Staff
Administrative Staff
![]() | Masako Kalbach, Director of Finance & Operations Masako oversees MOCHA's overall operations, including finance, HR, IT and facility management, to ensure efficiency of the organization. She has years of experience working in nonprofit administration and program/events management. Masako is also an independent filmmaker. She graduated from Mills College with a double major in International Relations and French Studies, and studied 3D modeling, animation and filmmaking in San Francisco State University's Multimedia Studies Program. | |
![]() | Kristin Palm, Program Director | |
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![]() | Brandy Gardner, Museum Coordinator Brandy has taught art in New York and throughout the Bay Area. She has been a professional ceramic and metal sculptor for more than 10 years. She obtained her BFA in Spatial Arts from Cal State East Bay. | |
![]() | Kelly Doyle, Program Manager Kelly joined MOCHA in 2001, bringing her unusual facility for both left and right brain thinking. Kelly's right brain provides ongoing support to the teaching artists and works closely with MOCHA program directors and school staff to coordinate residency and professional development programming and curricula. Kelly's left brain manages the design of MOCHA's data collection systems and evaluation tools. She holds a BA in Fine Arts and English from Southampton College. | |
![]() | Amanda Wilkening, Program Manager Amanda joined MOCHA in 2002 as a Little Studio Artist. She has a background in technical theater and has participated in numerous public mural projects and large art installations. | |
Teaching Artists
![]() | Anne Garvey Anne has a BFA in Painting from the San Francisco Art Institute. She is currently pursuing an MA in Montessori Elementary Education at St. Mary’s College. Anne has taught art for several years, both in the Bay Area and abroad. | |
![]() | Doug Calderon Doug has been teaching visual art for more than 15 years. His primary disciplines are comic art, video animation, painting and marionettes. He has exhibited his work throughout the Bay Area including at the Dia de Los Muertos Festival in Oakland. | |
![]() | Danielle Freeburn Danielle's has taught art for over a decade. Through museum programs and residencies, she is able to create original curriculum and support MOCHA's unique visual arts programming. | |
![]() | Jesse Williams Artist, music lover, total geek. Jesse has been drawing since he was 4 years old. Comic books were his start and, even today, Marvel comic characters have a special place in his heart. He holds a degree in Visual Communications, which he practiced for about 15 years until he discovered how much he loves teaching and watching kids develop their artistic skills with his help. | |
![]() | Jill McLennan Jill is an urban landscape painter who has worked in elementary art education and special education for a decade. She holds a BFA in Art from Hampshire College and an MA in Arts Education from the Art Institute of Chicago. She is an active artist, exhibiting work throughout the Bay Area and as a member of the Jingletown Community Organization and Mercury 20 Gallery in Oakland. | |
![]() | Jordana Autrey Jordana’s first art teacher was her mother. She grew up in an artist colony surrounded by creative arts people. Jordana considers herself a creative arts artist who specializes in technology, theater design, multimedia, costume design, recycle/reuse, painting and collage. | |
![]() | Julia Storrs Her architect father, who let her paint murals on the walls, supported Julia’s interest in art. After art school at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, Julia was involved in exhibition design and arts administration. Her move west led her to a job as Project Director for Pro Arts in Oakland. Julia has worked on and off for MOCHA since 1990, is a mother to a high school student, and a practicing artist in mixed media and art furniture. | |
![]() | Kara Fortune Kara has been a teaching artist at MOCHA for more than 15 years and has worked as an artist in the Bay Area for more than 25 years. He attended UCLA and Otis College of Art and Design. He is co-founder of the art collective Soul Salon 10 as well as a founding member of Town Park, a skate park and visual design center in Oakland. | |
![]() | Laura Echegaray Laura joined MOCHA in 2008. She previously trained and worked as an architect. She also works as a puppeteer and community disability educator, as well as a teacher of Spanish and art at several schools in the Bay Area and at the Boys & Girls Club in San Leandro. | |
![]() | Michelle Villoria Michelle is the daughter of an artist, so she has always been exposed to the art world. She is an accomplished ceramic artist who enjoys rake and pit fire methods. Michelle has been teaching for over 15 years and joined MOCHA in 2007. She is known for her bubbly and energetic teaching style. | |
![]() | Miranda Bergman Miranda has been an arts educator and muralist for over 35 years, working at MOCHA as a teaching artist since its inception. Her murals stretch locally and internationally. She loves to teach visual art to all grade levels, giving young people the skills needed to access their creative voice as well as their personal empowerment. | |
![]() | Nicole Chan Nicole completed her Master of Arts at John F. Kennedy University in 2008. She is currently pursuing expressive arts therapy and child development. |






















