Meet our fabulous team of LadyMaker instructors!
Lauren Cage is a Gallery Programs Specialist for the Tech Museum of Innovation, where she designs and facilitate hands-on, STEAM programming and workshops, with an emphasis on design challenge learning. She is also the Curriculum Designer for the Washington Maker Workshop, which offers free after school maker classes to kids in low income areas. Lauren holds a Master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology and is co-founder of Tinker Belles with Erin Salter.
Alba Cardenas is an experienced youth educator in Alum Rock San Jose. For the past five years, she has worked with middle school students at Joseph George Community Center’s STEM Lab and has been an instructor with the Art and Design Thinking Camp. Alba enjoys guiding students through their STEM journeys and loves seeing students become inspired to work with their hands and learn new concepts.
Lindsay Hunter currently is the district-wide instructor for STEAM Labs at Piner-Olivet School District and Maker Studio at Sonoma County Libraries. She has her own company, Nutbar Studios, loves to tinker with making a wide range of things, learning about new inventions, and mentoring students. She earned a BA in Industrial Design, was a fashion designer at Levi Strauss, Esprit de Corp and taught at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in San Francisco.
Tenaya Hurst is a Maker. With a degree from Indiana University in theatre, geology, and anthropology, she is self taught in many maker skills. To go Rogue, take a workshop with Tenaya. She has her own presenting style that gives young Makers a healthy struggle while learning how to program, solder, and sew with electronics. Her goal is to inspire kids everywhere to try electrical engineering. Learn more in the Intel MakeHers report, in a tell-all article by Dale Dougherty, and www.RogueMaking.com.
Myoung Kang is a bay area designer, maker, and entrepreneur. With a masters of architecture from California College of the Arts (CCA) and her previous background as a software engineer, she is currently involved in projects in spatial computing and storytelling; researching the possibilities of new technologies at the intersection of physical and digital mediums to bring new experiences in immersive technology. She has also taught architecture and robotics for K-12 to adults at CCA and other organizations and believes that sharing her knowledge and experience while facilitating others in their creative process is a truly rewarding experience. Her latest workshop was with KIDmob and Born Just Right where she led the robotics portion of the program (in collaboration with Google and Autodesk), helping kids with limb difference to create and realize their superpowers!
Connie Liu is a mechanical engineer from MIT, passionate educator, and founder of Project Invent. She most recently taught design thinking & engineering at The Nueva School. Now, she runs Project Invent to inspire high school students nationwide to invent technologies that make a difference. She is also an engineer and inventor herself, focused on designing assistive technologies to empower those with disabilities.
Erin Salter is a science writer and co-founder of Tinker Belles. Tinker Belles runs workshops in which kids work with simple circuits as well as traditional craft media (e.g. paper, felt, glitter) to bring their visions to life. As a science writer, Erin worked at Owen Software, writing about STEM events, careers, and education for the educational tool Pathevo. Erin holds a Masters in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.
Corinne Okada Takara is a Bay Area artist/arts educator who creates technology integrated art projects. Her public collaborative work explores the use of modern day products to preserve cultural heritage and memory, and honors the colliding and merging stories that arise in rapidly shifting communities. The workshops Corinne designs for museums, libraries, K-12 classrooms and colleges foster creative confidence; they encourage us to see ourselves as drivers of culture and technology. By engaging in maker activities taking shape in public spaces, we can share creative ideas that impact our world and increase our collective civic engagement. Learn more about Corinne’s work at Okada Design.
Women in Photonics, Silicon Valley is a group started by and composed of women representing the vibrant and diverse work force of Silicon Valley from both industry and academia, specifically in the field of optics and photonics. This is a completely voluntary effort, driven by the passion and enthusiasm of its members.