Robbie Schaefer, Founder and President
Robbie has been a professional musician for over 20 years, touring and recording with the folk-rock band Eddie From Ohio, as well as on his own. He has lived in India, Switzerland, and Virginia, which explains his love for chai tea, chocolate, and tri-cornered hats. He is currently the Music Director for Kids Place Live, the children’s programming channel on Sirius XM Radio. He is the father to three boys, and cultivates an abiding love for olives, tall trees, and small people. During Board meetings Robbie is prone to using phrases such as, “that being said”, or, “dynamic initiative”, or, “shifting paradigm”, because he thinks they make him sound more Presidential. The rest of us smile and nod politely. His Mexican Wrestler name is Brazo Fantastico. We looked it up.
Justin Ide, Vice President
Justin is a professional freelance photographer and storyteller. He has previously worked in the Public Media Affairs Office at Harvard University. While working at Harvard sounds impressive (and it is, we suppose), it probably just means that Justin is smarter than the rest of us. But, hey, we’re good at other things. Like origami. And writing pithy bios. Prior to Harvard, Justin was a staff photographer at The Boston Herald. Prior to that, he spent two years with the Peace Corps in Guatemala, and since then his travels have sent him to Africa, South America, and most recently, Haiti. He is a hardcore foodie and enjoys all aspects of the culinary world. When not cooking or spending time with his wife and 15 year old daughter and two labrador retrievers, Justin can be found waving a fly rod in the middle of a stream in the pursuit of wild trout. Oh, and he rides a Vespa. Which is even cooler than the whole Harvard thing. Mexican Wrestler Name: Rey Verde
Alicia Todd, Secretary
Alicia is a Clinical Psychologist in Falls Church, VA, which means that as you read this, she knows why you are reading it. She has been involved in fund-raising for the John Dau Foundation as well as Madre, a non-profit with a mission “to advance women’s human rights by meeting immediate needs and building lasting solutions for communities in crisis.” Specifically, Alicia became involved with a Madre project which enables Afghan women who are threatened with violence to escape to safety. Alicia is also Irish, which means she cried during the movie version of Eat, Pray, Love (and not for the same reason as the rest of us–geez that movie was awful). While we don’t know this to be fact, now that it’s in print, it might as well be. Mexican Wrestler Name: Zorro Especial
Sameer Patel, Treasurer
Sameer grew up in Western, NY in a small town called Lewiston, bordering Ontario, Canada. His parents were born in East Africa– mom in Tanzania and dad in Uganda. They met on the boat to college in India and fell in love, eventually eloped and married in London before moving to Canada and then, the US. The union resulted in a half Muslim, half Hindu, subtly African, modestly Indian, but mostly American kid. We think of him as the modern day South Asian Clark Griswold, with a tiny bit more style. Sameer has sung with a capella groups, taught English in Tanzania, been a banker, a real estate developer, and a professional wrestler (ok, we’re not sure about the wrestling thing, but he does look like he’s been working out recently). Currently, Sameer runs the Bristow Montessori School in Bristow, VA, which he founded in 2009. On the education front, he received his BA with Honors from Georgetown University, and an MBA in Corporate Strategy from the Smith School at The University of Maryland, College Park… blah, blah, blah. He lives with his wonderful wife of 10 years, Zeena, and 2 inspiring boys (Rumi is 5 and Rayn is 2). His life’s pursuits are to find the perfect coffee bean and roast, to try every tea strain on the planet, to listen to the music of everyday life, and to try and do “a little freaking good in this world”. That’s his tale, and he’s sticking to it. So are we. Mexican Wrestler Name: Sameer Patel
Lori Diguardi, Board of Directors
Lori holds a BS in Computer Science summa cum laude. Smartypants (we won’t make a snarky comment on the BS thing because that would be childish of us). In 1994 she switched careers from IT consulting with Fortune 500 companies to the biggest job of her life: becoming a mother. Today she is mother to two teenagers: Carolynne, a senior in high school, and Patrick a sophmore. She is also known as mother to hundreds of children in Uganda. Since 1999, Lori has raised awareness and funds, fostered friendships and goodwill, and facilitated multi-cultural sharing and communication, as International Director of Brain Tree Primary School in Uganda. Lori considers herself a big momma in a small package with love enough to go around. In her spare time she glides around the dance floor with Argentine Tango, loves public speaking, and will proudly admit she was recently diagnosed with EWD by her teenage son: Extremely Weird Disorder. We should all be so lucky. Mexican Wrestler Name: El Pedo Verde
Sarah Craven, Board of Directors
Sarah serves as Chief of the Washington Office for the U.N. Population Fund and has worked for years as a consultant, advocate, and Board member for Kakenya Ntaiya who founded and runs the Kakenya Center for Excellence in Kenya. Like most people who are unbelievably busy, Sarah seems to always somehow create time for meaningful things. We are so grateful she’s decided OneVoice is one of those things. Oh, and word on the mean streets of Bethesda, MD is that she listens to Kids Place Live even when her kids aren’t actually in the car. Mexican Wrestler Name: Roboto Rapido
Sarah Vogel, Intern in Programming and Project Management/Volunteer Coordinator
Sarah is finishing up her Masters in International Peace and Conflict Resolution Studies at Arcadia University in PA. Almost makes you want to go back to school, right? Almost. She has volunteered with Invisible Children, spent the summer of 2008 serving at the Sir Samuel Baker School in Gulu, Uganda, and has been a musician all her life: vocals, piano, trombone, clarinet, guitar, euphonium . . . . (seriously, Sarah? Euphonium?!). She has two cats, a fiance (all three of whom she feeds regularly), and a boundless spirit and sense of the possible. Can you tell we kinda like her? Oh, also, Sarah has been known to rock a quadruple twisting somersault when snowboarding down a mountain. We, of course, choose to overlook the distinction between landing on one’s feet and landing on one’s butt. Mexican Wrestler Name: El Sombrero Misterioso