Susan West Kurz was the Executive Director of Dr Hauschka Skin Care, Inc. from 1992-2006, where she oversaw in the United States the development of Dr Hauschka into the preeminent holistic skin care brand it is today. She is the author of “Gardens of Karma: Harvesting Myself Among the Weeds,” “Awakening Beauty the Dr Hauschka Way” and the graphic novel “Beecoming Sophie”, which aims to help school-aged children find ways to help save honeybees. Susan completed the Biography and Social Art certificate program in 2019. Since 2019 she has served on the board at the Center for Biography and Social Art. She previously served on the board of the Biodynamic Gardening and Farming Association from 2012-2017, and as co-chair of the Outloud Committee at the Jamestown Art Center from 2014-2017. Since her apprenticeship at the Meadowbrook Herb Garden in Richmond, RI, in 1972, Susan has been involved with a holistic approach to healing, to business, and to bringing Biodynamic principles and Anthroposophy to the public.

Cathy O’Neill has been part of an ongoing biography group since 2012, beginning as coordinator and now co-teaching with 2 other biography workers. She graduated from Waldorf Institute of Southern California teacher training and is currently their board chair, has served on the Westside Waldorf School board for 16 years with 5 as board chair, and graduated from the Center for Biography and Social Art Certificate Program in 2016. Cathy also was a host board member for the ShadeTree Community School in Watts (waylaid by Covid) and has served on the boards of numerous community non-profit organizations for the environment, education, social justice and the arts. Cathy is an Agape Licensed Spiritual Practitioner and a Certified Diversity Trainer with interests in conflict resolution, communication and writing.

Diane taught History and English for 34 years

before retiring. She received her certificate in the Waldorf Teacher Training Program, but decided to stay in Chicago Public Schools using what she learned to enliven subjects through story and art. She recently finished the Biography and Social Art Program and is beginning the journey of working with individuals and groups facilitating their process of working out why they are who they are.

Mercedes is a pioneer of educating children through the teachings of Rudolf Steiner.  She is a trained and experienced Waldorf teacher specializing in world languages and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language Arts.  She discovered the Anthroposophical movement 30 years ago while studying to be an early childhood teacher for students with special needs. Her love of language and poetry is found in her countless diaries where she has uncovered answers about her lineage. She is a second generation immigrant from the Dominican Republic living in the United States where she has studied and lived most of her life. 

After many years of learning and healing through the arts, Mercedes embarked on a journey of self discovery seeking to learn more in reclaiming her ancestral roots. She travelled to remote places in Peru, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Spain. She learned a multidimensional style of teaching while in the jungles of Costa Rica that reconnected her deep desire to bring healing to the world through art and education. Her mission is to bring healing to others through language and restorative methods.  She offers bilingual classes in yin/restore yoga, classical Pathanjali, reiki, and ancient shamanic practices to deliver transformational experiences.

Brooke Natzke is a seasoned Waldorf educator, Biography and Social Art practictitioner, and a member of the Pedagogical Section of the School for Spiritual Science. With over 15 years of experience in teaching and school leadership, she has worked to cultivate connection, clarity, and growth in educational and community settings. After concluding her final year as a class teacer in 2023, Brooke walked the French route of the Camino de Santiago - 33 days that offered deep personal reflection and renewed purpose. She is the mother of four Waldorf graduates and partner to her loveing husband, Brendan.

Elvira Neal has lived her whole adult life in intentional life-sharing communities with people with developmental differences both in Germany and since 1998 in a Camphill Community in Upstate New York. All these years she has been a house leader and serving in a variety of community capacities, including Volunteer Recruitment, as a faculty member of the Camphill Academy as well as helping to pioneer a new community. She has had a lifelong passion for learning about human development and recently graduated from the Center for Biography and Social Art’s Certificate Program.

Patricia Rubano has spent much of her life focused on the young child as a Waldorf early childhood educator. She has continued to mentor teachers as her own life turned to adult education and the pursuit of biography and social artistry.

She is a faculty member and the current director of the Biography and Social Art Certificate Program. She is a founding member of the board for the Center for Biography and Social Art and represents the training in the International Trainer’s Forum. Along with Kathleen Bowen, Patti Smith and Jennifer Brooks-Quinn, she helped to form the Awakening Connections; Creating Community program for schools and Anthroposophic groups. Patricia studied biographical counseling in England, and completed the Level One training in Spacial Dynamics and a few other Anthroposophical endeavors over the past 50 years, all of which have enlivened and enriched her in body, mind and spirit.

Lynn Turner (she/her) is a native Washingtonian (Piscataway Land), wife, and mother of two children and the proud descendant of enslaved people. She has been a culturally responsive early childhood educator, teacher trainer and leader in the movement of Waldorf Education in Northern America for over fourteen years. Lynn holds a BA in Fine Arts from Sweet Briar College, an MAT in Early Childhood Education from Washington Trinity University and received her Waldorf Early Childhood Teaching Certificate in 2017. She is the Co-Founder of The AntiRacist Table and is a second year student of the Center for Biography and Social Art's three-year certificate program. Currently Lynn is an Early Childhood Education teacher trainer at Bay Area Center for Waldorf Teacher Training and Lifeways. Lynn creates and facilitates biography and liberation and belonging workshops with individuals and institutions in Waldorf and Mainstream communities to support the renewal of social life in our times of disconnect. Lynn has been published in Gateways Magazine and has been a workshop presenter, keynote speaker facilitator and keynote speaker in the Waldorf Early Childhood Education Association of Northern America Teacher Conferences. Lynn served as the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America’s (WECAN) Coordinator of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access from 2021-2024 and was the Early Childhood Teacher Training Coordinator and Core Faculty Member at Great Lakes Waldorf Institute from 2020-2023. She serves as a member of the Trust for Learning and is the co-authored Nurturing All Children in Nature, Lynn is a wife and mother of two teenagers. She loves cooking, traveling, gardening, brewing up plant medicines in her alchemy kitchen and spending time with family and friends.

Kathleen Bowen began her career working with threads as knitwear designer and transitioned to helping others as they discover the threads in their life story through the activities of Biography and Social Art. She holds a certificate in Biography and Social Art and is currently a faculty member in the training program.

She is a founding member of the Board of CBSA and helped form the Awakening Connections; Creating Community program for schools and Anthroposophic groups.

Jennifer Brooks Quinn has devoted over 25 years to Waldorf Education, Adult Education and Biography Work in Mexico, the US and other parts of the world. She is currently a counselor, a therapist, an adult education and a biography counselor and facilitator.

Jennifer is a co-founder of the Awakening Connections: Creating Community Program out of the Center for Biography and Social Art, where she also served on the board. She served as the director of Part Time Foundation Studies at Sunbridge College and as the co-director of the Foundation Studies in Brooklyn, NY. Her training is in Biographical Counseling and Psychosynthesis.

Joseph Rubano received his certification in Biographical Counselling from The Biography & Social Development Trust in England in 1993 and a certificate from the Spacial Dynamics Institute in New York in 1999. Thus two of his loves, authentic interaction with others who are striving for something more, and movement that has meaning and beauty have become part of his work in the world. He has been a meditant for over 40 years including over 30 years of devoted working with Anthroposophy. He also has been involved with Native American ceremony since 1979 (it’s a wonder what life brings us!) and incorporates all of this in his work with individuals, couples and groups. He has been offering the True Heart True Mind Enlightenment Intensive and the Desert Solo (Vision Quest) Experience in San Diego and Maine since 2009. He lives and works in Oceanside, CA.

Signe Schaefer– Former Co-Director of the Biography and Social Art Program; former Director of Foundation Studies at Sunbridge College; founding member of the Center for Life Studies; author of Why on Earth? Biography and the Practice of Human Becoming, She Was Always There - Sophia as a Story for Our Time, co-author of Ariadne’s Awakening and co-editor of More Lifeways; long-time student of human development.

April Pereyra has been connected to Anthroposophy and Waldorf education for over 20 years when she discovered it while searching for work more meaningful to her than the business world in which she had spent a decade building her career. After graduating from Sunbridge College’s Elementary Education program, April worked for 13 years at the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City where she was a class teacher and taught middle school English and elementary school reading while serving on the school’s leadership team as a senior administrator, member of the College of Teachers, and a board member. She later spent two years at Brooklyn’s Poly Prep Country Day School working one-on-one with middle school students, supporting them in all subjects but especially reading and writing skills. Also a property historian, she has long been fascinated by the historical and biographical threads that weave their way through the lives of individuals and communities.