Jump to: Bahia Street Staff in Salvador | US Board of Directors |
UK Board of Directors | Brazil Board of Directors
International Advisory Committee
Bahia Street created its International Advisory Committee in 2006 to provide broad-based support for Bahia Street around the world.
Bobbi Ballas (Sydney, Australia)
Robert Barclay (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Robert Bonzejar-Flears (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Peter Gow (St. Andrews, Scotland, United Kingdom)
Don Kulick (New York, United States)
Maaike Verrips (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Connie Wong (Seattle, United States)
Bahia Street Staff in Seattle
Margaret Willson, International Director
Margaret Willson, a widely respected anthropologist, spent many years living in the shantytowns of Salvador, an experience that gave her the knowledge to co-found Bahia Street in 1996 with Rita Conceição. She holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the London School of Economics and has taught in Britain, Holland, Greece and the United States, as well as in Brazil. She launched Bahia Street study trips in 2001. Dr. Willson published Dance Lest We All Fall Down: A Story of Friendship, Poverty, Power and Peace (Cold Tree Press) in 2007. Her work has been recognized recently in Washington State: she received the Thomas C. Wales Award for Passionate Citizenship in 2007 and the Jefferson Award for Public Service in 2008. Margaret oversees all of Bahia Street’s international operations, as well as Bahia Street’s academic programs for non-Brazilians.
Dr. Willson’s resume
Dr. Willson’s publications
Nancy Bacon, Program Director
Nancy Bacon joined the staff of Bahia Street in September 2004 after many years supporting and volunteering with the project. Prior to joining Bahia Street, Nancy spent seven years as the director of the Seattle World Affairs Council’s K-12 educational outreach program and served as the organization’s Vice President. Prior to the World Affairs Council, Nancy directed an English-as-a-Second-Language school in Cambridge, Massachusetts and taught English and social studies in Manila, the Philippines. She currently serves on the board of the Foundation for International Understanding Through Students (FIUTS) at the University of Washington. Nancy received her B.A. from Swarthmore College and holds a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Administration. Nancy directs US fundraising, administers study trips and academic programs, and manages Bahia Street’s volunteer programs.
-
-
Deborah Turnbull, Grants Administrator
Deborah joined the staff in 2007. Originally from England, Deborah supports grant writing outside of the U.S. and keeps the Seattle office running. When she is not at Bahia Street, Deborah can be found teaching English and citizenship to recently arrived refugees and immigrants or in the back country birding and skiing.
Margaret Schulte, Public Affairs Manager
Margaret Schulte joined the staff in 2005 and transitioned to volunteer extraordinaire in 2007. A former Business Analyst for Expeditors International of Washington, she was one of the founding board members of Bahia Street.
Bahia Street Staff in Salvador
Rita Conceição, Bahia Street Center Director
Rita Conceição, a sociologist and professional photographer, grew up in a shantytown of Salvador. Her personal struggles and journey give her the depth of understanding that makes Bahia Street such a success in its programs. She is a graduate of the Federal University of Bahia and has worked as a political photographer and video technician, among other jobs. She continues to be involved in civic activism and community research projects related to the African-Brazilian experience in Salvador. Ms. Conceição directs Bahia Street Brazil and the Bahia Street Center and works in partnership with Seattle staff in the design and implementation of study trips and academic programs in Brazil.
Board of Directors: Bahia Street US
Almuht Dear-Jossy
Almuht Dear-Jossy was born in the remote jungles of Brazil, and later became a resident of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She spent 32 years working for IBM, first in Brazil, then in New York, and finally in Seattle. Upon retirement from IBM, she began her career as an award-winning Re/Max real estate agent, teaching classes for first time homebuyers in Portuguese and English. She brings a life-long commitment to cross-cultural education to the board, having served in the past as director of an international high-school student-exchange program and as a group leader for educational trips to Brazil and Japan. Almuht is writing a book about her childhood experiences and upbringing in the jungles of Brazil.
Moshe Hecht (President)
Mo Hecht is a musician and educator with a strong interest in supporting community programs that benefit underserved populations.
Janeth Melin
Joyce Mork-O’Brien (Secretary)
Joyce Mork-O’Brien is a freelance grantwriter, knowledgeable about the non-profit world and funders. She is active with the Puget Sound Grantwriters Association where she chairs the Advanced Training and Institute Committee. Joyce has served on the Bahia Street Board for over ten years, most recently as board president. She lives in the Beacon Hill area in south Seattle, is married, has a 27-year-old son, and hails from the cold midwestern state of Minnesota.
Brenda Tausch
Brenda Tausch (born and raised in Chehalis, Washington) encountered Bahia Street by happenstance. In 2001, Brenda lived by the Bahia Street office on Boat Street and met Margaret Willson through a neighboring boat salesman. After subsequently learning Portuguese and studying abroad in Fortaleza, Brazil, Brenda had the opportunity to engage in ethnographic research and teach English to Bahia Street’s second-graders in 2003-2004 through the support of a Fulbright grant. Spending almost one year at the Center in Brazil emphasized for Brenda the importance, unique infrastructure, and effectiveness of Bahia Street. Brenda currently works as an attorney at the Northwest Justice Project in Seattle. In her free time, she enjoys dancing, studying languages (Portuguese, Spanish, American Sign Language), making fruit wine, and traipsing around with a notepad, camera and microphone.
Ann Vu Loveridge (Treasurer)
Ann Vu Loveridge was born in Vietnam and moved to the Pacific Northwest when she was 8 years old. She is an artist, an entrepreneur, and more importantly, an educator. She is a first generation college student who received her BA in Interdisciplinary Arts and her M Ed. in Adult Education. She now works at the University of Washington’s Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity TRiO Student Support Services program helping low-income, first-generation, and/or disabled student succeed in their educational goals. In May 2008, she had the opportunity to participate in the UW Brazil study abroad program “Society, Equality, and Change” in conjunction with Bahia Street. She connected with Brazil, Salvador, the culture, Rita, and the girls. She saw the impact of Bahia Street first hand and is excited to be a part of the organization.
Julia Wauters
Julia was immersed in life in Brazil from the ages of 7-16 where she lived with her family in Campinas, Sao Paulo. She returned to Brazil in 1974 to serve two years in the Peace Corps in Garanhuns, Pernambuco. She has made Seattle Washington her home for the past 28 years, where she has raised three sons with her husband Dick, and worked as a nurse at the University of Washington Medical Center. She is involved in developing a study abroad/cultural exchange program with Bahia Street to take students from the University of Washington School of Nursing to Salvador, Bahia and Recife, Pernambuco.
Melanie Wyffels (Vice President)
Melanie has worked with international education for most of her professional life. She has been involved in cultural projects in Brazil, and ESL exchange programs in the US for the last fifteen years. Melanie was born to a family of renown educators in Brazil and, since her earliest age has been exposed to the challenges and, as a result, to some very creative solutions derived from the countless educational and political reforms in that country. She is fluent in Portuguese and English and has extensive experience in intercultural communication.
Sandie (Sofia) Zieve
Sofia had the privilege of teaching English to the girls and staff at the Bahia Street Center in the fall of 2007 and 2008. She was inspired by the dedication of the teachers and the impact that the Center has made on the lives of the girls and the local community. While in Salvador Sofia studied Portuguese and immersed herself in the culture of Bahia.
Sofia earned her Masters in physical therapy from Columbia University. She speaks Spanish and Portuguese. She taught English as a second language to Hispanic adults in Boston, volunteered at Casa Latina in Seattle, and was a delegate to the 2006 Global Microcredit Summit in Nova Scotia. Sofia has two children away at college. She enjoys playing tennis, salsa dancing and traveling.
Board of Directors: Bahia Street Trust (UK)
The Bahia Street Trust is a registered U.K. charity with an all-volunteer board of directors. The Trust maintains its own website.
- Susie De Paolis
- Alex, Earl of Uxbridge
- Nick Emley
- Nadine Grieve
Board of Directors: Bahia Street Center (Brazil)
The Bahia Street Center in Salvador, Brazil, is a registered non-profit in Brazil with its own board of directors. All of Bahia Street’s Brazilian directors come from backgrounds much like the girls Bahia Street serves.
- Rita Conceição
- Valdecir Nasimento
- Francis Texeira
