JANELLE BARTH – director of operations

Janelle discovered her love for working with kids when she was 3 years old and led her preschool classmates in a rebellion against watching Sesame Street in favor of Adam West Batman reruns. Ever since this successful campaign she has been working with children in jobs including after school tutor, swim instructor and camp counselor. Now that her hope of fulfilling her lifelong dream of becoming an astronaut is no longer a career option she is happy to have apple seeds to fall back on since it helps support her J.Crew habit. In her spare time she loves to bake, is a fiercely competitive scrabble player and loves outdoor sports. Janelle has a B.S. in Statistics from Carnegie Mellon University, is very good at math and loves working at apple seeds because working with kids makes her smile and reminds her to enjoy the simple things in life. She is still a proud member of team West.

JENNIFER STRAUSSER – general manager

Jen applied for a job at apple seeds because she truly loves every child she meets (and she could walk to work). In fact, she threatens to take a few home with her every day. (Don't worry her background check came back clean.) In the past four years she has gone from creating and launching our extremely popular apple seedlings gentle separation program to overseeing all apple seeds classes, teachers and curriculum to general manager of our 25th Street location. We call Jen the baby whisperer around these parts. Put a child (or parent for that matter) in her arms and watch the tears turn to laughter in 3.2 seconds flat. Jen is mother to Cole, an amazing 10 year old boy who is obsessed with Ultimate Fighting and his mom.

JAIME KOBIN – business manager

After a childhood in the suburbs of Long Island, Jaime graduated summa cum laude from Boston University with a BA in Communication. During college, she completed internships in Sydney, Australia and London, England as well as in the Smithsonian Office of Public Affairs in Washington, DC. After school, Jaime spent 2 ½ years at Nielsen, where she coordinated conferences in the marketing, media and entertainment sectors, before she was stolen away to apple seeds to combine her event planning interest with her passion for children (as a teenager, she was a high-demand babysitter and spent several summers working at day camp). In her free time, Jaime enjoys biking, tennis, travel, ice cream and photography.

TOM DELPIZZO – facilities/classroom manager

Tom, a native of Philadelphia area feels like he was born for his role at apple seeds. As a trained actor (he is amazing at pretending to LOVE your kids!  We're kidding! He does love them all.), he has performed many illustrious roles on stage such as: the tiger, the donkey, and of course…the other donkey.  He juggles, tumbles, sings and dances. He raps, he flaps, he does magic tricks. As apple seeds’ facilities/classroom coordinator, Tom is often seen running around apple seeds (coffee in hand) painting, fixing, or juggling plastic fruit from the playground deli.  He also focuses on photography and design work for apple seeds and is currently working on perfecting the art of spinning plates.

TARRELL MITCHELL – front desk manager (Chelsea)

Tarrell started at apple seeds back in August 2007 and in the span of 5 years has worn many different colorful hats (as well as belts, blazers and scarves...now you know who he is). Tarrell has been the apple-licious front desk coordinator (made up that title himself), the assistant front desk manger, a birthday team member, as well as an assistant teacher for both my Chelsea art opening and bookworms classes.  Currently he is the front desk manager and assists with managing the boutique & salon. Tarrell enjoys spending time with his pet toy poodle, Chanel, traveling and cooking. He also loves to smile and give great hugs. We encourage you to stop by the front desk on any given day and check out how he has transformed the apple seeds team T-shirt into a project runway challenge winner.

OTIS WASHINGTON – front desk manager (UWS)

Otis was born and raised in the heart of cheese town (Wisconsin). Ever since Otis was old enough to have a job, he has worked with children. For the past 5 years Otis has worked at the YMCA – giving himself the esteemed title of "Mr. YMCA". It was during his time at the youth department at the Y that Otis realized working with kids is his passion. We are now proud to say that Otis has given himself a new self appointed title (which we think has a much nicer ring to it)... "Mr. apple seeds". Otis is currently enrolled in a master's degree program at NYU. Otis says he LOVES apple seeds because of the wonderful family environment and the fact that it reminds him of his own childhood (he also knows we are editing this blurb and that last line will make him sound even sweeter than he already is).

CASSIE ORZANO – administrative & marketing coordinator

Cassie joined the apple seeds’ team in November 2010.  She does everything from coordinating marketing efforts, to creating and hanging the signs that you see around the space, to assisting at the front desk or in classes.  She enjoys working with kids and seeing the smiles on their faces when they come to apple seeds.  She also loves when the kids remember her name and say hi to her even when they’ve only seen her in class two or three times!  Cassie received her bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Binghamton University in 2007 and graduated with a master’s degree in Public Relations and Advertising from DePaul University in 2010.  She had a great experience living in Chicago for two years, but she now feels at home in the Big Apple.  Outside of apple seeds, Cassie enjoys cheering on her favorite sports teams (Go Giants!), cooking and spending time with friends and family.  She loves animals and has a mischievous, spoiled cat named Milo.

RYAN DEJAK – birthday and event manager

Ryan was born and raised on Long Island, but as many Long Islanders do, always LONGed for the Big Apple.   Ryan is a proud graduate of Stonehill College in North Easton, MA. He graduated with Bachelor Degree in both Psychology and Fine Arts.  While in college,  Ryan strengthened his love of working with children and the performing arts.  His passion for Musical Theatre led him to NYC, where he attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.  The life of an actor in NYC is both exciting and draining.  Ryan got energy boosts and a lot of joy from his work with children and their families while working for various organizations throughout the city.  Ryan feels that he was destined to be the Birthday and Event Manager at apple seeds based on an experience with a Ouija board his Freshman year of college.  He asked the Ouija board where his career would take him in the future.  The board spelled “APPLE”.  Ryan always thought it meant that he would work in “the Big Apple”, but it is now clear to him that it was not only the Big Apple that he was destined for, but apple seeds!!!

DAN GRIFFITH – music coordinator

When Dan Griffith was growing up, his only wish was to one day become a horse. He didn’t quite get there, but at least at songs for seeds he can pretend to be a different animal every day of the week.  He takes particular pride in his monkey impersonation (but we think his elephant is Oscar worthy).  After graduating with a BA in English from Connecticut College in 2005, Dan toured the east coast for two years, playing in various bands, and well over 200 shows. He joined the apple seeds team in 2008 and found his calling working with children.  He loves performing more than anything except helping kids smile and dance.  Luckily he gets to do both everyday in his songs for seeds classes.  Dan would never brag about himself so we will...he can often be found performing for children in various hospitals.  Check out his debut CD, "The Spaces In Between".

TERRY STREET – facilities/classroom coordinator

Terry’s love of working with children started as early as he can remember.  His mother has run a day care (in the home he grew up in) for over 30 years. During his high school and college years he spent every summer as a camp counselor or doing odd jobs and landscaping for his grandfather. After graduating from SUNY Brockport with a Bachelor’s Degree in Child Psychology he spent time teaching English in France and working with troubled teenagers in San Diego (and a few other places in between) before making the move to the big city.  The first job he got at apple seeds was as a playground lifeguard and he has never looked back. Terry is now the Facilities/Classroom Coordinator at our Chelsea location, as well a lead teacher for apple seedlings, apple CORE training, build it! break it! fix it! and many other classes.  If you ever can’t find Terry it means he is practicing his (already ridiculously awesome) break dancing moves in the songs for seeds room.

LAURA HAWTHORNE – boutique manager

What do you get when you mix a devoted mom, with an extreme shopper with a strategic business planner?  You get Laura Hawthorne.  When Laura took over management of the apple seeds boutique on 25th Street, it took exactly 4 hours until she had everything off the shelves, had redesigned the flow of the store and had a list of all the new products she wanted to order immediately.  She hasn’t stopped shaking things up since day one.  Laura graduated in the top 5 of her class from Lincoln University with a degree in Business Management.  Her entire career has been in retail, ranging from store management, to buying, to ecommerce marketing.  She is a mom of two and her top priority is her children.  Stop into the boutique and say hi to Laura (if only to check out her incredible collection of HUGE amazing earrings that she changes daily).

WILL ROSE – front desk assistant manager

Will started at apple seeds right after arriving in the Big Apple from Madison, Wisconsin – almost 5 years ago.  He has truly done every job at apple seeds…he has been a teacher, a playground supervisor, apple seeds’ summer camp coordinator and is now assistant front desk manager for our Chelsea location.  Will started working with children in 1999, as a Counselor-In-Training at Camp Shalom in the Dairy State.  He graduated with a B.S. in political science from the University of Minnesota, and he recently completed his Master’s in Urban Policy at the New School.  He plans to utilize his degree by advocating for the expansion of subsidized child care for low-income residents of New York City.  He resides in lovely Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, but you can spot him all over the five boroughs (well, at least three of them) in the city’s finest rap-friendly music venues, roaming the parks with a frisbee, honing his karaoke, trivia, and pool skills, or posted up at various purveyors of tacos, pizza, labneh, curry, pho, arepas, pernil, falafel, and gabagoo.  Delicious!

If you want to become part of our staff click here for job opportunities at apple seeds.