People: Staff

Cristy Johnston-Limon , Executive Director

Cristy Johnston-Limon joins Destiny with close to ten years of non-profit leadership, development, and policy experience. Formerly the founder and Executive Director of Excelsior Action Group (EAG), Cristy grew the organization from one staff person to five full-time staff and an annual budget of 650K, serving several communities in San Francisco’s south central neighborhoods. With EAG, Cristy attracted over 80 businesses to revitalize the area, creating over 200 jobs, leveraging over 3 million in public and private investment and developing youth engagement programs and partnerships through economic development strategies, the arts and public space design and improvements. In 2009 Cristy graduated from LeaderSpring, a two-year, on the job leadership training program for nonprofit executive directors in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2008 Cristy was the recipient of a national award for Community Leadership, and from 2004-2008 Cristy served as Board Treasurer on the Board of Directors for the Japanese Community Youth Council (JCYC). In 2005 completed a yearlong political advocacy and training program for community leaders through Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE). Prior to her nonprofit work, Cristy completed a yearlong fellowship as a legislative aide in the California Senate where she staffed the Judiciary Committee and worked on policy issues such as housing, small business, transportation, smart growth, agriculture and water issues.

Originally from San Francisco’s Mission District and of Guatemalan descent, Cristy now resides in North Oakland and is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Political Science. She enjoys dragon boating at the Jack London Aquatic Center, skiing, cooking, and volunteering on the LeaderSpring Alumni Committee. She draws from her own experiences as a teenager in drama and sports to advocate for Destiny’s mission and vision.

Sarah Crowell, Artistic Director

Sarah Crowell has been at Destiny Arts Center since 1990 as a dance teacher, artistic director, workshop facilitator and program development director, and served as the organization’s executive director from 2002-2007.
 
Sarah has been a dancer and an arts educator for over 20 years.She has taught dance, theater and violence prevention to youth all over the Bay Area, in schools and community centers since 1990. She directed the dance program at Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco, CA for 3 years, and directed an award-winning hip-hop dance ensemble at the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts in Richmond, CA for 5 years. At Destiny Sarah co-founded the Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company in 1993, a troupe for teens to co-create original movement/theater productions based on their own experiences. The company now performs for over 20,000 audience members a year at conferences, festivals and other community events.  Sarah received 9 California Arts Council Artist in Residency grants for her work at Destiny and a National Endowment for the Arts grant to author a curriculum guide for artists working with teens called Youth on the Move: a teacher’s guidebook to co-creating original movement/theater performances with teens.  Sarah is the recipient of the 2007 KPFA peace award and the 2006 Purple Moon DreamSpeakers award.  

Sarah performed and toured nationally with modern, jazz and dance/theater companies in Boston and the Bay Area, including Impulse Jazz Dance Company and the Dance Brigade, between 1984 and 2000.  She also directed and performed with the dance/theater company i am! Productions between 1994 and 2002, which featured a two-woman show called Portrait of a Girl from Nowhere... an urban fairy tale.  The piece explored issues of bi-racial identity through modern and hip-hop dance, theater, poetry and song.  

Annemarie Brown, Deputy Director

Annemarie Brown has been working in the event planning industry since 2003. After working with Destiny Arts Center as Operations Manager, Annemarie transitioned to Paula LeDuc Fine Catering and began her growth into the Director of Event Production position. In this job, Annemarie managed a $3 million budget, a staff of 7 employees and was responsible for small events for Oprah to events for over 6,000 people.  Annemarie chaired Destiny Art’s Center’s successful 20th Anniversary gala. She has also been an active volunteer since 2005 with La Cocina, a business incubator program in San Francisco’s Mission District.  She has provided event planning workshops and individual consultations with business participates helping them plan and manage catering events.  Most recently, Annemarie was Event Director of San Francisco’s First Street Food Festival sponsored by La Cocina. Annemarie has her undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia.

Salim Rollins , Outreach Programs Director

Salim Rollins has worked in the field of youth development for the past ten years. Originally from New York, Salim traveled west for his undergraduate studies, receiving a B.A., Magna Cum Laude from the University of California, Santa Cruz in African and Diaspora Cultural Studies. Upon returning home to New York, Salim pursued a career in film/video production. When a friend invited him to co-teach an after-school martial arts class with the Henry Street Settlement (a NY based NGO), his passion for youth work was rekindled. Salim stayed with Henry Street for two years and went on to work for other NGO’s and CBO’s in the New York area including The Leadership Program, LEAP, The Caribbean Cultural Center and PASE. He taught Capoeira Angola (an Afro-Brazilian martial art), yoga, violence prevention/conflict management and video production to youth throughout New York City public schools. In the last couple of years, Salim has worked as a consultant developing violence prevention curriculum (NGO Sports4Kids) and facilitating trainings, workshops and professional development classes on yoga and practical relaxation locally and abroad (Daystar University, Nairobi, Kenya). As a certified Yoga and Martial Arts Instructor, Salim seeks to bring a holistic health ideology to his work with youth. In 2009, Salim moved back to California and is excited to bring his skills and passions to his current position as the Outreach Programs Director at Destiny Arts Center.

Eden Feil , Finance/HR Manager

Eden Feil wears many hats at Destiny and provides accounting, human resources, payroll and administrative support. She is the former office manager of Bay Area Youth Centers (2008-2010), a local nonprofit that manages a group home and a transitional housing program for emancipated foster youth. Before her work in the nonprofit sector, Eden worked as a sales manager where she developed and supervised sales teams of up to twenty staff members. She is currently enrolled at California State University - East Bay pursuing her B.S. in Business Administration with dual concentration in Human Resources Management and Corporate Management. After obtaining her bachelor's, she plans on applying to MBA programs at both UC Berkeley and Stanford. In addition to her professional background, Eden brings a love of children and the arts to Destiny, and is trained in both classical ballet and jazz dance. Eden is especially passionate about encouraging creativity and artistic development in youth and identifies personally with the mission and vision for Destiny.

Ethan Zatko, Program Manager

Ethan Zatko joins the Destiny team as a seasoned nonprofit and youth development professional whose most recent work has been focused on training young people to organize their communities around environmental justice issues at Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice in the Bronx River section of the South Bronx. He has also facilitated young people in organizing their communities around the issues of education reform, police reform, immigrants rights, and has provided them with mentorship, academic advocacy and a dedicated concern for their holistic well-being. An Oakland native, Ethan has always held firm his commitment to anti-racism, social justice and to emphasizing and supporting the prophetic voices of young people. Ethan is also a Destiny Arts Center alum, having attained the rank of blue belt under the direction of Sifu Anthony and other Destiny instructors some 15 years ago. He maintains that his experiences at Destiny were among the most formative of his life and considers his current position at Destiny a “true full-circle return.”

Ethan speaks about representing Destiny Arts Center at the Man Up Conference in South Africa, summer 2010.

Joy Tang, Development Associate

Joy Tang started out with a B.A. in English and took a position through Teach For America, teaching high school English and ESL in inner city Houston. But as fate would have it, a fellow teacher introduced her to Salsa dancing, and her passion and curiosity for the form spiraled her out of the classroom and into UC Berkeley’s Folklore Master’s program. There, she wrote a (rough draft of) a treatise on experienced freedom as the follower within Salsa’s coupled form. Joy also performed and trained for a number of years on the Bay Area Salsa circuit, including as a member of Salsamania’s amateur dance team and Afinkao Dance Company. In short, as Joy has occupied a unique position at the corners of urban education, academia, and community-driven dance, she very concretely understands that addressing violence and isolation through the body is where it’s at. She is thrilled to be a new staff member at Destiny Arts and is daily inspired by the creative, compassionate, and motivated professionals who surround her. Outside of Destiny, Joy blogs for Hyphen Magazine and is learning to brew her own Kombucha. Suggestions are welcome.

Indi McCasey, Program Associate

Indi McCasey believes in the power of arts education to transform lives. As a performer, Indi has personal experience with the self-actualizing potential of movement and theater arts. With a self-designed, BA major entitled Education for Environmental Responsibility and Social Justice, Indi has managed non-profit programs for 10 years in Washington and New Mexico focusing on public access and youth enrichment. Indi brings over 15 years of experiential education skills including teaching swimming, rock climbing, visual arts, and circus arts to youth; leading backcountry trail crews of teen volunteers; and presenting to groups on topics of Leave No Trace, sexual violence prevention, and institutional oppression. Indi is excited to be working with the Destiny Arts Center community!