We started Hope in a Suitcase because as parents, professionals and volunteers, we are each deeply involved with and committed to children. We believe children, as well as adults, benefit enormously when they are empowered to help others, through their own kindness and generosity. We have seen how simple gestures can lift a child's spirits during vulnerable times. We believe that every child deserves NEW belongings to call their own, and reminders that someone cares. 

Board members

Marsha Todd Austen  - Co-Founder & Director

Marsha Todd Austen has served as Director of Hope in a Suitcase since Spring of 2016. She previously served as the Co-Director of Fundraising of the parents' association at Warner Avenue Elementary School, and had successfully helped organize elementary school community service events and programs. During her previous career in law, she worked as both an associate litigator (Manatt, Phelps and Phillips) and a transactional attorney (Warner Bros.). Prior to working at Manatt, she ran Business Affairs and Operations at Stillking Films, in Prague, where she helped manage business structuring and the legal aspects of opening offices in Warsaw and London. She earned her B.A. in English Literature (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) at UCLA and her J.D. (Calfornia Law Review) at the School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley.

Andy Horn - Chief Financial Officer

Andy Horn is the chief financial officer of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, where he has been the primary financial executive since 2001. Prior to joining the Academy, he was an auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers and an officer in the United States Navy. He was a six year board member of the Warner Avenue Elementary School's parent organization, serving five years as the Vice President-Finance and one year as the Co-President. Andy earned a BA in History from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the University of Southern California. He is a Certified Public Accountant.

Stacy Kravetz - Co-Founder & Treasurer

Stacy Kravetz is a successful writer and published author of several non-fiction and young adult books. She started her career as a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal and has contributed to The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and other newspapers. Among other works, she is the author of bestseller Girl Boss: Running the Show Like the Big Chicks; Welcome to the Real World: You’ve Got an Education—Now Get a Life!;  She's So Boss; and The Fosters: Keep Your Frenemies Close. She earned her B.A. in Political Economies of Industrialized Societies at the University of California, Berkeley and her M.A. in Journalism at the University of Southern California.    

Amber Hartgens - Secretary

Amber Hartgens volunteers as a Court Appointed Special Advocate at CASA LA, which offers a consistency of contact and support to and on behalf of foster youth to help implement and maintain adequate and necessary services. She additionally volunteers at A New Way of Life Reentry Project Legal Clinic and Neighborhood Defender Services, Inc. She previously worked as Production Counsel at Netflix and at Warner Bros. She is a graduate of Barnard College, Columbia University, and the School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley.

Barbara Bartman

Barbara Bartman started Auntie Barbara’s Kids General Store in Beverly Hills over 40 years ago. As a single mom of two adopted kids, she serves on several board of directors including United in Harmony, a non-profit organization formed in response to homelessness and poverty facing children in our community. At Camp Harmony, she volunteers as support staff. She also spearheads set-up of the kids' clothing closet at Camp Harmony, and solicits donations from clothing manufacturers so campers have access to the clothing they need.  

Roquesa Brown Jordan

After working in the fashion industry for over 25 years as a senior level apparel buyer with several high-profile retailers, she has now moved over to the nonprofit sector as a Special Events Coordinator and Executive Administrator to the Director for Dimondale Adolescent Care Facility. She and her husband are parents to two children whom they adopted out of the Foster Care system. Currently, they are Resource Parents to another child whom they also plan to adopt, while continuing to provide a safe refuge for other children who need emergency placement and respite care. She earned her AA in Visual Presentation and Space Planning as well as a certificate of degree in Merchandise Marketing from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM).

Eufe de la Torre - Co-Founder

Eufe de la Torre is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice, working in Los Angeles. He worked at Children’s Bureau for 22 years, where he started as a foster care social worker, making his way up to Supervisor. While still working at Children’s Bureau, Eufe opened his own private practice in 2011. He is bilingual (Spanish/English) and conducts individual and couples therapy in both languages. His work has centered on helping individuals and couples dealing with personal difficulties surrounding their relationships, adoption, infertility, abuse and other mental health issues. Though Eufe left Children’s Bureau in 2015, to focus on his private practice, he continues to find ways of giving back to abused and neglected children. Eufe earned his B.A. in Psychology from Boston College and his M.A. in Marriage and Family therapy from the University of San Diego.  

Nicole Field - Co-Founder

Nicole Field is co-founder and executive director of the Global First Ladies Alliance and Senior Advisor to RAND Corporation on the African First Ladies Fellowship Program. She previously worked for the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London and as a researcher at the UCLA School of Public Health. Her previous career was in information technology and market research. She has a B.A. from Duke University in International Studies and a Masters Degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, in Public Health.

Mark S. Freeman

Mark S. Freeman is a 4th generation beauty industry expert and was president of Freeman Beauty, a mass marketer of beauty products sold in the US and around the world. After Freeman Beauty was acquired by the DIAL corporation in 1998, Mark went on to a number of other entrepreneurial endeavors and in 2013, re-entered the beauty industry launching BeautyMark, a beauty brands ideator. BeautyMark brands are sold in leading retailers throughout the US. Mark is a founding member of PHASE ONE Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting innovative Phase I and Phase II clinical cancer research, education, and treatment programs. PHASE ONE has raised over $23 million and has supported over 45 groundbreaking cancer clinical trials and treatment.

Danelle Sherrod Geller - Co-Founder

After working as a production coordinator for film and television, Danelle Sherrod Geller began her career in the nonprofit sector as Director of Creative Development for Steven Spielberg's Starbright Foundation, dedicated to the development of projects that empower seriously ill children to combat the medical and emotional challenges they face on a daily basis. She ran focus groups with children across the nation and synthesized information from needs assessments into campaign and product development. She has a B.A. in psychology from Chico State University. 

Jaime Schwartzberg

Jaime Schwartzberg has served on the boards of The Make-A-Wish Foundation (Northeast) and Most Valuable Kids, a non-profit collecting and distributing sporting and entertainment tickets to underprivileged youth. She has also been involved in The Joyful Heart Foundation in both Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, as well as The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation here in LA. Jaime grew up in New York, where she worked as a publicist after graduating with a B.A. in communications from Boston University.

TEEN LEADERSHIP COLLECTIVE (“TLC”):

Our Teen Leadership Collective is comprised of 9th - 12th graders who have demonstrated leadership ability, as well as a reliable, long-standing and proactive commitment to helping the foster children we serve. For more information about how to join, please contact info@hopeinasuitcase.org.

Members: Ava Schwartzberg, Avery Greene, Brooke Meenaghan, Cadin Fetters, Eli Casden, Carter Comolli, Gisele Genow, Hudson Lake, John McCovey, Juana Markman, Kate Goldberg, Kate Schwartzberg, Kate Steier, Lola Pena, Luke Goldberg, Maddie Sloan, Mia Ushiba, Sydney Melnick.

Brooke Meenaghan - Chair
Brooke spearheads the 2023/24 Teen Leadership Collective, and enjoys collaborating with other teen volunteers who have the shared goal of helping LA’s foster youth. A Hope team member since 2017, Brooke organizes teen volunteer-only work days, advises and guides volunteers on independent projects, creates social media content, sources in-kind donations, leads our holiday stocking stuffing program and generally serves as the main point of contact for all teen volunteer-related matters. 

ADVISORY TEAM

Karl Austen

Karl Austen is CEO and Managing Partner of the entertainment lawfirm of Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner & Klein. He has served on the Board of Trustees (2008 - 2012) and the Advisory Board of PATH. He has also served on the Board of Trustees at The Buckley School (2013-2017). He obtained his J.D. with honors in 1989 from Harvard Law School and his B.A. magna cum laude from Amherst College in 1986. 

Melissa Burton

Melissa Burton has over 15 years of experience in PR. She worked as Vice President of Publicity at The CW television network, spearheading publicity campaigns for such shows as "Gossip Girl" and "Life Unexpected," a series about a girl who is reunited with her birth parents after spending the majority of her childhood in the foster care system. Melissa and her family are members of Adat Ari El synagogue and its social action and community service group, Abraham's Tent, and also lend support to community organizations including SOVA, PATH, Big Sunday and Jewish World Watch.  She earned her B.A. in English at UCLA. She served on the Hope in a Suitcase Board of Directors from 2016 - 2018.

Lauren Rosen Crosby, MD, FAAP - Co-Founder

Lauren Rosen Crosby is a nationally-recognized parenting expert and pediatrician. After graduating from Smith College and the UCLA School of Medicine, she trained at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center during which time she served as Chief Resident. She is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics, is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and is a Clinical Instructor for the UCLA School of Medicine. She is currently a full-time practicing pediatrician at La Peer Pediatrics in Beverly Hills, California.

Alexandra Fuller - Co-Founder

Alexandra Fuller has worked in Los Angeles Community organizations for 25 years. Among the organizations she has worked with: The March of Dimes, Beit T’Shuvah, PS Arts and Crossroads School. Additionally, she has started multiple companies and most recently became involved in the urban farming organization, LA Urban Farms.  She grew up in Sarasota, Florida and moved to LA in 1985 to receive her BA in Humanities from Pepperdine University. She served on the Hope in a Suitcase Board of Directors from 2017 - 2020.

Rebecca George - Co-Founder

Rebecca George began her career in education through Teach for America (TFA), the national corps of recent college graduates who commit at least two years to teach in urban and rural public schools and to become leaders in the effort to expand educational opportunity. She is one of the Founders of City Charter Schools. In 2006, she founded her executive recruiting firm, The Firm for Good, and specializes in recruiting for non-profits and schools. She earned her B.A. in Sociology from Oberlin College and her teaching credentials from UCLA's Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. She served on the Hope in a Suitcase Board of Directors from inception until Spring of 2020.

Maggie Lin

Maggie Lin spent 10 years in foster care before she emancipated and went off to Dartmouth College. After receiving her BA in Philosophy, she worked for the UN in India and worked in the nonprofit world in Mongolia. She now leads Foster Nation and works to raise awareness of the foster care system among millennials and young leaders.

Sherri McGee McCovey

Sherri McGee McCovey is a successful television freelance Writer, Producer, and Author. She has worked more than twenty years for numerous networks including, ABC, Comedy Central, Oxygen, VH-1 and BET. She is a New York Times best-selling author of three books: Skinny Women Are Evil; Skinny Cooks Can’t Be Trusted; and Beacon Hills High. Sherri began her career as a Service Representative for American Airlines at LaGuardia Airport in New York where she also began a freelance career writing for InStyle, Essence and Black Enterprise magazines. Today she contributes to LA Parent magazine, the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper, and PBS-SoCal’s To Foster Change foster care initiative. Sherri earned a B.A. in English with a minor in Communications from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Kimberly Y. Stephens

Kimberly Y. Stephens is a 20 plus year entertainment talent executive/event manager, and community advocate. She is currently the Manager of Talent Relations for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, and has also worked closely with premiere and faith-based clientele, including vetting talent for BET, OWN, Oxygen and Lifetime. Kimberly regularly volunteers as an LAUSD guest reader and as a mentor for under-served and at-risk girls of color through “Pancakes and Pearls”, a breakfast conversation with community leaders that encourages inner-city high school girls to stay in schools and assists them in preparing for the next level in life. Kimberly graduated from Spelman College, where she majored in English.