The Cafeteria Culture (CafCu) Team
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Atsuko Quirk, CafCu Digital Media Producer and Cafeteria Ranger Program Director, is a documentary filmmaker, environmental advocate, and a 21st generation Samurai family member from northern Japan. living in New York City. She is the Director and Producer of Microplastic Madness, Cafeteria Culture's feature documentary, with additional credits as cinematographer and editor. Her documentary, "Its Everybody’s Ocean" won Best Documentary Short at NYC International Film Festival (2014) and has been screened in film festivals in ten cities around the world. “School Lunch in Japan - It’s not just about eating" (2010), her short documentary, has over 25 million views on YouTube! The movie conveys the importance of quality school mealtime and has inspired international audiences of students, educators, and school food leaders, as well as Cafcu’s own zero waste cafeteria programs. (more about Atsuko ->) |
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Debby Lee Cohen, CafCu Executive Director and Founder, is a multi-disciplinary artist and Zero Waste educator and activist. She is the Director and Producer of Microplastic Madness, Cafeteria Culture's feature documentary. She has designed scenery, puppets, and animation for theater, parades, film and television, including design for HBO shows, "Classical Baby" and "Saving My Tomorrow.” In partnership with parents, students and NYC school food directors, she led the Styrofoam Out of Schools campaign, resulting in the elimination of half a billion plastic styrofoam trays per year from landfills, incinerators and students meals in NYC and 9 other cities. Debby Lee received a Proclamation from Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer (2018) for her zero waste efforts and is a board member of Manhattan Solid Waste Advisory Board MSWAB and Plastic Free Waters Partnership NY/NJ. (more about Debby Lee ->) |
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Rhonda Keyser, CafCu Outreach and Cafeteria Program Director, has been a leader in school cafeteria waste reduction for many years, including at PS 29 in Brooklyn, where she has led the school’s Green Committee as well as the PTA. Under her leadership, PS 29 won the competitive 2014 NYC Golden Apple Award! In addition she helped facilitate the Green Team Leaders work to win National Wildlife Federation’s Eco-Schools Green Flag award. Just by facilitating proper waste-sorting in the cafeteria in a little over than 3 years, Rhonda has helped PS 29 divert over 65,000 pounds of food waste and 7200 pounds of metal, glass, and plastic recycling from the landfill. She has helped the faculty, staff and kids reduce their 7 bags of garbage per day at lunch to 2 bins of food waste, 2 bags of recycling and 2 small bags of trash. With 820 kids improving recycling sorting in their homes -- just over 500 families -- the landfill reduction is dizzyingly significant with just one school. Rhonda relishes the opportunity to work with Cafeteria Culture to help them expand their thorough and engaging education tools to all of NYC’s Public Schools and beyond. (more about Rhonda ->) |
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Daniel Ramos, CafCu Multi-media Assistant and Lead Animator /Visual Effects Designer for Microplastic Madness, is a Brooklyn native, born and raised in the neighborhood of Williamsburg. Since childhood, he has had a passion for computer and digital technology, having constructed his own computer as a teenager. This led him to the field of film and media, earning a BFA in Radio and Television production at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), broadening his interest in visual effects and animation. Currently, his many roles at Cafeteria Culture include filming, editing, and creating animation and digital effects for the Microplastic Madness movie and resources. Daniel is excited to continue developing his After Effects and animation skills with the goal to become a motion graphics animator expert. |
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Anna Nixon, CafCu Lead Science Teacher, recently received her Master of Science degree in Biology from New York University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She graduated from Penn State with a B.S. in Genetic and Developmental Biology. Anna also co-teaches the Science Class at Lower East Side Girls Club (in partnership with CafeteriaCulture) and enjoys sharing her love for science. She’s passionate about advocating for diversity in science and is happy she gets to teach and inspire kids to be scientists like her. Anna's original podcast, Annadmia, intersects race and STEM with survival tips and tricks from a perspective of a black woman in STEM. |
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Marjorie Duverge, CafCu Administrative Assistant and a born and raised Queens native, has always had a fascination with the film medium. She loved attending “Movie Nights” with her family and entering the worlds of a Disney or Ghibli film from the comfort of her couch. She earned her Bachelor's in Media Studies from Queens College, and soon after interned with Insignia Films, an Emmy-award winning documentary company. Currently, she is using her organizational and administrative skills to help Cafeteria Culture with their media projects and school programs, having already learned so much during her short time with the team. Marjorie is extremely excited to see what comes next! |
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Andreya D. Matthew, CafCu Media Assistant, is an up and coming Cinematographer. She's shot two short films, Too Much Love and Humanity, and has been 2nd Camera on the short film A Prelude to. She uses these skills to capture students from in the Cafeteria Culture programs in the classroom and community. She is also editing promo videos and was and assisted with editing on CafCu's feature documentary, Microplastic Madness. Through this she is able to continue to learn the craft and develop her creative eye. |
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Kelsey Wooddell, CafCu Special Projects Coordinator, attained her Master’s in Public Administration and a focus in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. She graduated from Rice University with a B.A. in Environmental Engineering, Policy Studies, and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and went on to join the Peace Corps, where she served as a Community Environmental Manager in Peru. After graduating from Columbia, she was the Assistant Director of Columbia’s Earth Institute Center for Environmental Sustainability. She cares deeply about advocating for science-based policy to address issues of environmental justice, sustainability, conservation, and education. |
The CafCu Team filming at New York City Hall, L to R: Daniel Ramos, NYC Council Member Antonio Reynoso, Debby Lee Cohen, Atsuko Quirk, and Andreya Matthew
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CafCu INTERNS!
Go to our Internships page to find out how to join the team.
Lydia Diebel, CafCu intern, Macalester College, with students from PS 188 The Island School
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Lydia Diebel is a native New Yorker and currently a senior at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Since 2019, she has interned at Cafeteria Culture during her school break, helping to teach lessons in classrooms, designing curriculum, assisting with the documentary, and helping with waste audits. She cares about the environment and loves working with children so working at Cafeteria Culture has been a wonderful experience. In college she is a psychology major and after graduation she hopes to work in the child mental health field. |
Shane Araujo, CafCu Intern, Bowdoin College
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Bennington College Visiting Professor and Senior Fellow, Judith Enck (center) with Field Work Term Interns (2019), L to R: Clara Schiller, Gwen Asher , Aidan Murphy , and Allie Fredette.
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Some of our fabulous CafCu VOLUNTEERS!
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Maria Molloy is a senior at Marist College majoring in Computer Science with minors in Math, IT, Information Systems, and Global Studies. A New York City native, Maria has been volunteering with Cafeteria Culture since she was in middle school. She has been involved with many CafCu projects from carrying foam tray puppets at marches and rallies to teaching kids about game design and coding. She has also worked with Girls Who Code to teach teenage girls how to code. Maria hopes to continue teaching computer science to girls and youth of color and to use her skills to reduce inequality in the field.
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Jay Schlossberg-Cohen (left)
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Hunter High School interns and volunteers
Nora Mattson, Geargeanne Dinan, Olivia McKay, and Maria Molloy -
at the March For Science, April 2017
Nora Mattson, Geargeanne Dinan, Olivia McKay, and Maria Molloy -
at the March For Science, April 2017
CafCu Staff Alum
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Lena Greenberg is a devoted systems thinker and advocate of youth participation in urbanism. She puts these passions to work through developing and teaching curriculum at CafCu's partner schools. Lena is a Brooklynite and graduate of The New School, and can usually be found traversing the city by bike or processing food scraps at her community garden.
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Naimah Hakim is a graduate of Princeton University where she studied anthropology, gender, and critical race studies. Following years volunteering at a soup kitchen and working at a student-run sustainability food co-op, Naimah is joined the Cafeteria Culture Team to promote community organizing around food justice, diversity, and access to arts-based education.
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Josh Snow studied Urban Design at Parsons The New School. As a New York City resident, he is devoted to the green cause on many fronts, from compost advocacy to urban farming and self-sustaining cities. Designing a better future through hands-on projects, Josh finds that creativity is the number one solution to today's most challenging obstacles. He is currently in China!
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Israh Moore
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Israh Moore, Youth Media+Arts for Trash Free Waters, - Film Production and Technical Assistant, is a graduate of New York Institute of Technology—New York, NY
Bachelors of Fine Arts in Communication and Media Production . |
DIanna Biagioli
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Intern - Alums!
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Allison Seaman interned with Cafcu as freshman at Baruch College,, majoring in Art. She is a graduate of LaGuardia High School and previously interned with Arts Connection when she was in high school and took classes at the Arts Students League.
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Deborah Buzuayehu was a Cafcu intern when she was a senior at Parsons School of Design. where she studied integrated design, communication design, and creative coding. S
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Georgeanne Dinan interned with Cafcu during her senior year at Hunter College High School in New York City. She is interested in a variety of environmental issues, including environmental justice, climate change, and sustainable waste management. In achieving these goals, Georgeanne believes that community organizing is essential. She plans to pursue her passion for policy and environmental issues in college.
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Brianna Maury - Hunter College
Yue Fang Bank Street College of Education
Christine Valezquez Herman, Brooklyn College
Aija Suuta, Parsons The New School
Shannon Baum, Parsons The New School
Sandy Yoon, Parsons The New School
Yue Fang Bank Street College of Education
Christine Valezquez Herman, Brooklyn College
Aija Suuta, Parsons The New School
Shannon Baum, Parsons The New School
Sandy Yoon, Parsons The New School
