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.

Linda Ogden-Wolgemuth is a recent graduate of the Center for Biography and Social Art's three-year certificate program and is currently enjoying serving as secretary on its board and leading biography workshops with individuals and institutions. In her more recent past, she worked as a class teacher, college member, and board member at the Rudolf Steiner School of NYC, where she was also a longtime parent. An alum of Sunbridge College's Elementary Education Program, Linda joined the staff at Sunbridge College as its Director of Education from 2019 through 2022 and continues to serve there as an adjunct faculty member and an online workshop host. Linda is graciously embracing middle age by staying active as an educational consultant and by cooking, traveling, theatergoing, and spending time with family and friends. 

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.

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.

Dr. Linda Williams, the third of four children, was raised in Detroit, Michigan. She was a class teacher for over 25 years, graduating her last 8th grade from Detroit Waldorf School in June of 2022. She now serves DWS as the Grades Coordinator, supporting teachers and families throughout their Waldorf journey. Williams received her Waldorf training at the Waldorf Institute of Mercy College where she was first introduced to biography work by Signe Schaefer and Lee Day. She later received her doctorate in literacy education in 2006 from Michigan State University, where she studied the biographies of early Black teachers in Detroit. Besides Detroit Waldorf, Williams has taught at the Urban Waldorf School in Milwaukee, and Eastern Michigan University. A member of the North American Pedagogical Section Council and the AWSNA Board of Trustees, Dr. Williams continues to serve as a consultant and teacher mentor at independent and public Waldorf schools and is excited to participate in the biography and social art training. She enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, studying genealogy, and reading.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Anna Rockwell was born in Marin County, California and grew up primarily on the West Coast. She attended several Waldorf schools from grade 5 through 12, graduating from the Vancouver Waldorf High School in British Columbia. Anna received a BFA in Painting from Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon and a MFA in New Genres from the San Francisco Art Institute. She is currently a PhD candidate (ABD) at the European Graduate School in the division of Philosophy, Art, and Critical Thought.