PHOTOGRAPHY TEACHING ARTIST

Based in NYC, Charles specializes in portraits and headshots for creatives, business professionals, and corporate clients. Beyond photography, he's a wildlife conservation advocate, serving as an ambassador for a South African non-profit where he teaches annually. In NYC, he hosts workshops and mentors underserved youth, fostering their creative growth. Leading our NYC photo walks with Youth Leadership Academy participants, Charles enables adolescents to express themselves freely through photography, creating a unique avenue for communication and self-discovery. He's thrilled to collaborate with GROOVE NYC.

THEATRE TEACHING ARTIST 

Most recently, Doc Dougherty has starred in his one-person show, "Godzilla's Prince." It has been produced, to wide acclaim, in both New York and Los Angeles. Additionally, he had a leading role in the play, "Dreams on 81." He has written and performed two other solo plays; his other theater work includes “The Grey Zone” at MCC, “A Question of Mercy” at the NY Theater Workshop, “Lake Hollywood” at NY Signature Theater, and “St. Peter’s Foot” at UP Theater. TV credits: several seasons on “One Life to Live,” several appearances on “NYPD Blue,” a feature role on “NY Undercover,” “Law & Order,” and two seasons of “Power” on Starz.

For the past eight years, he has worked with the New York City Police Department, teaching officers to use their words instead of their weapons.

MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEACHING ARTIST & EDUCATOR

Mellisa Severino is a Bronx-based multidisciplinary artist and educator whose creative practice spans traditional painting, mixed media, sculpture, drawing, graphic design, and digital art. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Art from the State University of New York at Albany, where she cultivated a deep understanding of human behavior and creative expression. Born and raised in the Bronx, she channels inspiration from the strength, vitality, and beauty of her community, which often faces misrepresentation and marginalization. With experience teaching Pre-K and online tutoring, she is dedicated to nurturing curiosity, creativity, and self-exploration in learners of all ages. Her distinct blend of artistic skills and psychological insight shapes her multidimensional approach to art and education, empowering students and audiences alike to discover deeper connections within themselves and the world around them.

HOLISTIC WELLNESS TEACHING ARTIST

Verónica is a NYC based yoga and meditation instructor. She is also a high school Spanish teacher with over two decades of experience. She first discovered yoga in 2008 when she was experiencing stress, adversely impacting her health. Needless to say, it was love at first practice and she wanted to share it with everyone! Verónica received her RYT 200-Hour Certification through Breathe For Change. She chose the program because of its comprehensive focus on the principles of Wellness and Social Emotional Learning. Verónica is committed to creating classes that promote a sense of belonging and positive self-worth. Her background as an educator enables her to create sequences that are designed to be challenging yet accessible for all. She routinely incorporates props to allow for a practice that is simultaneously fluid and aligned. Verónica draws upon her experience as a practitioner and an educator to create a space that is safe, inclusive, and welcoming to each and every body.

BOARD PRESIDENT

Anna Theresa Cascio is a graduate of Yale School of Drama in playwriting and the recipient of a Rockefeller Grant. She has attended the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, and the one-man show ”Godzilla’s Prince” that she wrote with and for her husband, Doc Dougherty, was widely produced in New York and LA. She is co-book-writer of the musical, “The House of Martin Guerre,” which ran at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, and at CanStage in Toronto. Her many plays have been produced at MCC, ACT, and all around the country.

She is the author of the upcoming graphic novel, “Butterflies in the Brownstone: The Italian Souls of NY.”

Anna has won an Emmy and seven Writers’ Guild awards for her television work. She is the creator of our Youth Leadership Academy’s creative writing program and has volunteered with GROOVE NYC on many initiatives. She looks forward to many more opportunities to work with the magnificent young adults involved.

Anna is also the creative lead on our upcoming documentary focusing on art as an essential part of our everyday lives. She looks forward to spreading the word about the importance of artistic expression as a way of healing and finding tranquility.

BOARD SECRETARY

Jackie Jackson is from a lineage of educators and deeply values GROOVE's significance. With over five years in the community, she's a vital member and also holds a distinguished three-decade tenure as a Senior Executive Assistant at American Express.

Since assuming the role of our board secretary in 2019, Jackie has emerged as an indispensable pillar of our administrative ensemble. Her adept management of schedules, meetings, and events serves as the bedrock of our operational efficiency.

Jackie indulges in pursuits such as photography, fashion design, and ceramics. This well-rounded perspective bolsters her understanding of the role creativity plays in a child's holistic development.

'Be a change maker" ~ Author Unknown

BOARD MEMBER

Michael is a recently retired public school teacher, having taught in 4th and 5th grade classrooms for 23 years. His creative classroom teaching style has enabled many of his five hundred students to evolve into highly capable critical thinkers, writers, artists, and advanced mathematicians.  Michael spent more than a decade in the study and practice of an educational philosophy that began in Reggio Emelia, Italy, conceived by Loris Malaguzzi, and known as “The Reggio Emelia Approach”. Over time, he taught his students to be partners in their own educational process and designed a classroom in which the children were given much more agency in making decisions about their own learning that often involved project-oriented modalities, along with collaboration with fellow students and frequent conferences with the teacher. Michael traveled to Italy with colleagues for workshops at the Loris Malaguzzi International Centre, that acted as models for his classroom practices.  

Following his passions throughout a life journey of seven decades, Mike was, initially, a professional photographer for 25 years working with many notable studio photographers before setting out on his own path. He specialized in celebrity and corporate portraiture, location photography for corporate annual reports, and editorial photography for magazines such as Time, Life, Fortune, and Inc. 

In 1992 he returned to college for a Masters degree in Education, working in Hudson River and Westchester community public schools. 

Mike is also a private pilot who is continuing his studies for an advanced piloting certification, as well as being a student of fine woodworking,  an aspiring luthier, and a practitioner of meditation, tai chi, and qi gong and has participated in numerous workshops at The Omega Institute of Holistic Studies. 

He is the father of two adult sons – one of whom is an aerospace engineer and the other is a visual effects artist.  Both live and work in Los Angeles.

Cynthia Weber Cascio has a distinguished background in broadcast journalism and the media industry, most recently as researcher, producer and executive producer of the American Masters for PBS on iconic artist Edward Hopper. As a correspondent for CBS News for nearly a decade, Weber Cascio reported on major events that shaped our times, anchoring network radio newscasts and the CBS TV network’s Up to the Minute morning news program. In addition, she has significant experience as an anchor and reporter in radio and television news and public affairs in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC. A principal at M&C Media, Weber Cascio develops new projects, writes and produces, with additional specialty in media strategy, philanthropy and non-profit consulting. She is also passionate about the impact of arts in healthcare, serving on an advisory board to the Arts & Humanities Program at Georgetown Lombardi Cancer Center. M&C Media was one of five sponsors of an international symposium Music as Medicine hosted by Georgetown and Sweden's Karolinska Institute. Weber Cascio has a B.A. in political science from Temple University.

John Pacos is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in New York State and has been with S. Napolitano Corp since 2021. He earned his BS in Accounting from Ramapo College of New Jersey and his MBA in Public Accounting from SUNY New Paltz. He is a current member of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants.

“We make living by what we get; we make life by what we give.” Winston Churchill.

Anita Daswani is primarily an actor and writer who loves to take part in creative projects that promote social welfare and change for the betterment of the community—hence her involvement with The Art of Change. She joins us with the experience of executive producing and creating a narrative short film, The Missed (2022), which has won numerous accolades for its poignant message advocating for mental health awareness and suicide prevention.