Executive Team

  • she/her

    Amana is a leader in the field of community arts and a well-respected advocate for the arts in K-12 education. As an artist and a teacher she has devoted her career to making the arts accessible to the voiceless, the marginalized and the forgotten. A visionary activist, artist and educator, she founded and oversees arts education and community arts for ArtEsteem. Drawing on 27 years of teaching art to children, youth and adults, Amana wrote Self as Super Hero: Handbook on the Creation of the Life-Size Self Portrait, an arts integrated curriculum guide. She also teaches Art in the Public Interest at California College of the Arts.

  • she/her

    Phyllis has an extensive background in educational administration. Formerly, she was an instructor at Bay Area Community Resources, teaching general wellness and nutrition. From 2013-2016 she was the family and community site coordinator at Westlake Middle School. Phyllis coordinates the increasingly large number of individuals and organizations connected to ArtEsteem. As Associate Director, she is the lead organizer for all sites, and the primary liaison between school staff and our teaching artists, providing key partnership building with our school sites and support to youth and families.

  • he/him

    Jim comes to ArtEsteem from the small business sector. He graduated from Boston University with a BS in Aerospace and Aeronautical Engineering in 1990, quickly became a bicycle messenger, and never looked back. That 25-year career included co-founding the first and longest-lasting worker-owned messenger company in San Francisco, the Cupid Courier Collective. It was there that Jim learned the basis of his bookkeeping and finance knowledge. Upon 'retirement' in 2015, he began freelance work as a bookkeeper and eventually gained ArtEsteem as a client. In 2022, he was hired as an employee. The lessons learned and talents honed as a small business owner work extremely well at a great non-profit: attend to the details, be a good representative, be versatile, be a good teammate, and love what you do.

Managerial & Associate Teams

  • she/her

    Etty is a visual artist and educator who brings a deep commitment to the power of art in uplifting and educating youth. She leads ArtEsteem’s teaching artist cohort as a safe, supporting gathering space for sharing and learning while training teachers in creative ways to develop skills in integrating art with Attitudinal Healing, environmental issues, and core academic subjects.

    Etty has extensive experience teaching art both online and in person, and leads ArtEsteem’s site-based arts and environmental awareness programming for youth. Etty has taught art at several schools in San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley, and aims to inspire youth to explore mindfulness, activism, and sustainable multidisciplinary art practices.

    A transnational artist of color and a graduate of the 2019 New York Foundation of Arts Immigrant mentorship program in Oakland, she creates artwork that is influenced by the immigrant experience across various countries. She is the founder of Más Arte, a free summer camp that provided art kits, lesson plans and free classes to families in San Antonio, Chicago, Saint Paul, and Minneapolis.

  • she/her

    Alexa teaches Visual Arts at Hoover Elementary. She is a visionary body art curator specializing in tattoos, henna, and body paint, creating unique, nature-inspired designs since 2015. A professional photographer as well, Alexa views the world as a canvas, finding art in every element of life. Drawing inspiration from the beauty and power of Mother Nature, Alexa believes that art exists in everything and that everyone holds the potential to be an artist. Whether through intricate body art or expressive photography, Alexa transforms ordinary moments into extraordinary pieces of living art.

  • he/him

    Adam is a design strategist, artist, educator, and program director whose projects focus on catalyzing learning and building community. During his 12 years working at Autodesk, he created and led global programs in sustainable design, education, and community for Autodesk’s customer base of engineers and architects. Prior to that he was a design strategy consultant at Jump Associates. He is also a co-founder and president of the board of Greenermind, a community-led non-profit that focuses on personal and collective growth, healing, and transformation. He has a mechanical engineering degree and an MBA from Vanderbilt University. He loves photography and is at home in the redwoods.

  • they/them

    Munirah leads the organization’s business and compliance, communications and marketing, and facilities workflows. Munirah grew up in West Oakland and first connected with ArtEsteem as a student, initially joining the ArtEsteem team in 2021 as an environmental specialist co-teacher for ArtEsteem’s after school eco-art and advocacy program, the Legacy Project. During Munirah’s undergraduate studies at University of California, Berkeley, they majored in Conservation and Resource Studies, focusing on forestry, geographic information systems, and data science. Through their work with ArtEsteem, Munirah aims to cultivate sustainable, heart-centered communities and drive forward ArtEsteem’s vision of a world where everyone is whole, safe, loved, educated and valued.

  • she/her

    Jedia-El is a Christian animator and visual artist. She earned my BFA in Animation from California College of the Arts, and her work primarily focuses on mixed media materials and 2D animation.

    Her overall goal is to create culturally diverse animated films that embody Christian values while connecting with audiences of all backgrounds, regardless of belief or religion. She draws inspiration from the Bible, Pixar’s emotionally rich storytelling, DreamWorks’ The Prince of Egypt, and the timeless allegorical works of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series.

    Originally from Syracuse, New York, and raised in Tennessee, Jedia-El comes from a Pentecostal background with deep roots in the Church of God in Christ (C.O.G.I.C.). Her relationship with Christ and this foundation continue to inspire the themes, values, and narratives that shape her artistic practice.