Jen Nowicki Clark
Tucson, AZ
As the Director of Creative Narrations, Jen Nowicki Clark brings over 20 years of expertise in participatory education, civic engagement, and technology training to community-based initiatives. She has facilitated digital storytelling workshops with a wide variety of groups nationally and internationally. Jen has also served as the Executive Producer and Board member for Odyssey Storytelling, a non-profit arts organization creating live storytelling events in Tucson, AZ. She is an educator, organizer, artist, story coach and parent who loves language and seeing how sharing stories in new ways can transform and connect us as individuals and as communities. She holds a BA in Sociology from Boston College and a Masters in Linguistics from the University of Arizona.
Laura Porfirio
Tucson, AZ
Laura Porfirio is a lifelong Arizonan, career adult educator, and trainer in diversity and cultural competency. She has overseen daily operations at a large urban learning center, managed professional development programming for teachers, and led statewide and national leadership training for adult education students and staff. Her collaborative, constructivist approach is rooted in participatory theory and liberatory practice. Learning is transformative when people make real-world connections, tap into their knowledge and experiences, uncover their strengths, and become agents of change in their schools, families, communities and workplaces. Her involvement in digital storytelling and diversity training are natural extensions from her work building collective power and amplifying voices that need to be heard.
Josh Schachter
Tucson, AZ
Josh is a photographer, visual storyteller, educator, and cultural organizer who has worked for organizations throughout the U.S. to document issues from urban revitalization to food security. His images (www.joshphotos.com) have been published internationally in books, magazines, newspapers, films and web sites, in venues ranging from the New York Times to the Navajo Times. Josh earned a master's degree in environment management at the Yale School of Forestry and Environment Studies, where he explored the role of youth photography in facilitating personal and community transformation. Over the past 18 years he has facilitated community media workshops with youth, educators and nonprofit organizations in places ranging from New Delhi to Nigeria. Since 2005 he has developed a passion for digital storytelling and has facilitated digital storytelling workshops in the US and abroad.
Antoinette Angulo
Seattle, WA
Antoinette is a public health practitioner and activist in Seattle, WA. She has over 15 years developing, implementing, and evaluating programs in clinical and community-based settings, and multi-media health promotion strategies including radio novelas, liberation theatre, photovoice, and digital storytelling with diverse populations. Antoinette earned her MPH from the University of Washington and studied health policy at UC Berkeley for her undergraduate studies. She is passionate about community building for health and is committed to addressing social inequities through leadership, capacity building, advocacy, and health promotion and research.
Natasha Freidus
Toronto, Canada
Natasha Freidus founded Creative Narrations in 2001. She has studied and worked in a range of communities including the U.S./Mexican border, the Dominican Republic, Thailand, and spent 2006-7 on a Fulbright Fellowship in Tarragona, Spain. Natasha earned her Masters degree in Urban Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she was community media coordinator and a course instructor. Through her work with Creative Narrations, Natasha was the project manager for the acclaimed community story-mapping initiative, Mapping Our Voices for Equity.
Now, Natasha is a social entrepreneur currently spearheading an initiative to leverage technology resources as the founder at NeedsList, a social venture connecting refugee aid communities with people, businesses, and civil society organizations that want to help. NeedsList emerged from Natasha's work as the co-founder of Prosper Community, a consortium of partners and volunteers who have produced and are curating a searchable database of migrant-related initiatives.