Meet the Team

Betsy Cohen is Youth Communication’s executive director. She leads Youth Communication’s team, and is focused on growing the organization’s impact over the next several years. Before taking on the role as executive director, she served at YC’s deputy director, working closely with founder Keith Hefner. Betsy has worked in a variety of roles focused on NYC public schools at the Center for Supportive Schools, Success Academy Charter Schools, and at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She has a master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School, and a B.A. from Emory University in comparative literature. She lives in Jersey City with her husband and rescue pitbull named Doug.

Janill Briones-Lopez is the director of partnership development at Youth Communication. A former YC writer, Janill returns to help the team nurture existing educational partners and cultivate new partner relationships. Janill has an extensive background in business development and sales and is a Hunter College alumna with a B.A. in psychology. Janill is passionate about being in tune with her Latinx culture, traveling to new places, and reading diverse books.

Prior to joining Youth Communication in March, 1989, Tom Brown worked for several years at the DOME Project, a community based youth development program where he was assistant director. He has a B.A. in political science from the City College of New York and an M.A. in that subject from Yale. Tom is part of the fundraising team and his duties include foundation prospecting, report and proposal writing, and assisting with individual solicitations. He manages Youth Communication’s fiscal operations: bookkeeping, budgeting, and reporting. Tom is a native New Yorker, he lives in Manhattan.

Tara DeWorsop joins YC as the managing director of external relations with 14 years of experience working in development and communications with international and local non-profits. Her work has taken her across the U.S. and around the globe to countries like Japan, Thailand, China, and South Africa. In 2016, she received her MBA from NYU Stern with a specialization in social impact, entrepreneurship, and innovation and is currently a multi-sector communications Ph.D. candidate. She is a passionate advocate for continuous learning and finds joy in connecting people to meaningful experiences and causes! In her free time, she loves going or long walks near the closest body of water and trying her hand at different art forms.

Kinyanna Evans, born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, is a youth worker committed to creating empowering spaces for her community through education reform work. Growing up with Caribbean heritage, Kinyanna used her identity as a foundational tool to reimagine how learning spaces can become emancipatory tools. She graduated from DePauw University with an education studies major and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies minor. Since graduating, she has worked in several youth programs such as Harlem Educational Activities Fund (HEAF) and St. Nicks Alliance, through different roles from youth facilitator to program manager. Kinyanna is passionate about how education and community organizing work centers marginalized voices as leaders in their learning. She is ready to bring this energy and passion to help create the YC curriculum! Kinyanna loves baking and spends most of her free time making treats for her friends.

Tim Fredrick, PhD, is the managing director of education programs, leading the team that implements YC’s professional development and curriculum programs. He has been a teacher for over 20 years from kindergarten to graduate school, and everything in between. His dissertation, completed at New York University, focuses on how 9th graders used language to achieve agency in a New York City ELA classroom. His career in education has always been dedicated to creating educational spaces that center and validate young people’s experiences, interests, cultures, and goals.

Janelle Greco is the director of training at Youth Communication, a role in which she oversees all professional development services at the organization. Prior to joining Youth Communication, Janelle worked as director of the Pre-College Academic Programming Department at LaGuardia Community College and previously served as director of training and advancement at The Doe Fund–an organization dedicated to providing training and career services to those who have been homeless, in foster care, and previously incarcerated. Janelle has a B.A. in English and secondary education from Springfield College and an M.A. in English from Northeastern University. She lives in Brooklyn, is a creative non-fiction writer, and a firm believer in the power of storytelling and sharing experiences with others.

Keith Hefner founded Youth Communication in 1980. He won a MacArthur Fellowship in 1989, and he was a 1986-87 Charles H. Revson Fellow on the Future of New York City at Columbia University. He is a 2004 graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, Institute for Non-Profit Management, Executive Level Program. In 1997 he received the Luther P. Jackson Award for Educational Excellence from the New York Association of Black Journalists. He is the executive editor or co-author of several dozen Youth Communication books and programs, including Real Men and The Teen Guide to Sex (without regrets). Keith works with the editors and education staff on editorial quality control, and he works with the management team on strategy and to support fundraising.

Samantha Lilienfeld is YC’s associate director of operations and communications where she supports the organization’s internal development and external communications, working in support of the writing program, teen-written story distribution, and education programming. Prior to joining Youth Communication, Samantha worked with the NYC Department of Education’s Office of Community Schools as an AmeriCorps VISTA and Coro NY’s Participatory Budgeting Youth Fellowship program. Samantha has an M.A. in American studies from CUNY Graduate Center and a B.A. in comparative ethnic studies from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. She lives in Brooklyn by way of Los Angeles.

Jasmine Reid is the senior editor of YouthComm Magazine. She has previously worked as a lecturer at Cornell University, where she taught freshman writing seminars and creative writing courses, and is a visiting assistant professor at Pratt Institute, where she leads courses in their BFA Writing Program. She holds an MFA in creative writing: poetry from Cornell University and a B.A. in sociology from Tufts University. A part-time human, full-time flower, Jasmine’s first poetry collection, Deus Ex Nigrum, was published in 2020 by Honeysuckle Press.

Kudrat Wadhwa is a senior editor at Represent. Previously, she worked as an assistant editor at Footnote and as an editorial fellow at Footnote. She holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Brown University and an MFA in literary reportage from New York University. A fun fact about her is that she did karate as a kid and managed to become a black belt in the sport!

Anna Ziverts joins YC as the director of marketing with more than a decade’s worth of experience in the social impact sector. Prior to YC, Anna served as the lead of marketing and creative for a large public school district out west. Anna has worked with global organizations, including a high-profile United Nations partnership organization. As a long-time youth coach, Anna is passionate about creating environments where teens feel safe to learn and grow. Anna holds B.A.’s in French and in international studies from Southern Methodist University (SMU) as well as an M.A. with a concentration in human rights and social justice also from SMU. Anna holds graphic design credentials from Pratt Institute.