Current Staff Interns - Winter 2010
Executive Director, Rebeccah A. Sanders
Rebeccah Sanders has served as the Executive Director of the Chicago Cultural Alliance since February of 2009. She began her career with the Alliance in July 2007 as the coordinator for the Alliance's smARTscope™ project until September 2008 when she became the Interim Executive Director of the Alliance.
Prior to joining the Alliance, Rebeccah worked as the Executive Director of the International Business Council (IBC), a non-profit organization with a mission of promoting peace through commerce. As Executive Director, Rebeccah managed all aspects of the organization, including matching volunteers with international development projects and overseeing and advising on each of these projects.
Previous to this, Rebeccah taught Anthropology for the University of Maryland’s campus in Sicily. She also worked as the Post-Secondary Coordinator of Maine’s GEAR UP program, a federal education program, where several of her programs served Maine’s Native American and refugee populations.
Rebeccah holds a BA in Anthropology and Environmental Science from the University of Notre Dame and an MA in Anthropology from the University of Georgia. She has studied Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at American University's Washington College of Law. She was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to Israel following her graduation from Notre Dame. She has lived and worked in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Italy and Israel and speaks several languages. Her career has focused on human rights, community and identity issues, and civic engagement.
Grants Manager & Director of Special Programs, Cara Pickett
Cara Pickett has been with the Alliance since March 2009. She began as an intern before being hired as a Project Coordinator; she has served in her current position since October 2009.
Before joining the Alliance, Cara worked as a research consultant for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's concert series, Beyond the Score. She also taught music theory and music history courses at Yale University while completing her doctoral dissertation.
Cara holds a Ph.D. in Music History from Yale University and a B.M. in Piano Performance from Lawrence University in Appleton, WI. She has an abiding interest in arts and culture and in the role of cross-cultural engagement to promote diversity and inclusivity in those sectors.
Community Engagement Coordinator, Mimosa Shah
Mimosa Shah joined the Alliance in February 2010. Prior to being with the Alliance, she worked with the Indo-American Center, a community-based organization located in the West Ridge neighborhood of Chicago. As the Center's Literacy Coordinator, she managed an English as a Second Language program for nearly two-hundred lower-income refugees and immigrants, oversaw the development of three staff members, authored and reported upon a series of grants, and documented the progress of clients as they transitioned to life in America.
Previously, she worked on the staff of several political campaigns in northern Illinois. These campaigns were grassroots in nature, dedicated to open processes and the mobilization of individuals who had little experience with campaigns. Empowerment was also central to her work as a legal advocate for survivors of domestic violence at Apna Ghar (Our Home), a Chicago-based social services agency championing the rights of all to lives free from violence.
Mimosa holds a B.A. in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is currently working towards the completion of her M.A. in Humanities from the University of Chicago, focusing primarily upon the gaze in mid-twentieth century South Asian cinema. She also lived in Paris, France for a year, where she studied French language and culture at the Sorbonne. Her diverse interests echo a common theme of community activism and an appreciation for the wealth of voices comprising American society today.
Lyndsi Barboza, originally from a rural town in Wisconsin, moved to Chicago in 2008. She graduated in December 2007 with a Bachelors degree in English, specializing in Creative Writing, from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Currently, she is working toward a Masters Degree in Nonprofit Management at Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies. The decision to persue a higher education in nonprofit developed while volunteering with 826CHI, where she doubled as a Boring Store Secret Agent and ekphrastic poetry workshop instructor. Half-way through Spertus' program and ready for hands-on experience, Lyndsi is excited to be working with an organization dedicated to nurturing Chicago's eclectic cultural build.
Interns - Summer 2009
Daniel Clarke, originally from Manchester, England, earned his M.Phil. in Social Anthropology from King's College in Cambridge, England. His work has focused on civic identity in the aftermath of conflict, looking at the rebuilding of Manchester city centre after an IRA bomb in 1996 and public responses to the Madrid train bombing of March 2004. While on a whirlwind 5 week internship at the Alliance, Daniel was the lead coordinator for the launch of the Alliance's Talking About... Im/migration dialogue series.
A. Justin Floyd is a recent graduate of Columbia University. He has recently started his studies at Oxford University where he his pursuing M.Phil and D. Phil degrees in early modern European history with an emphasis on literary history and gender relations. Justin has previously interned at the Illinois Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities. While at the Alliance, Justin was integral to the creation of the Alliance's Civic Engagement Model while also assisting in the development of the organization's shared services initiatives.
Katie Hughes is currently a senior at the University of Notre Dame, where she is pursuing a double major in Arabic and Political Science. In 2008, she studied in Morocco and London, building upon her earlier experience abroad with the organization Hands of Peace, Hands of Peace, which amins to foster long term peaceful coexistence among Jewish-Israelis, Arab Israelis, and West Bank Palestinians. While at the Alliance, Katie developed a major cross cultural event and managed several critical aspects of Alliance operations.
Interns - Spring 2009
Angeli Datt is currently studying in Beijing, China for her first year of a double M. Phil in International Relations at Peking University; next year, she will complete her second year at the London School of Economics. Angeli is a graduate of the University of St. Andrew's in Scotland. While at the Alliance, Angeli created the first version of our social networking strategy, delivered workshops on social networking technologies to Core Members, and supported the Talking About... Im/migration program launch. Her mother is a founding member of the Indo-American Heritage Museum, an Alliance Core Member.
Cara Pickett started her internship at the Alliance with significant administrative responsibilities. Her first major project with the Alliance was to organize Alliance Days at Brookfield Zoo, in which she coordinated multiple activities and performances with Core Members as well as leading work to bring Alliance communities and children to Brookfield Zoo, many for the first time. Cara joined the Alliance as a staff member in July 2009.
