Board of Directors
Maryam Pugh
Maryam Pugh is a printmaker based in Philadelphia. She is the owner and CEO of the social justice apparel brand and screen printing workshop Philadelphia Printworks. She also serves on the steering committee of the March to End Rape Culture and as an organizer with the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund. She is a board member of the Greenmount West Community Center Foundation which oversees Greenmount West Power Press, a community print shop based in Baltimore. Recently, she completed a year-long residency at Mural Arts Philadelphia where she taught budding entrepreneurs essential art-related business skills. Through her work, she strives to amplify marginalized voices and empower communities of color.
Sarah Gilbert/CO
Sarah Gilbert is the Director of Operations and IT at a boutique, international executive talent development organization and an aspiring science fiction writer. Her current writing project, a book, explores a future where feminism, Buddhism and artificial intelligence intersect to create emotional and physical chaos for a woman fighting for her career and the life of her unborn child. Sarah has a masters degree in communications and an Executive MBA from the University of Colorado. Her extended family, including her parents, are Canadians who immigrated to the United States before she was born. She lives in Denver with her wife, a botanist, and their two daughters.
Lauren Jackson Harris/GA
Lauren Harris is an arts management professional, curator, and program development manager from Atlanta, GA. She was exposed to art at an early age and it undoubtedly became her passion. After earning her BFA in Graphic Design and Art History from Howard University, Lauren quickly immersed herself into New York City’s gallery world in addition to the growing arts scene in Washington, DC. Since returning to Atlanta in 2010, Lauren has enjoyed using her seasoned networking experience with outreach and program management to activate the arts within Metro Atlanta communities. With an MA in Creative Business Leadership from SCAD, she uses her innovative strategies and progressive ideas to help ignite the arts community and create new avenues for artists. By cultivating partnerships and engaging audiences, Lauren seeks to remain in Metro Atlanta’s promising art scene to aid in the city’s growth and prosperity. When she isn’t producing art-based events, curating art shows or attending local art events, Lauren can be found chasing after her two sons and cooking experimental meals for her husband. In true Sagittarius nature, Lauren tackles her many roles with positivity, honesty, and intellect.
Pooja Makhijani/NJ
Pooja Makhijani is the editor of Under Her Skin: How Girls Experience Race in America (Seal Press), an anthology of essays by women that explores the complex ways in which race shapes American lives and families. She is also the author of Mama’s Saris (Little Brown Books for Young Readers), a picture book. Her bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Washington Post, NPR, Real Simple, The Atlantic, WSJ.com, The Cut, Teen Vogue, VICE, Bon Appétit, Saveur, BuzzFeed, and espnW among others. Her essay, "The Path to an American Dream, Paved in Vienna Fingers," was named Notable in The Best American Food Writing 2019. Full time, she is a communications manager at Princeton University, where she manages internal and external communications and media relations, and write and edit print and electronic publications. She holds a B.S. from Johns Hopkins University and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College, and have been in residence at SPACE on Ryder Farm. She is represented by Saba Sulaiman at Talcott Notch Literary.Pooja lives in New Jersey with her daughter and too many books. Aside from reading and writing, she likes to bake (find me on Instagram: @laborofloaf)!
Jaimee Todd/NY
Jaimee Todd lives and works in New York City. She earned her bachelors degree from Michigan State University and her law degree from the University of Miami School of Law. Her background as a painter has fueled her current body of abstract photography work that she refers to as Inkscapes. She has incorporated this practice in her ongoing series entitled Belle Noir, which celebrates Black womanhood through abstract portraiture. Todd's work has been shown at the the Rutgers University-Newark, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The National Black Theatre, the Mint Museum Uptown in Charlotte, North Carolina and the New York Mercantile Exchange, as well as a number of private galleries. She is a regular contributor to Postcards From the Edge, an annual charity benefit that supports artists living with AIDS in New York City and her video installations of her work have been used to highlight the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. Todd has been published in Mfon, Women Photographers of the African Diaspora and Radar Station magazine.
Kesha Bruce/AZ
For the better part of a decade, Kesha Bruce’s work has explored the rich territory of African-American folklore and magical-spiritual belief within the African diaspora. Her current work is motivated by her desire to use art-making as a spiritual practice and an impetus for community building and social justice. Born and raised in Iowa, Kesha Bruce completed a BFA in painting from The University of Iowa before earning an MFA in painting from Hunter College in New York City. She has been awarded fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), The Vermont Studio Center, The CAMAC Foundation, and received a Puffin Foundation Grant for her work with Artist’s Books. Her work is included in the permanent collections of The Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture, The Amistad Center for Art and Culture, The University of Iowa Women's Center, The En Foco Photography Collection, and The Museum of Modern Art/Franklin Furnace Artist Book Collection. In addition to her studio work, Kesha Bruce is an independent curator and founding Director of Baang + Burne Contemporary Art in New York City, having produced 8 international exhibitions since 2008. She lives and works in the US and France.
Kirsten Jennings/MI
Kirsten Jennings lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan with her wife and two children. She is a social worker with over twenty years of experience in public service, in settings such as residential hospice, domestic violence crisis intervention, public and private hospitals, community-based nonprofits, and currently in the public schools. Kirsten holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and a master's degree from the University of Chicago. She strives to prioritize authenticity, connection, and time, for herself and those around her.
Bert Nieves/NJ
Bert Nieves is currently a Senior Director of Engineering at a global science publisher and is a software architect and consultant with 20+ years of hands-on software engineering, architecture and leadership expertise. He has led several incubation and innovation labs specializing in machine learning, advanced cloud solutions, high scale distributed systems. Bert is a technology enthusiast, optimist and pragmatist with interests in science, space exploration, cognitive science, physics, artificial intelligence, NLP and cognitive architectures. Bert has an undergraduate degree in Computer Science / Math from Rutgers University and lives in South Jersey with his wife and their three kids. He is an active STEM mentor for underrepresented groups in engineering and space exploration advocate.