three years. Jasmine then rejoined the theatre-making world and graduated with a Master’s degree in Applied Theatre from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. While in London, she worked as a drama workshop facilitator with Body and Soul Charity and Outside Edge Theatre Company. She was also a writing workshop assistant and intern at the Ministry of Stories, Production Assistant and performer with The Paper Project, and Festival Assistant for Talawa Theatre Company.

Cyndi Freeman is a two-time NY Fringe Festival award-winning solo performer. Her one-woman shows have been presented in New York, Boston, Amsterdam, Ireland, the UK, and Fringe Festivals in Edinburgh and throughout North America. As a storyteller, her credits include The Moth, RISK!, The Story Collider, and PBS's Stories from The Stage. Ms. Freeman was a recipient of a Grand Prize Playwriting Fellowship Award from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. She is also the recipient of four Artist-in-Residence awards through the Brooklyn Arts Council as part of the SU-CASA program. This funding has allowed her to run storytelling programs for senior citizens.

With over 15 years of experience as a storytelling instructor at The Moth, Cyndi has worked with a diverse range of organizations, helping individuals discover the power of their own narratives. She has a passion for empowering individuals and assisting them in elevating their voices. She believes that every life is an astonishing experience, each of us has stories to share, and that stories have the power to connect us to others and build understanding.

Esmond Fountain is a storyteller/comedian based in Brooklyn who firmly believes that an order of French fries qualifies as a meal. Esmond is a military brat, so you're better not asking him where he's from. Storytelling carried him through high school and college, and he is stoked to join the teaching artist community with the Moth. When he's not sourcing the internet to find evidence to back his theory that french fries are healthy, you can catch Esmond doing stand-up in only four boroughs of New York City.

Tishell Gabriel is a sophomore at Medgar Evers College majoring in Psychology. She’s from the beautiful twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago and enjoys music regardless of genre; from Alternative to Annette Hanshaw (because she is her own genre) to Soca. She loves open water and adventure.

David Gaskin is born and raised in the old Bed Stuy, not the new Bed Stuy. David currently served as a community leader against Gun and Gang Violence inside Bedford Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Brownsville, East Flatbush, and the Fort Greene. His current role is one-third of the leadership team at Second Chance Studios (SCS), a non-profit agency that trains and employs the formerly incarcerated in the digital media field. David is also the proud father of 3 beautiful children.

Caitlin Gaspar is a New York based playwright, performer, director and teaching artist. She creates art interweaving spiritual experiences with the creative. Her solo performance works include Good at Cults, commissioned as part of the inaugural Speak Up, Rise Up Festival and Self Possession, both of which have toured in Canada and New York. She has held residencies with SPACE on Ryder Farm and the Invulnerable Nothings. In the educational world, she is a co-founder/Artistic Director of Brooklyn Shakespeare Company and has created theater with students ages 3-23 across NYC with the Atlantic Theater Co, Opening Act, ArtsConnection, and CAMP, for which she was the resident playwright/director from 2014-2020. She also helped start up Stand Up! Girls, a non-profit that guides young women through performing stand up. She loves helping people express their creativity and share their stories!

Julian Goldhagen is a social worker and performance artist based in Brooklyn. Their storytelling work has been featured at the New Museum, NY International Fringe Festival, the United Nations Palais de Nacion, and the Moth GrandSLAM stage. They are madly in love with their cat, Lavender.

Lauren Gonzalez loves to share her passion for storytelling in community throughout New York City, and has worked with The Moth for the past two years to cultivate these spaces. She's taught workshops in partnership with community organizations, high schools, and in conference settings, and co-hosted The Moth Podcast Tenth Anniversary Episode. She is constantly astounded when a room full of strangers becomes a makeshift community throughout the course of a Moth workshop.

Claire Hodgdon is a Bay Area-raised, Brooklyn-based writer and educator. She received her MFA in Nonfiction Writing from Columbia University and her BA in English and American Literatures from Middlebury College. She has taught English and Creative Writing to students from third graders to college students and loves creating welcoming environments where every voice is heard and every story matters. Her writing has been published in Teen Vogue, Electric Literature, Longreads, and elsewhere, and been nominated for a Best of the Net award.

Aleeza Kazmi is a multimedia storyteller passionate about using the power of storytelling for social good. Aleeza has worked as an Assistant Producer with The Moth, where she brought dozens of stories to live stages across the U.S. She has also hosted two episodes of The Moth Podcast and has worked with the organization for over six years as a storyteller, telling stories on stages from NYC to LA. Her work has been featured in Teen Vogue and The Moth’s New York Times bestselling story collection, Occasional Magic. Aleeza graduated from Stony Brook University in 2019 with a degree in Journalism. She is a proud native New Yorker and resides in Queens, NY.

Zoë Laiz is an actor, educator, and storyteller based in New York City. She believes in the power of stories and their ability to help us understand the world, those around us, and ourselves. Zoë is passionate about collaboration, representation, and social, racial, and environmental justice. She is almost equally passionate about Shakespeare, dogs, and mac & cheese.

Eddy Laughter grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and is an alum of the Moth Education Program at The Beacon School in Manhattan. She’s a fan of writing, wandering aimlessly, and overanalyzing monster movies. Currently, she’s attending Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she will most likely end up studying some form of storytelling. 

Tim Lopez is a storyteller and educator based in Los Angeles. He is a multiple Moth StorySLAM winner whose stories have been featured on The Moth Radio Hour, KCRW in Los Angeles, and CBS Radio nationwide. He is a long time instructor with the Moth Community and Education Program, where he has worked with high school students and community partners to craft true personal stories in NYC and beyond. He is also a Jeopardy! champion and kinda can't stop talking about it.

Cecilia/ Ceci/ Ilia Lynn-Jacobs (she/they/he) compulsively takes apart stories the same way they do household appliances, locks, and clothing; it just feels good to see how they’re made. Raised in California and Hawaii on familial yarns of Colorado homesteads, Alaskan biology trips and road trips to family barbecues with the cousins back in Louisiana, Ceci's made their life messing around mediums in Brooklyn. If you looked into their brain at any given point, you’d find them by the big Pacific, feeling the pull of big dark water in a decade of rocking subway rides, performance curtain calls, and summer thunderstorms. He makes great brisket. She wants a cat someday.

Nancy Ma is an actor, writer, and facilitator who grew up in Chinatown, New York. Her solo show, Home, produced by The Latino Theater Company, is a raw interrogation of belonging. It has been performed at schools and festivals around the country. Nancy also facilitates professional development workshops with Change Agents, an organization that empowers underrepresented college women, and acting workshops with The Bramon Garcia Braun Studio. She's so excited to join the team at The Moth!

Tim Manley is a writer, illustrator, storyteller, and former high school English teacher. He is the author of the book, Alice in Tumblr-land: And Other Fairy Tales for a New Generation.

Catherine McCarthy is the co-founder and former Senior Manager of The Moth's Education Program.  She has been a story director for the Moth Mainstage, and is the co-editor of the Penguin Random House Teacher's Guide for The Moth: All These Wonders. She also directed the award-winning solo show The Secret Life of Your Third Grade Teacher at the 2016 NYC Fringe Festival.  She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Social Work at Fordham University, and works as a psychotherapist at the Kull Initiative for Psychotherapy in Manhattan.

Leslie “Les” Mejia (She/They) is a South Bronx (Lenape Land) native of Dominican Descent. Les sits on the intersection of Educational Equity, Arts facilitation, and Wellness advocacy. Through her professional experiences, she has been able to serve as an advocate for underrepresented students as they navigate higher education. Her connection to the arts began during high school years where she was introduced to visual arts and theatre as avenues for telling her story and living through life challenges. Art and storytelling became a huge healing modality and she has since worked toward finding a way to share art as a healing tool. As a licensed social worker, she has had the opportunity to fuse her love for artistic expression and explore its relation to mental health and wellness. In her most recent endeavors, Les has begun bringing free and donation-based community events to the South Bronx with the sole purpose of connecting, creating, and inviting folks to express themselves freely.

MJ Moneymaker (she, they). My name is not a gimmick, jus'a name. I'm a struggling work in progress. Also, a Chinese-Puerto Rican, queer, US Navy veteran, adventurer, artivist, and storyteller. I believe storytelling through any medium, shares experiences, adds to life. I have had the honor to work with international human rights activists and local community organizers to support amplifying their stories for advocacy as a communications specialist. In this chapter of my life, I have my hands in many different cookie jars from making art and writing to being a co-partner of a start up and board member for a theater company. All of which helped lead me to find my way to The Moth. I'm honored to join this esteemed group of teaching artists who are as passionate about storytelling as I am.

Ray Muñoz is a writer and performer from the East Village of New York City. He’s graced stages in Williamstown, on Broadway, and The Kennedy Center. Ray worked with George Wendt, and famed mime, Marcel Marceau. A stand-up, improviser, and singer-songwriter, he enjoys a platform to engage. Ray has been teaching improvisation, storytelling, and scene work at schools all over New York City for nearly 20 years. He runs The Lance and Ray show podcast on Apple, as well as his children’s Instagram.

Ryan Pater grew up in North Carolina and has been teaching, performing and creating in New York City and Philadelphia for the past decade. He creates sc-ifi clown theater, writes freak folk songs, and facilitates workshops for original physical theater creation.

Melle Powers is a writer and performer whose work has been produced at the NY International Fringe Festival, The NY Frigid Festival, UCB and The Pit. Her solo show.“Whence Came Ye, Scarlett O’Hara O’Hanrahan,” earned her a NYTheatre.com “Person of the Year” commendation, as well as a nomination for “Best Solo Show” from the NY Innovative Theater Awards. As a professional actress she's appeared in over 100 films, commercials, voiceovers, theatrical and television shows. In addition to The Moth, she facilitates for The Anti-Defamation League, WomenSpeak Training, and Bi-Jingo! She has enjoyed being a Teaching Artist for Tada!, Black Nexxus and has been an Adjunct Professor at NYU. Melle loves storytelling!

Dahlia Lopez Ramsay is an educator and applied theater practitioner born and raised in Manhattan. She holds degrees in Urban Studies, Applied Theater and Theater Education. She has also toured with groups from around the world as a licensed NYC sightseeing guide since 2006. She currently works as a creative associate for the Department of Education’s All-In(clusive) Theater Ensemble and as a lead teaching artist for The Public Theater’s Public Works and Mobile Unit programs. When not directing devised theater work, or guiding people around New York, she leads youth programming such as the monument restoration internship at Green-Wood Cemetery. Don’t tell her you don’t know how to swim or ride a bike because teaching you will become her mission. Water polo anyone?

Nina Rembert-Wolkwitz (she/her) is a public health professional who is delighted to continue her adventure with the Moth, going from Community Program alumna to instructor! When she is not researching ways to operationalize justice and data equity into public health programs, Nina is usually daydreaming of international travel, speed-knitting various clothing items, curating playlists for every vibe ("listening to jazz on a hot summer night in Lausanne" is a new favorite), or composing new experimental recipes. She loves storytelling not just because it's a powerful tool for shifting narratives, building bridges, and learning new things, but also because of the plot twists and excitement!

ingrid romero is an artist, educator, and community organizer based in New York City. They have been organizing for over fifteen years and bring over a decade of facilitation, education, and youth work experience. They have been an instructor at The Moth since 2020, and love being able to work and co-create alongside communities through the magic that is storytelling. ingrid loves colombian bakeries, collecting vinyl records and creating things with their hands.

hannah lee rose believes our stories are sacred and laughter is the best medicine. She has been on the New York Comedy scene for nearly a decade. In that time, she has embraced comedy in all of its forms (improv, hip-hop improv, sketch, and stand-up). She also co-created and co-produced a sketch comedy show (Best of Both Worlds) as well as a cabaret (Happy Hour with Rocky & Hannah).

hannah earned her storyteller stripes by taking part in The Moth’s Community Program with The Entertainment Community Fund. As a creator, she aims to channel content that is honest, heartfelt, and humorous. As a teaching artist, she creates brave spaces for her students to connect with their own unique perspectives and voices through story craft.

Onnesha Roychoudhuri is a Brooklyn-based writer, educator, and storyteller. A 2013 fellow at the Center for Fiction, her writing has appeared in publications such as Rolling Stone, n+1, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Boston Review, McSweeney’s, The Rumpus, The Nation, The American Prospect, Salon, and Mother Jones. She is the co-founder of Speech/Act, an organization working at the intersection of storytelling and social justice. Her book, The Marginalized Majority: Claiming Our Power in a Post-Truth America (Melville House Books, July 2018) was named one of the best nonfiction books of 2018 by Kirkus Reviews.  

Daleelah Saleh is an Egyptian-American multimedia storyteller from Astoria, Queens. Her work is rooted in a fierce love for her communities, and she’s dedicated to using her voice, pen, and camera to challenge dominant narratives.

A video producer at WNYC’s The Greene Space, she loves capturing the special moments of connection that occur at live events. Her words can be found in the Queens Ledger, Middlebury Campus, and anthology Nonwhite and Woman, for which she was an editorial intern.

She has a degree in film and media studies from Middlebury College, where she dedicated much of her research to the representation of Arab and Muslim women on screen. She is a proud Girls Write Now and Posse alumna, as well as a Women’s Media Group Scholar and Scope of Work member.

She is so excited to be carrying on her mom and grandma’s legacy of working in education and uplifting future changemakers as an assistant instructor at The Moth.

Brielle Silvestri is a recent graduate of the MA in Applied Theatre program at CUNY SPS.  She is an educator, performer, and writer. As part of her degree, Brielle co-facilitated applied theatre workshops at the University of Rwanda, College of Education.  She also co-facilitates anti-sexual harassment workshops for start-up companies and works as a teaching-artist with the The Moth Community and Education Programs, People’s Theatre Project, Creative Arts Team, and New York City Children’s Theater. Brielle studied abroad at the London Academy of Theatre, is a graduate of The William Esper Studio's two-year acting conservatory, and has taken improv classes at The Magnet Theater. In 2016, her play SALT was accepted into the Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez, Alaska. She holds a BA in English Literature from Rutgers University.

In addition to working for The Moth, Elijah Sparkman is a Teaching Artist for 826michigan, where he facilitates creative writing workshops in Detroit and Ypsilanti schools. He is a member-owner at the Hamtramck bookstore co-op Book Suey, and is a Memoir Reader for Split Lip. He also serves as the Literary Editor for Clearline, a sustainable fashion magazine that he operates with his sister and friends. He holds an MFA in fiction writing from Northern Michigan University. He has been published with Cheap Pop and Wayne Literary Review. He loves techno, Lake Superior, and storytelling in pretty much every form.

Raquel Thompson joins inspired teams all over the world that are attempting to tackle important challenges that she feels connected to. Often, the issue is around voice and who gets to tell their story versus having their story told to them. She is excited to join The Moth in her hometown Brooklyn to cultivate spaces full of agency, connection, compassion, and joy. She is equally excited to continue carving out time to relax at cliff sides and sleep under the open sky.

Callie Thuma is a listener, an educator, and a believer in the power of sharing our stories. She currently works at HERE to HERE, a new partnership between Dreamyard Project and Big Picture Learning that builds interest-based career pathways for 14 to 25 year olds in the South Bronx.  Previously, she worked at The Moth Education and Community Programs, producing live events and teaching the art of personal storytelling to high school students and adults. She began her career as elementary school teacher in New Orleans, and has also worked on StoryCorps' national Mobile Tour, where she recorded and archived life stories from over a thousand individuals. A Pittsburgh native, Callie is a proud Schenley High School graduate, and holds a Bachelors of Arts in American Studies from Macalester College.

Christopher Moncayo-Torres is an Ecuadorian-American playwright, teaching artist and live storyteller, born and bred in Queens, NY. He first practiced creative writing while pretending to study for his forensic psychology degree. He’s an alumnus of Playwrights Horizons’ Perspectives on Playwriting (POP) Core Workshop and a former facilitator of their POP Talks. He’s a member of The Civilians 2018-2019 R&D Group, Mission to (dit)Mars Propulsion Lab and NYC Latinx Playwright Circle. 

He is the co-founder and Managing Director of Fail Better NYC, a BIPOC-CUNY centered community of multi-disciplinary art-makers who safely experiment together with their unfinished, messes-in-progress through free workshops. He also produces and hosts the monthly live storytelling-workshop show, Fail Better Storytime. 

Miyo Tubridy is from the coffee and slow rain of Seattle, WA but found home in the pulsing energy of NYC and sweetness of Harlem where she lives with her wife and son. She’s a writer who taught English in NYC public middle and high schools for fifteen years, nurturing young people’s love of writing, reading, and performing. She collaborated with teaching artists from Theatre for a New Audience, CUNY Creative Arts Team and poet kahlil almustafa to teach and develop performance-based curriculum. Miyo was selected to share best teaching of writing practices in the New York City Writing Project Invitational Summer Institute. These days, you can find her scribbling in a notebook, crafting creative nonfiction, or immersed in imaginative play with her toddler. She’s delighted to join the Moth Team and share in the joy of personal storytelling!

Diavian Walters is currently a junior at Mercy College who aspires to be a Social Worker. Her love for stories has grown throughout her time of being a student and Interning Teaching Artist in the Moth Education program. Brooklyn born and raised, she enjoys the city life and its opportunities. As an introvert and empath, she finds joy in creating art, writing, fighting social injustices, and caring for animals.  Recently becoming a mother of two Red Ear Slider turtles and a kitten has given her purpose and motivation.

Nica Williams is a teaching artist at The Moth. As a former high school storyteller herself, she relishes fusing both experiences to not only encourage students, but to additionally demonstrate different ways to contribute to storytelling. Outside of The Moth, Nica is an artist and performer, who’s always ready to create and connect with others. She spends half her time daydreaming of the day she meets Rihanna and hopefully introducing her to The Moth Stage!

Anaïs Cerina Irizarry Austin is currently a senior in high school, who inhabits the Brooklyn and Nassau County (Long Island)  areas of New York. She has been acting in theatre settings since she was six years old, and she plans on minoring her postsecondary studies in Theatre Acting. Considering this, it makes sense why Anaïs enjoys storytelling and the process of crafting a great story so much. She is an alum of The Moth's All-City program, and has performed in at the Education Showcase, Moth Teacher Institute, and promotional events since graduating from All-City. She loves going to bakeries on Sunday mornings and stuffing herself with the newest cake flavors that they have available, Anaïs loves to read new scientific fiction novels, bake, knit, write poetry, and to sing while doing these things.

Sadia Joya is a New Yorker, born and raised in Narayanganj, Bangladesh. She holds a BA in English from CUNY Queens College, and is currently pursuing an MA in English at the same institution. She is an alumna of The Moth's Fall 2022 All CUNY program and was a speaker at The Moth EDU GrandSLAM January 2023. In her free time, she translates TED talks and indulges in Marvel memes while sitting in the Quiet Room of the Queens Public Library.

Tara Mallela is currently a senior at Milton Academy in Boston, but calls California home. On the weekends, she loves to travel to new places within Boston, read, and play tennis with her friends. As a student, she loves discussing and learning Asian and Multiracial history and economic disparities through race. She loves listening to stories and is extremely thrilled to have the opportunity to help others find their voice - as MOTH did for her.

Jenna Ulizio is a freshman English major at the University of Connecticut and an All-Country alum. She is a writer and poet who loves storytelling of all forms. They aspire to be a librarian and author one day so she can spread the joy of stories and words like other influential people in their life did. She currently is looking forward to helping others find their voice and tell their story. 

Masturah Wardak is an alum of the Moth's All Country StorySLAM program. Located in California, she is currently a freshman in college who enjoys getting messy with paint and taking refuge from the world at the back of her school's library. She is an artist and a creator at heart whose greatest wish is to tell stories and share them with the world. As a teaching intern she looks forward to working with new students and inspiring them to tell their own stories.