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Meet Our Team
We are led by passionate individuals who inspire, educate and connect through mindfulness.
Our experience is trusted by a variety of community partners in Lehigh County and Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Learn more about our dedicated staff.
KIM HOPKINS
Executive Director
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Kim has held senior leadership positions in both for-profit and nonprofit organizations, specializing in strategic planning, fundraising, partnership development, and marketing. Prior to joining Shanthi Project, Kim served as the Vice President of Strategic Business Development at Sony Music Entertainment and, most recently, as the first ever Executive Director of the Wilson Area Partners in Education Foundation.
In 2010, Kim began an energy work, mindfulness, and yoga practice, which she credits with helping her navigate significant personal adversities. Kim holds a B.A. in both Journalism & the Mass Media and Political Science from Rutgers University and a Usui Reiki Master certification from the Greenshire Institute for Holistic Studies. When not working, Kim enjoys spending time with her family and volunteering in the community. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Easton Area Chamber of Commerce.
SARAH DENNEHY, M.Ed, RYT
Director of Programs
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Sarah is a Licensed Behavior Specialist with a Master’s Degree in Special Education from Lehigh University and a certified mindfulness and yoga teacher for children and adults. Sarah oversees our community programs, including Calm, Kind + Focused Classrooms offered in 230 K-12 public school classrooms, and Trauma-Informed Mindfulness and Yoga taught inside Northampton County Juvenile Justice System. Sarah has nearly 20 years of experience in the autism field, and has been a Behavior Specialist Consultant for the last ten years. She holds certifications from Mindful Schools in Mindfulness Fundamentals and Mindful Educator Essentials, and is certified in Trauma-Informed Mindfulness and Yoga.
JO-ANN DEVEREAUX
School-Based Instructor and Workshop Facilitator
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Jo-Ann joined Shanthi Project in 2021. She is a certified Mindful Schools’ 'Mindfulness Foundations' and 'Mindfulness in the Classroom' instructor. She has completed trainings in Compassion Resilience, trauma-informed approaches, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She has a robust knowledge of social emotional learning.
Jo-Ann is a retired Special Education teacher who has taught every grade, from Pre-K to 8, in both general education and special education. After pursing her master’s and gaining certification as a Teacher of the Handicapped, Jo-Ann continued her studies and now holds certifications from Fairleigh Dickinson University as a Dyslexia Specialist, Orton Gillingham Therapist and Learning Disabilities Teacher Consultant. Jo-Ann was selected by the Department of Education to help develop preschool curricula for New Jersey. Among her accomplishments, she has received the Who’s Who Among America's Teachers award, as well as the Governor’s Teacher Recognition Award. She is currently an educational consultant in New Jersey.
LAUREN DRABENSTOTT
Marketing Consultant
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Lauren grew up in the Lehigh Valley and began working with Shanthi Project at the start of 2022. Since graduating from New York University in 2020, her roles in communications and marketing have largely centered around agriculture and the environment, but her interest in mindfulness aligns with longtime passions for farming, the outdoors, and intentional living. Lauren works on Shanthi Project’s digital marketing, including social media, email newsletters, and website development. She is currently living in Dublin, Ireland, where she is pursuing a master’s in Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development.
JOHN HAWKINS
Yoga & Mindfulness Instructor
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A 10-year Shanthi Project veteran, John has focused on teaching trauma-informed yoga and mindfulness to at-risk populations, including classes at the Juvenile Justice Center, as well as the county jail. Retired from the corporate world, John is married and enjoys spending time with his large extended family and friends, playing golf, tennis, and softball.
SALLY KRAFT
School-Based Instructor
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Sally joined Shanthi Project in early 2021. She is a certified Mindful Schools’ ‘Mindfulness Foundations’ and ‘Mindfulness in the Classroom’ instructor. She has completed the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction intensive, as well as trainings in trauma-informed approaches and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Prior to working with Shanthi Project, Sally worked as an Elementary School Counselor and a Wraparound Case Manager, creating and leading teams of students, families, and community members to support at-risk students. She received a Masters of Social Service from Bryn Mawr College and shortly afterwards became a Licensed Social Worker and Certified Elementary School Counselor and Home and School Visitor in Pennsylvania.
DANIEL MASSARO, MPH
Research & Development Coordinator
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Daniel earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology and neuroscience at Temple University, where he worked with at-risk youth in Dr. Steinberg’s Juvenile Justice Lab. Since graduating, he has served as the Subcommittee Chair of State Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s Pennsylvania Reentry Council—to advocate for individuals returning to their community after incarceration—and as Safe Harbor Easton’s Program Coordinator. After spending years working on the front lines with many dual-diagnosis substance use disorder and mental health clients, he began to see that underlying untreated trauma was at the root of many people’s suffering. This spurred him to earn his master’s in public health at East Stroudsburg University. During his graduate studies, he conducted an independent research investigation into how Shanthi Project’s trauma-informed yoga and mindfulness programming affected currently incarcerated individuals with PTSD.
JOELLEN MILLSPAUGH, M.Ed
School-Based Instructor
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JoEllen began her mindfulness practice in 2013, when she took ‘Mindful Based Stress Reduction’ through Lehigh Valley Health Network. Since then, she has attended Mindfulness in Education courses in New York and completed her Mindful Schools certification in ‘Mindful Foundations' and ‘Mindfulness in the Classroom’ in 2022, the same year she joined Shanthi Project. JoEllen is a retired public school educator, having taught second, third, and fifth grades in elementary school, as well as sixth grade in middle school, where she spent most of her teaching career. She has been practicing yoga for over 20 years and enjoys dancing and practicing karate.
SUSAN MORELOCK
School-Based Instructor
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Susan is an educator, artist, and yogi. She joins Shanthi Project with more than a decade of teaching experience, curriculum planning, and creative leadership in higher education. A practicing artist, she holds an MFA from Columbia University, an MA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a BFA from Rochester Institute of Technology. She also holds certifications from Mindful Schools in Mindfulness Foundations and Mindfulness in the Classroom, and she completed her 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training at the Yoga Loft of Bethlehem in 2022.
MARGUERITE NICOSIA
School-Based Instructor and Workshop Facilitator
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Marguerite joined Shanthi Project in 2021. She is a certified Mindful Schools' ‘Mindful Foundations’ and ‘Mindfulness in the Classroom’ Instructor. She completed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Training and Compassion Resilience Training in 2023. Marguerite came to mindfulness through yoga. She teaches at Easton Yoga, where she trained as a Certified Yoga Teacher (CYT) in 2022. Marguerite holds a Master’s of Science in Photography from Syracuse University’s S. I. Newhouse School for Public Communications. She credits a career in documentary photography with honing a professional set of mindfulness skills; listening closely, noticing storytelling details in everything, everywhere, all at once, gratitude, connection, kindness, empathy and compassion.
SARA TIMOFEEV
Yoga & Mindfulness Instructor
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Over the past thirteen years working with Shanthi Project, Sara has taught countless mindfulness and yoga sessions at the Northampton County Juvenile Justice Center, Women's Prison, and Boys and Girls Club. She has been a certified Hatha Yoga Instructor since 2010.
SHAUNA WILLIAMS
Workplace Mindfulness Trainer
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Shauna is trained in trauma-informed practices and compassion resilience, in addition to training as a Behavioral Health Technician in Applied Behavioral Analysis and Behavioral Interventions, too. Prior to her work with Shanthi Project, Shauna worked with Resilient Lehigh Valley, where she helped plan, develop, and write a training curriculum designed to teach parents and caregivers how to raise resilient children. Through community outreach and engagement, Shauna has worked to bring a trauma-aware mindset into various community organizations. With a background in the medical field and coursework in social work from Liberty University, Shauna values meeting people where they’re at and helping organizations use mindful approaches to become more resilient. Shauna has also been trained in the Mindful Schools curriculum and has completed the 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction intensive.
ANNIE SERFASS
School-Based Instructor
Annie began working with Shanthi Project back in 2012, the same year she began her practice of mediation and mindfulness. In 2021, she stepped into her current role. For 25 years, Annie worked in public schools as a speech/language therapist for grades K-12, including serving students with special needs. She has a thorough knowledge of social-emotional learning. Annie is a certified Mindful Schools’ ‘Mindfulness Foundations’ and ‘Mindfulness in the Classroom’ Instructor. She has completed trainings in Compassion Resilience; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; and trauma-informed approaches. She is also a Registered Yoga Teacher(RYT)-500 hour and a Registered Children’s Yoga teacher(RCYT)-95 hour, with extensive training in trauma-informed yoga, restorative yoga, and yoga for special needs children.
Meet Our Board
Our Board is an important part of our organization, comprised of knowledgeable and compassionate leaders who make valuable contributions of their time and talents to enhance our mission.
Board of Directors:
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Tiffany Noll Yurasits, PHR, SHRM-CP, UKG - Board President
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Cheryl Kienzle, MD, Lehigh Valley Physicians Group, retired - Vice President
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Dave Erickson, BSI Corporate Benefits - Treasurer
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Kelsey Gasper, MPH, St. Luke's University Hospital - Secretary
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Anne Alexander, RYT, Author and Brand Consultant
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Angie Andresen, MA, Pinebrook Family Answers
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Shonda Moralis, MSW, LCSW, Mindful Empowerment Coaching and Psychotherapy
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Trish Schafer, IT Consultant
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Denise Veres, Shanthi Project Founder, Board Member Emerita
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