MEET THE TEAM
Kendra J.Ross
Founder/ Director
Kendra J. Ross is a professional dancer, choreographer, teaching artist, pilates instructor, and community organizer from Detroit, MI, who now lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant. She is a facilitator for Urban Bush Women’s Builders, Organizers, and Leaders through Dance (B.O.L.D.) network. Kendra has worked as the Director of Programming and Artist Development and Teaching Artist at Cumbe: Center for African and Diaspora Dance.
As a performer, Kendra has traveled the world dancing for Urban Bush Women, D.J. Kid Koala, MBDance, Andrea E. Woods, and many more. Kendra presented choreographic work at the Florida A&M University, the off-Broadway show 7 Sins, Museu de Arte in Salvador, Brazil, Dixon Place, Ailey Citigroup Theater, and Actors Fund Theater. She has been an Artist in Residence at Brooklyn Studios for Dance, Bates College, and The Neighborhood Project Through 651Arts, a B.A.X. Space Grantee, and a Visiting Artist at Atlantic Center for the Arts. She was recently the Inaugural BedStuy Artist in Residence at The Laundromat Project. She is currently a Jerome Hill Artist Fellow.
Kendra moved to Bed-Stuy at the height of the nationwide conversations concerning gentrification. She was immediately concerned about how she could get to know her new neighborhood and make a positive impact. Ross wanted to create a way to connect more established entities like homeowners and business owners to other newer residents and artists like herself. So she decided to use what she knew best- art- and place that on stoops, traditional spaces of gathering in BedStuy accessible to everyone. Thus STooPS was born. Kendra still serves as the Founder & Director of STooPS. Learn more at www.thekendrajross.art
Tareya Eason
Administrative Associate
Tareya Easton has been a STooPS volunteer since 2013 and is excited to have more of an impact on STooPS' success. Tareya has been integral to creating systems for STooPS ensuring funding requirements, communication, and the transition of paid staff members in 2023.
With a B.S. in Exercise Science from Georgia State University, Tareya is passionate about nutrition, fitness, and wellness. She has worked with the U.S. National Guard giving youths fitness workshops, and has a Personal Training background. Tareya is completing a 200-hour yoga teacher training while exploring various career paths.
Pia Monique Murray Creative Producer
Pia Monique Murray is a choreographer, performer, installation artist, teacher, and creative producer. She leads Pia Monique Murray Dance Collective (PMMDC), producing movement-based multidisciplinary performance works that include community engagement and audience interaction as an artistic practice. Pia was a 2022-23 CCI 2.0 Producing Fellow with Urban Bush Women and currently is Associate Producer of Haint Blu by Chanon Judson and Mame Diarra Speis, co-producer of When Black Women+ Speak, and Associate Producer of the 40th Anniversary season.
As Bailey’s Cafe’s Producing Artistic Director she produces and curates As Quiet as It’s Kept, a multidisciplinary ethnography project about longtime residents in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Additionally, Pia is Creative Producer of Kendra J. Ross’s KJR Works company and the STooPS Summer Festival in Bedford-Stuyvesant. She is also the creator of Black Daisies, an interdisciplinary project that centers joy as political activism.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Stephanie Siegel
Board Secretary
Stefanie Siegel Driven by the desire to find a place of solace and to build positive, reciprocal relationships between generations, Stefanie founded Bailey’s Café in 2002. Her work with young people and school reform have been integral in shaping her vision for the organization. Stefanie taught English in the New York City Public School System from 1987 to 2012. From 1991 to 2012, she taught at Paul Robeson High School in Bedford Stuyvesant/Crown Heights Brooklyn, where she also held the positions of Coordinator of Student Affairs/Senior Advisor and was a member of robesonunite, the student led group that organized to save the school from being phased out.
Since leaving the NYC Department of Education, Stefanie devotes her time to expanding the reach and impact of Bailey’s Café. Stefanie has degrees from Reed College, the University of Chicago, and the City University of New York.
Nick Sharma
Board Treasurer
Nick Sharma's connection to STooPS goes back to its earliest years, when he was living in Bed-Stuy and worked on some of the original Art Crawls over a decade ago. He believes deeply in what a bonded community can mean for all residents, and he has seen first-hand what art can do to connect neighbors and grow the place they live.
Nick is the founder of an AI company based in San Francisco focused on empowering every person to build and grow their own business with AI. He spent five years at Google, most recently as Product Lead for Frontier AI at Google Labs, where he worked on some of the earliest coding models and AI agents. Earlier in his career he was Head of Product at Home Captain, a real estate platform, and held product roles at Argo Digital and Brex. He is excited to draw on his experience in technology and growth to help STooPS tell its story and reach more people.
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