Board Members
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Perri Shaw Borish, MSS, LCSW
Perri is a licensed clinical social worker with a private practice in psychotherapy and has volunteered her time raising funds for many other community organizations. Perri lives and works in Philadelphia.
Christina Rose Dubb, Executive Director
A doctoral candidate in Reading/Writing/Literacy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, Christina has devoted her life to bringing the joy of language and literature to students, first as a high school teacher and now as the Associate Director of the prestigious Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program at Penn.
Elizabeth Encarnacion
Elizabeth Encarnacion is president and co-founder of FlirtyGirl Productions, a book studio that creates multi-platform, immersive teen entertainment for major publishers. Before founding FlirtyGirl, Elizabeth worked as a children’s book editor for more than ten years, including stints at Simon & Schuster and Running Press Book Publishers. She has authored fourteen books for children and adults, on subjects ranging from campfires and crafts to Jimmy Buffett concerts.
Tigre Hill
An award-winning documentary filmmaker, Tigre followed the 2003 Philadelphia mayoral race between Sam Katz and John Street in the award-winning feature-length documentary The Shame of a City. Tigre’s newest film, The Barrel of a Gun, scheduled for release in Fall 2009, is a look at both sides of the 1981 murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner and the subsequent arrest and conviction of black journalist-turned-cab-driver Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Jennifer McCreary
Jennifer is founder/coeditor of Ixnay Press and is a published poet. She’s currently celebrating the recent release of her latest work, a full-length poetry collection :ab ovo:. Jenn is also the Marketing and Special Events Manager at the Mural Arts Program.
Jill Schiller, Chair
Jill, a graduate of Central High School, majored in English and creative writing while an undergrad at Ursinus College. She went on to work as an advertising copywriter before Temple University’s law school. She has held many positions in the legal field, most related to large-scale project management. She believes creative expression can be transformative for a child, and it’s this passion that motivated her to bring together a group of like-minded people to start Spells!
Roxanne Patel Shepelavy
Roxanne is a freelance magazine writer whose work has appeared in Glamour, Self, Philadelphia, and Details magazines. She lives in Philadelphia.
Caroline Tiger
Caroline Tiger is a widely published writer whose byline has appeared in the New York Times T Designmagazine, National Geographic Traveler, Town & Country, Ms., and the Washington Post. Some of her books include How To Behave: A Guide to Modern Manners for the Socially Challenged and General Howe’s Dog: George Washington, the Battle of Germantown, and the Dog Who Crossed Enemy Lines. She has taught as an adjunct instructor in Temple University’s journalism department and has worked on-staff at Simon & Schuster, Running Press Book Publishers, and Philadelphia magazine.
Jared Von Arx, Ph.D.
Jared is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in child and adolescent development who has been working with children for 16 years. He received his Doctoral degree from the University of Virginia, where he learned that children respond most passionately and effectively when provided with opportunities to shine and develop their own talents. A resident of Philadelphia for the past 8 years, Jared runs an independent consultation and evaluation practice with the School District of Philadelphia and select Charter Schools in the city. Additionally, he is the Child and Adolescent Psychologist at the 11th Street Health Center, a Nationally Qualified Health Center that is part of the Family Practice and Counseling Network.
Steven B. Wittenberg, JD, MBA, LLM
Steven provides tax accounting and business consulting services and practices tax law and estate planning for Drucker & Scaccetti, P.C. He was selected as one of the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Young Rising Stars of 2008 by Super Lawyer/Philadelphia Magazine.
ADVISORY BOARD
Elizabeth Gilbert
Writer Elizabeth Gilbert’s travels through Italy, India, and Indonesia resulted in the mega-bestselling and deeply beloved memoir Eat, Pray, Love. Her prowess was clear right out of the gate. Annie Proulx called her first book, Pilgrims, the work of “a young writer of incandescent talent.” Elizabeth’s 1997 GQ article about working at the famously raunchy bar Coyote Ugly was made into a film. Eat, Pray, Love is on the same track, with Julia Roberts rumored to play the lead.
Joshua Freely, Ph.D.
Josh is a Senior Research Associate and Director of Labor Market Research for PP/V (Public/Private Ventures). A graduate of Central High School, Josh holds a Ph.D. from Temple University.
Stephen Fried
Stephen is an award-winning investigative journalist and essayist; the author of four highly praised books (Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia; Bitter Pills: Inside the Hazardous World of Legal Drugs; The New Rabbi; and Husbandry); an adjunct professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and co-founder of the Nora Magid Mentorship Prize at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is also a lecturer at the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing.
Adam Rex
Adam grew up in Phoenix, Arizona and started painting at age 11. His first picture book, The Dirty Cowboy by Amy Timberlake, was published by FSG in 2003. His picture book Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, a collection of stories about monsters and their problems, was a New York Times Bestseller. 2007 saw the release of his latest picture book, PSSST!, a story about learning to say no when zoo animals ask too many favors, and of his first novel, The True Meaning of Smekday. His newest is Frankenstein Takes the Cake.
Carol Saline
Carol is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, author, and popular public speaker who has written or co-authored eight books, many of them national bestsellers. She specializes in health, profiles, and investigative reporting, and her articles have appeared in many national magazines, including Reader’s Digest, Family Circle, More, Redbook, Self, and Cosmo Girl. She is a two-time winner of the prestigious National Magazine Award and has also received three Clarions for print feature writing from Women in Communications, the Charles Stuart Mott and The International Reading Association Awards for educational writing, and The Health Journalism Award from the American Society of Chiropractors.
Lori L. Tharps
Lori is a freelance journalist, author, editor, teacher and mom. Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she left the Midwest for Smith College, where she received a B.A. in comparative education and Spanish. She spent two years working on Madison Avenue before entering Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. She has written for Vibe, Entertainment Weekly, Ms., Savoy, Suede, Bitch, Odyssey Couleur, and Essence magazines.
Diana Rodriguez Wallach
Diana was born in Ridley Township, PA. She holds a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University’s College of Communication. Post graduation, Diana worked in Manhattan as a reporter for a hotel trade magazine and as the managing editor of an online real estate publication. Once back in Philadelphia, Diana served as a communications associate for the Philadelphia Education Fund. Diana is the author of the young adult series Amor and Summer Secrets, published by Kensington Publishing.
SPONSORS
Jennifer Weiner
There are more than 11 million copies of Jennifer Weiner’s books in print in 36 countries. Some of her best-known titles are Good in Bed and In Her Shoes, which was made into a major motion picture in 2005 starring Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, and Shirley Maclaine. Weiner grew up in Connecticut; studied under Toni Morrison, John McPhee, and Joyce Carol Oates at Princeton University; and moved to Philadelphia in 1995 to write for the Inquirer. She currently lives and writes in Philadelphia with her husband and two young daughters. Her seventh book, Best Friends Forever, was published in July 2009 and immediately became a #1 New York Times best-seller.
Spells Writing Lab
2526 N. Alder Street
Philadelphia, PA 19133
267-670-0869
info@phillyspells.org
