Lisa is a dedicated community builder passionate about enriching the lives of individuals and families through educational programming and events. She has a background in marketing, technology, and education. A long-time Fairfax resident, married, mother of two Manor Elementary students. She is deeply rooted in the San Anselmo and Fairfax community, where she grew up and experienced the Yes to Kids program first hand as a child. She fondly calls herself a “YES kid”. Previously, she built a successful career as a project manager and digital strategist, working with companies like Autodesk, AKQA, and McCann Erickson, her experience spanning media, market research, strategy, creative design, web production and product development.

Born in San Jose, CA, Melissa has roots in both Northern CA and Oregon where some of her family still lives. Melissa was exposed to arts, theater and music at a young age through her grandmother who held season tickets to the San Jose Performing Arts and Symphony. Melissa grew up being in school and ballet performances, choir and taking art classes in both her childhood and college years. She currently works for a start-up in the People Operations function and has broad knowledge within the People/Human Resources function, which she leverages in her role. Melissa has a deep passion and love for arts education and is thrilled to be a part of the Yes Board. She lives in Fairfax with her husband, Jeff, and 2 kids Lily and Cole and their dog Monty and cat Lulu.

San Anselmo resident since 2014, Prateek is no stranger to Marin. Prateek comes from a technology background and has been working in entertainment industry for the past 10 years. His creativity and ability to connect and be able to run large scale organizations is commendable and has been helping YES transition from just a volunteer driven non-profit to an organized charter driving change. He is currently a parent to 2 kids both at Hidden Valley Elementary in 1st and 3rd Grade. In previous years, Prateek has held the position of Secretary in the YES foundation.

A San Diego native, but a northern California transplant, I am always amazed at the high quality of arts, music and theater programming available to our kids. I was an ensemble choir kid, and I have a special place in my heart for our music program. I am a proud mom of two students (one in RVSD and one at AWHS). I have over 21 years of experience working at CPA firms dealing with audits of governmental and nonprofit agencies, and I am the Administrative Director for my current firm. Prior to my career in the financial sector, I was a market research consultant specializing in customer and employee satisfaction. I started volunteering with RVSD when my oldest was in kindergarten. I have served on the YES Board since 2018, originally joining to help with social media.

A Brit who moved to the Bay Area from London, UK in 2018, Rebecca has a long career in nonprofits. Her experience ranges from organizing opening nights with artists such as Zaha Hadid at the esteemed Serpentine Gallery, to most recently as the Development Director of one of His Majesty King Charles III’s charities called Children & the Arts, the aim of which was to give underprivileged young people access to the arts. With a focus on raising money for the arts, her experience covers all fundraising income streams, events organization, Board and Ambassador management and communications. She is currently taking a career break to raise her four children, two at Wade Thomas, one at White Hill and one at home with her.

Born and raised in San Anselmo, Meagan Keane is a product of the Ross Valley School District. She comes from a family of fine artists, thespians, dancers and musicians and spent a decade traveling the world as a documentary filmmaker before settling back in Marin to start a family. She has an undergraduate degree in World Arts and Cultures from UCLA and an MFA in Film Production from USC. Meagan works as the Director of Product Marketing leading business strategy for Adobe video creation, editing and motion design software. As part of her professional work she is constantly engaged in the professional creative community, hosting panels, interviewing creatives and public speaking on the future of creative innovation. Meagan has two kids attending Brookside and joined the YES Board in 2024. 

Nichole Farnum founded Little Tree Art Studios in 2011, originally in San Francisco. Before opening Little Tree, Nichole taught in Early Childhood Education for 18 years at many well-known and respectable schools in Minnesota, Park Slope Brooklyn, and San Francisco. She has a B.A. in Early Childhood Education with a minor in Art Education from Minnesota State University and a Masters degree in Special Education from Fordham University in New York. Nichole lives in Sleepy Hollow, with her husband Alex, her daughter, Sibby and Sawyer, the dog.

Sarah Schaaf was raised in Phoenix, AZ and fell in love with the Bay Area on a trip to San Francisco with her dad when she was a young teenager. She moved to San Francisco after college, and although she left briefly to attend law school in Chicago, she always knew she’d come back to the Bay Area to settle down and raise a family. Marin was always such a magical place to her as a non-native, and Sarah still feels that same way about it as a resident today. She’s also always loved the arts: creating art, visiting museums, appreciating art and beauty in everyday life and design. The Yes Foundation provides the perfect outlet for Sarah to combine her entrepreneurial and organizational skills with her passion for art and our Ross Valley community. Sarah joined the Yes board in 2023 to support her two RVSD kiddos.

A Marin County Native and mother of three children in the Ross Valley School District. Sararose has a BA in Sociology from UCSC followed by an Early Childhood Education certification for teaching Preschool.  After living abroad for many years and having her children in NYC, she returned to the Bay area to be closer to family and give her kids the gift of going to school in Marin.  She is passionate about the arts, especially dance and theater, leading her to join YES as the lead Theater volunteer under Anna Barker.

A professional dance instructor and performer, Rose has worked through-out the bay area for the past 25 years. Specializing in Argentine Tango, she has taught and performed in Johannes Copes Festival in Buenos Aires, Berlin's QueerTango festival, San Francisco's ethnic dance festival and many others along the way. Rose was part of San Fransico's unified school district pilot program to bring ballroom dancing to public elementary schools.  Rose has two children at Wade Thomas and one child at San Anselmo Cooperative Preschool. Rose joined YES in 2024.

Laura and her family moved to San Anselmo in 2011 from Portland, OR. She has a BA in English from the University of South Florida and spent the first couple decades of her career as an administrator and communications manager, mainly for nonprofits. Laura enjoys traveling, reading/listening to novels, spending time with family, and sewing. She decided to go part-time and joined YES as the Administrator in 2017. Laura has two daughters, her youngest now attending White Hill.

A California transplant, Anna and her family made Fairfax home in 2013. With two daughters attending RVSD schools, Anna joined the YES Board as the White Hill lead and has managed the YES Theater program for the past six years. Prior to herding theater cats, Anna’s career path was primarily entrepreneurial, having owned a couple of restaurants, a party planning business, and a retail store. Anna enjoys watching most sports, traveling, and hanging out with her family. Having raised an artist (now an interior designer) and a theater kid (studying film & television in college), she whole-heartedly believes in the importance of the arts in schools. 

Conor is an illustrator, art director, brand designer and father of two RVSD girls, back in San Anselmo where he grew up. 
With 18+ years of experience as a professional creative, Conor's had the opportunity to collaborate with a number of recognizable names (Google, Outside Lands, SF Chronicle, Popular Science, Okta) and plenty of unrecognizable ones. Keeping the arts in education is deeply important to him. He joined the board in 2022. Currently he's trying to learn how to whittle and is the in-house illustrator at Lyft.

Meeghan Buckley is a lawyer and Conor's sister. She didn't deliver her bio to him on time.