Staff and Board

Staff

Carey Fay-Horowitz, Founder & Executive Director, is a graduate of NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where she earned a B.A. in writing and community activism while playing drums for several independent bands. Throughout high school and college, she spent summers working at the Berkeley Tuolumne Camp, where she developed an understanding of the power of camp to create community. After volunteering at the Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls in Portland, Oregon in 2006, she returned to Oakland to establish a local version of the camp, which debuted in 2008.  She plays in the all-female band Songs For Moms, and her spirit animal is her cat, Sketchy.

Gabby Miller, Program & Outreach Coordinator, is a graduate of Berkeley High School and Reed College, where she wrote a thesis in anthropology about experimental artists in Hanoi. Working with teens at The Oxbow School in Napa, as a co-organizer at Nha San Studio, the first experimental arts space in Vietnam, and at The Luggage Store Gallery in San Francisco, she is wholly dedicated to the transformative power of the imagination wherever she goes. Gabby is very excited to be back in The Bay, the home of R&B and her beloved muppet-dog Rocco.

Voula O’Grady, Development Coordinator, is a graduate of Wesleyan University’s College of Letters and is the founder of the Creative Action Project (CAP), a program for teen girls focusing on creative expression and leadership development.  Voula brings a wide range of skills and experience to BAGRC, including a background in arts education, curriculum development, community outreach, and volunteer coordination.  She has completed over 200 hours of youth worker training and has coordinated fundraising projects for organizations including Community United Against Violence and Spontaneous Celebrations Art Center.  She is passionate about the power of the arts to create change, and sells her art, craft and design work via her Gold Dust Studio line.

Board of Directors

Melissa Connelly, President, is a BAGRC camper parent whose daughter gained so much from the camp that Melissa joined the board to help the camp grow and thrive. Melissa is a social worker currently working for UC Berkeley's California Social Work Education Center, planning and revising curricula for training child welfare social workers in California.

Sari Flowers, Vice President, is a local musician and mother of a BAGRC alumn. She believes devoutly in the camp mission.

Susan Donaldson, Secretary, is a rocker and mother of a future BAGRC camper. She sings in San Francisco's The Gun & Doll Show and has toured the globe as a performer in Gogol Bordello. She proudly holds an undergraduate degree in Studio Art from Mills College and an MBA in Sustainable Management from the Presidio Graduate School, and is currently the Director of Merchandise for eco-retailer, VivaTerra.

Ellie Erickson, Treasurer, is the Director of Operations at Community Works West and is a bass player with Erase Errata. She is currently seeking an MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business.

Lauren Hall has worked in the nonprofit/youth arts sector for the past ten years, currently working with young people in the Bay Area on their literacy and writing skills through 826 Valencia. She’s served as a program coordinator, event planner, grant writer and development director during her tenure at 826 Valencia and has been involved with BAGRC since 2008.

Lori Zook is a development manager with the arts management firm Quinn Associates, and has been involved with the Oakland and Bay Area arts and cultural community for two decades, including co-founding the Oakland Metro in 2001, serving as executive director of Oakland Opera Theater from 99-05, serving on the Oakland Cultural Affairs Commission, and serving on numerous funding panels, boards and committees. Her daughter Tasha attended the inaugural year of BAGRC, and Lori is delighted to be involved with this organization!

Bios coming soon from our new board members:

Ingrid Hu Dahl
Shehreen Johnson
Sara Lynne