Dana Kresel, Executive Director
Prior to joining SketchPad, Dana served as the Associate Director for Columbia University’s Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies, and before that, as the Development and Program Associate for the Masorti Foundation for Conservative Judaism in Israel. For over a decade, she held various leadership roles in the independent minyan Kehilat Hadar. Dana holds an MS in Not-for-Profit Management from Columbia University; she is also a graduate of the Joint Program of the Jewish Theological Seminary and Columbia University, where she earned BAs in Modern Jewish Studies and History.
In her spare time, she loves finding and cooking vegetarian dishes, reading fiction and business magazines, and listening to a variety of podcasts. She regularly says “y’all,” as a result of growing up in the South, and appreciates a good Scotch whisky. Dana lives in Chicago with her husband and daughter. Contact Dana at dana@sketchpadchicago.org |
Zu Weinger, Office Manager
Zu (any pronouns) is a Jewish, queer non-profit professional who grew up on unceded Three Fires Tribe (Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi) land, called Metro-Detroit, Michigan. They graduated from the University of Michigan in 2021 with two degrees: Sociology and Environment. While at UofM, Zu worked at CRiT Lab: an Information Science HCI research group. They are co-authored on two publications discussing transgender social media users experiences and needs.
A life-long Midwesterner and former Chicagoan from 2016-2018, Zu was ecstatic to return to the city for the Avodah Service Corps program in 2022. Zu is a member of the Rogers Park Moishe House (come to an event!) and enjoys cooking, singing, and making art from paintings to poetry. Contact Zu at zu@sketchpadchicago.org |