Mary-Mitchell Campbell, Founder and Executive Director
Mary-Mitchell Campbell has had an extensive career as a musician and humanitarian. In 2005, she founded ASTEP and is the Executive Director, overseeing the management and strategic direction of the organization. She has taught AIDS education in rural India, healthy hygiene in South Africa, and promoted the values of dreaming big to children in the United States. She has conducted on Broadway, performed at the White House, and won awards for orchestrating on Broadway. She was featured in the television show “Giving” for her work with arts education for children in need. In 2006, she was chosen as the New Yorker of the week. Recently, she has been the Music Director and Conductor of The Addams Family on Broadway and is currently supervising the national tour and many international productions. She is from North Carolina and lives on the upper west side of Manhattan with her amazing dog, Coleman.
Yazmany Arboleda, Associate Director of Communications
Yazmany studied architecture and design in Washington D.C., London and Milan. In 2008, he founded The Glassless Glasses Studio, an art activation collaborative based in Brooklyn. His work has been discussed in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Guardian, and he was recently named one of Good Magazine’s 100 People Making Our World Better. Yazmany is also currently serving as the Associate Director of Communications for ASTEP, leading our overall marketing and communication efforts.
Abby Gerdts, Director of Programs and Outreach
Abby Gerdts has over 10 years experience coordinating and leading arts education programs around the world and is currently the Director of Programs and Outreach at Artists Striving to End Poverty (ASTEP), a nonprofit that provides arts education and empowerment programs for underserved youth. At ASTEP, Abby directs several of ASTEP’s programs, manages volunteer trainings, and provides leadership in new partnership and outreach building, including community engagement and external relations. Prior to her current role at ASTEP, Abby spent three years building arts programming for organizations working with refugee populations in Istanbul, Turkey. Abby holds a BFA from the Juilliard School’s Drama Division. Recent appearances as an actress include Of Rivers of Days at Interborough Repertory Theater in New York, and the title role in Miss Julie at the GAF Theatre in Istanbul.
Lizzy Rainer, Director of Programs and Evaluation
Lizzy Rainer is a dance and yoga teacher, as well as the Director of Programs and Evaluation with Artists Striving to End Poverty (ASTEP), a nonprofit that provides arts education and empowerment programs for underserved youth. At ASTEP, Lizzy directs several of ASTEP’s programs, manages the volunteer application process, and provides leadership in evaluation and quality assurance. Lizzy studied Activism Through Artistry at the Gallatin School of New York University. She has brought dance and movement to students in Ghana, Colombia, Indonesia, and India, as well as throughout the US. As a dancer, Lizzy toured with Cirque Le Masque both nationally and internationally, worked with LiNK! the Movement dance company, and was on faculty at Broadway Dance Center. Before becoming a member of the staff, Lizzy was a volunteer with ASTEP programs in South Florida and spent several months at ASTEP’s India site. She is thrilled to be back in the city and to be a part of the ASTEP family.
Alejandro Rodriguez, Associate Director of Programs
Alejandro Rodriguez is an actor, writer and activist. On staff at Artists Striving to End Poverty (ASTEP), he helps emerging and established artists harness their talents to empower youth around the world. He’s the resident poet for Shook Ones, a multimedia dance company he co-founded with choreographer Cindy Salgado. New York performance credits include the world premiere of Ghetto Babylon (National Latino Playwrights Award) at 59E59, the premiere of Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas’ Bird in the Hand at Theater for the New City, King Lear opposite Billy Porter, the title role in Romeo and Juliet for The Acting Company, etc. Regionally, he’s worked at The Kennedy Center, the Guthrie Theatre, Denver Center Theater and The Chekhov Project at Lake Lucille, among several others. Film and television credits include Nurse Jackie (Showtime), Dates from Hell (Discovery ID), and the feature film Emoticon. A graduate of Juilliard.
Davinia Troughton, Director of Development and Operations
Davinia Troughton has worked in the nonprofit sector for ten years and currently leads fundraising, board development, operations, and communication efforts at ASTEP. She came to ASTEP from the NoVo Foundation, where she worked on grants management, strategic planning, and in the Women and Girls Initiative, focusing on funding efforts to end violence against girls and women around the world. Davinia is also a New York State certified sexual and domestic violence crisis counselor at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City where she trains and mentors new crisis counselors. She is dedicated to social justice and supporting the voices of women and children worldwide.
