Maisha Joshua is a native of New Orleans. She is completing her 8th year at NOCCA as the Human Resources Director. As a graduate of Loyola University of New Orleans, Maisha has a wide range of professional experience in supporting her family’s business for several years, working in a non-profit agency as the finance director and working directly with children in community based settings in New Haven, Connecticut. …
Stephani Kammer-Taylor resides in New Orleans as a professional instructor and choreographer. After earning her Bachelor of Performing Arts degree from Oklahoma City University, Stephani began her professional career in New York appearing in regional theaters, industrials, and prime time television. Upon relocating to Los Angeles, Stephani would begin her extensive working relationship with Janet Jackson.…
Dr. Kate Kokontis (Integrated Humanities) is the Chair of Integrated Humanities and a Founding Faculty member of NOCCA’s Academic Studio. She earned her B.A. from Yale, a post-baccalaureate certificate in painting from the SACI College of Art and Design-Florence, and her Ph.D. in Performance Studies from U.C. Berkeley. Additionally at NOCCA, Kate co-chairs the Equity Committee and has been involved in many collaborative projects with her colleagues in other disciplines.…
Mr. Byron Lilly (History and Social Studies) moved to New Orleans in 2003, following a two-year commitment to the Peace Corps in Mali, West Africa. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in American Studies from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA (2001) and a Master’s Degree in U.S. History from Tulane University (2009), where he is currently a interdisciplinary doctoral candidate. …
Lauren Malara is a proud alum of NOCCA, The Theatre School at DePaul University, and The Second City. Lauren in the funniest Person in New Orleans. Seriously, she won a stand-up contest where she was awarded that title. She then added some levity to a NPR podcast called Life Raft, a regional Edward R. Murrow award winner.
Heidi Malnar is an Emmy Award and two-time Big Easy Award winning dancer and choreographer from Chicago. She is the founder, artistic director and principal choreographer of Gulf Coast Theatre on Tap– New Orleans’ Premier Rhythm Tap Company; whose mission is to celebrate, promote, and preserve America’s indigenous dance form in the birthplace of jazz.
Currently teaching in the dance and musical theatre departments at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA), She received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance from Columbia College Chicago.…
Kesha McKey is beginning her 18th year at NOCCA and has deep roots in NOCCA’s creative history, starting as an alum from the Dance Department, and later as a part of the Dance Faculty, the Dance Department Chair and currently as the Director of Arts. Kesha is a skilled performing artist, choreographer and educator born and raised in New Orleans and has served the New Orleans community as an art educator and culture bearer for over 25 years.…
