Dr. Alana Kinarsky (she/her) is a member of the research team for the national study of American Jewish teen well-being survey by BeWell. She is a social science researcher and evaluator working from Portland, OR, with extensive experience evaluating Jewish youth initiatives, including Jewish Federation’s Jewish Teen Initiative, Moving Traditions’ Rosh Hodesh program, At The Well’s Well Circle, and The Bronfman Fellowship’s Campus Commons pilot. Currently, she works as a postdoctoral scholar at UCLA’s School of Education while running her independent evaluation consultancy, which she founded in 2015. Previously, at Interfaith Youth Core (now Interfaith America) she led assessments of religious and spiritual climate surveying over 14,000 students across 61 college campuses. Kinarsky’s research on evaluation policy and practice in philanthropic and federal contexts appears in leading journals including Children and Youth Services Review, American Journal of Evaluation, New Directions for Evaluation, and Evaluation and Program Planning. She earned her doctorate in Social Research Methodology from UCLA, specializing in Program Evaluation.

Shuli Karkowsky, CEO (she/her/hers), has extensive experience in non-profit management, including at legacy institutions like UJA-Federation of New York and innovative start-ups like 70 Faces Media and Hazon. Both Judaism and feminism have been core facets of her identity since birth; working at Moving Traditions has felt like coming home. She joined the nonprofit world after litigating at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Shuli graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maryland and from Harvard Law School. Shuli is a notoriously voracious reader and eater, consuming nearly all variety of books and food with gusto. She lives in Westchester with her husband and three children, all of whom are so deliciously adorable that they, too, face constant risk of being consumed. 

Rabbi Daniel Brenner, Vice President of Education (he/him/his), weaves together ancient wisdom, developmental psychology, social pedagogy, embodied practice, and pop culture to help a diverse network of rabbis, educators, and volunteer leaders who mentor teens. Prior to joining Moving Traditions in 2011, Daniel led educational programs for CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Auburn Theological Seminary, and the Birthright Israel Foundation. Brenner is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College; he furthered his studies with Rabbi Yitz Greenberg and Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (z’l), and for the last five years he has been obsessed with studying and teaching shtetl dance. He lives with his beloved, Dr. Lisa Brenner, in Montclair, New Jersey and they are the proud parents of three young adults. 

Amalya (she/her) is Kol Koleinu Teen Feminist Fellow and a junior at Northampton High school. She plays ultimate frisbee, is a member of Northampton’s mayor’s youth commission, and is a part of her school’s Jewish Student Alliance. In her free time, she enjoys hanging out with friends, baking, and listening to music. She is member of Congregation B’nai Israel and goes to Camp Tel Yehudah. 

Talia is a Kumi: Foundation participant from Los Angeles and an incoming sophomore at New West Charter High School! She loves to dance, hang out with friends and family, find the best places for a stellar matcha and avocado toast, and sit down with a good book or fun movie. She is passionate about learning, making change in the world, and Formula 1!