We are an international group of photographers, artists, educators, business leaders, and nonprofit experts who are dedicated to a common goal: Helping children in various circumstances find their voice and gain skills that will spark positive change in their world.
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Jeri Muchura is an internationally recognized award-winning photographer specializing in luxury portraiture and documentary photography. Her passion for storytelling has taken her across Kenya and Africa telling stories of resilience and triumph. She has held several exhibitions and received 1st place honours in the prestigious Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s MyAfrica photography contest in 2016. Because of her work, Jeri has won a couple of photography awards, been profiled by Kenyan and international media and her work has been published in various coffee-table photo-books.
Jeri’s love for children and sharing knowledge led her to join Photo Start in a supportive role in 2017 and finally taking the reins as the Country Program Coordinator [Kenya] in 2019. She brings on board 10 years of experience in Business Administration and Management as well as photography, coupled with a passion and love of impacting and changing lives.
Elizabeth Mwathi is a certified Online Business Manager with demonstrated interpersonal and people skills. Her background is quite wide having worked with a hotel chain for +10 years in Client Service, Administration, and Human Resources roles where she grew to become the Assistant Group Human Resources and Administration Manager.
Elizabeth is also a certified Microsoft Suite expert, holds a Diploma in Human Resource Management and Administration, and has trained in a variety of other areas including MailChimp email marketing, bullet-proof sales, and client service. She is also an expert transcriber, translator, writer, and social media manager.
Elizabeth has a passion for people, especially those whose position in life seems to be lowly and overlooked. You will find her offering a helping hand whenever she can to elevate others and make for a better community for all.
Silvia is a passionate changemaker with over 24 years experience in the non-profit sector and former executive director of two Johannesburg based non-profit organizations.
She specialises in organizational strategy, personal leadership, governance, administration, operations, stakeholder and board management as well as organizational sustainability. Her focus areas over the years include health care, HIV/Aids, children, community development, food security, education and enterprise development. Dedicated to contributing to the impact made in the social development sector, Silvia is able to bring cross sector expertise and perspective to all work entrusted to her.
Stephanie Lantz-Goldstein brings 18+ years of experience as a marketing and nonprofit leader, with a proven track record of successfully developing compelling, narrative-driven brand campaigns, outreach programs, fundraising strategies, and growth roadmaps for mission-driven organizations.
Stephanie has previously worked in varying capacities as an executive, consultant, and strategist, including with The National Kidney Foundation, ACHIEVEability, Colonial School District Education Foundation, Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association, and The Conservatory. In addition to nonprofits, her clients included Tangen Bioscience, Envision2beWell, and Sky Zone Trampoline Parks.
Before joining Photo Start, Stephanie was the Interim Executive Director of The JoyJ Initiative, a global nonprofit with headquarters in NYC.
Stephanie serves as the Senior Director & Principal of Lantz Consulting: Branding, Communications & Nonprofit Development for 19 years.
Stephanie holds a Master’s in Education and was a facilitator for the Penn Literacy Network at the Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania. She also was the Education Director and Principal at Beth Israel Synagogue. Stephanie has served on several boards and committees.
Gaireyah Fredericks is a single mother of three sons, Yaghya, Muhammad Uzair and Diyaa-Udeen. A local of Paarl and a member of the Paarl Muslim community.
She started writing in 2012 at the Breytenbach Center in Wellington. Since 2015, she has self-published seven poetry anthologies. Mientjies, Kaaps is Hollands, 40 stories, 40 worode op ‘40’, Ramadaan Chronicles 2017, H2O Poetry Calendar, Hanne innie lig, voete oppie grond and Mettie maan gepla.
She won “Best Supporting Actress” award for her diverse roles in the play, “Ons Komvandaan”. She won “Best script” in the Department of Arts and Culture’s drama competition for her play, Hanne innie lig, voete oppie grond and won Nalibali story bosso competition Provincial with her children’s story Elkeen hetta krakie. Her debut play received two nominations, namely ‘Best script’ and ‘Best upcoming actress’. She was just seen on DSTV’s Alles Malan on Kyknet in the role of the nurse last year.
The Wellington Station Festival presents an honorary award for her contribution to the promotion of Kaaps. She is often invited to various literary festivals such as the McGregore Poetry festival – also there she won the Patricia Schonstein for Mcgregor Festival poetry Award for her poem, “Dronk verdriet”. She also regularly reads at the Woordfees, Prins Albertfees, Adam Smallfees and Tuin van digtersfees, to name a few. In August 2019 she won 2nd place in the Avbob poetry competition national with her poem “Dood” and currently she has successfully obtained her BA Honors in Afrikaans at the University of the Western Cape.
She formulates and designs the Mothertongue project workshop series to educate emerging writers about self-publishing, the relationship between the author and his environment, as well as his work. The workshops are currently offered online.
Stephen Nzusa, aka Baba Yao, is a young lawyer, life coach, mentor, reformist, peace champion and human rights activist. Born and raised in Kibera, one of the biggest slum settlements in Kenya, Stephen is a believer in arbitration, alternative dispute resolutions and more active non-violence means to advocate for matters in the society. He has worked with a number of community organizations, like KUBUKA Kenya and Teen Pregnancy Awareness Kenya.
Stephen is the co-founder of a number of organizations and institutions, including Drop the Gun Initiative, Young Empowered Youth Group, Kibera Kenya Tulee Mayatima, and St Mary’s Education Centre, which is a program partner with Photo Start. He is currently the Director of Programs for HP Dawda Foundation that advocates for sustainability of local organizations from the urban poor settlements through the practice of urban farming and imparting of viable skills to single mothers and youths.
In Kibera, Stephen is well known for his courageous intervention during the 3 previous elections in Kenya. He was at the forefront championing for peace and a departure from post-election violence. He has been deeply involved in youth reforms, working with gangs to help them turn from a life of crime to productive and respectable members of the society.
His nick name, Baba Yao, meaning “their father” is coined from his passion and rescue of street families, orphans, vulnerable children, and widows from different slums, and through his network getting home placement for them.
Denise is a photo essayist who loves to tell musical stories of her settings in the San Francisco Bay Area and northern California. Armed with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from Shepherd University (Shepherdstown, WV), she zig zagged across the U.S. and occasionally around the world pursuing other passions including nonprofit marketing and operations, corporate event design and logistics, advertising, marketing, communications, and television production.
Denise has worked for and with leading companies in New York City, Hollywood, and Silicon Valley, but her favorites are the nonprofits. Her personal and professional mission is to give more by giving back to those less fortunate.
Scott is a creative producer with a strong background in marketing technology. He has successfully led Fortune 100 companies to modernize technology and improve work efficiency. Scott is currently studying filmmaking at the London Film School. He has a passion for photography and video production and loves to see tomorrow’s youth learn skills that will change their future for the better.
Scott ensures Photo Start’s technology works smoothly for volunteers, staff, and students.
Gillian Njeri is a double major student currently studying public relations & broadcasting at the Africa Nazarene University, graduating in 2020. Gillian has been providing crucial key-wording services as well as volunteering at the organization since 2016. Her love of social media has proven to be a valuable asset to the organization. She is a fun, compassionate and gentle-hearted person who loves working with kids. Her presence in the classes and centres brings joy to the children we work with and helps make learning fun.
CJ Meyer has a passion for building mission driven, self- sustaining teams and organizations. CJ graduated from the University of Delaware, where he majored in Information Systems with minors in Global Enterprise Technology and Entrepreneurship. He has created multiple successful ventures across several different industries from e-commerce stores to digital marketing agencies. CJ spent time as a Senior Management Consultant for KPMG, where he worked on data analytics and business intelligence projects. CJ has been a part of Photo Start since shortly after its inception in 2016.
David has a unique background in both photography (he is a professional photographer) and the law (he is an attorney with experience working with at-risk youth). David has degrees from Columbia University (BA, History; Political Science), the School of Visual Arts (Masters, Digital Photography), and Rutgers University School of Law (JD). After volunteering with an organization using photography in an after-school program, he founded Photo Start and developed the core program that has been adapted to each project and community. He has a strong and diverse network of supporters, funders and industry professionals.
Katrin Eismann specializes in interpretive travel, still life and portrait photography. She is an internationally respected artist, teacher, and author of Photoshop Restoration & Retouching, Photoshop Masking & Compositing, The Creative Digital Darkroom, and Real World Digital Photography – all of which have been translated into numerous languages. She received her BFA degree in Photographic Illustration from the Rochester Institute of Technology, her MFA degree in Design at the School of Visual Arts and in 2005 was inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame. Katrin founded and chaired the Masters in Digital Photography department at the School of Visual Arts in New York City for twelve years and she is currently working at Adobe Systems to help educate photographers worldwide!
Brad Smith is an award-winning photo editor with 35 years’ experience in visual storytelling. Brad was the Director of Photography for Time Inc., Sports Group, including Sports Illustrated and Golf Magazine and he was the Assistant Director of Photography for the White House during the Clinton administration. He’s the founder and director of Brad Smith Creative, a visual consulting group and the Vice President for Photography for the WWE.
Brian Smith is an award-winning photographer and author. His first photograph appeared in LIFE Magazine when he was a 20-year-old student at the University of Missouri. Five years later, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Sport News Photography. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer for his photographs of Haiti in Turmoil and he won first place in both the World Press Photo and Pictures of the Year competitions. His work has taken him across six continents and has been exhibited at the Library of Congress and the American Museum of Natural History.
Based in New York City, Sandra Stevenson is the Associate Director of Photography for CNN. She previously spent 15 years at The New York Times as an award-winning Assistant Editor in the photography department. She received a BA in English from Syracuse University and an advanced degree in multimedia from L’Universite Toulouse in France.
Sandra was a contributing writer in the book “Unseen: Unpublished Black History from The New York Times Photo Archives.” She was also the picture editor and co-curator on the book “This Is 18”, based on The New York Times feature of the same name.
Sonny Kalsi is a Founding Partner of GreenOak Real Estate, successful real estate management, and investment firm. Sonny is a graduate of Georgetown University with a degree in Business Administration and is a member of the Georgetown’s Board of Regents. He also serves on the board of several organizations including The Spence School, Teaching Matters, powerful Foundation and the AHRC New York City Foundation. He’s a member of the Young Presidents Organization and an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University in the Master’s of Real Estate Program.
Kevin Beiner has served various leadership roles at Northwell Health in Metropolitan New York. Currently, he is the Senior Vice President and Regional Executive Director for the Eastern Region, which includes six acute care hospitals and one inpatient behavioral health facility. Mr. Beiner holds a bachelor’s degree from Stony Brook University in New York and an MBA in health services management from Hofstra University in New York.
Caroline Gitau is currently the Executive Director of Akili Dada, an international award-winning leadership incubator. Their vision is to live in a world in which African women leaders are actively participating in key decision-making processes across sectors. Caroline is a cross functional leader who manages million-dollar portfolios and fundraises for impactful initiatives. She is passionate about research and has co-authored two articles on Gender-based Violence prevention and Adolescent Health in the Journals of American Pediatrics’ and Journal of Adolescent Health.
Margaret Roestorf works with non-profit organizations who get the job done at the grassroots level. She works primarily as a grant-writer and gently guides organizations, drawing on her experience as a former-CEO. Margaret’s work has taken her around the world, where she has raised funds and inspired people to support conservation, including the Obama family. She has been awarded the Eco-Logic Eco-Angel Award for her efforts towards conservation – her champions include Lewis Pugh the ice-swimmer and the Leiden Conservation Foundation.
