Meet the Staff

Amy Rosenbluth
Executive Director / arosenbluth@lakeerieink.org

Reaching out, stepping back; letting go

Amy Rosenbluth has worked with youth during both in-school and out-of- school time programs since 1991. She created the Youth Leadership group and mentoring program for the Shaker Heights Youth Center and has been facilitating Teen Poetry Slams in the Heights area for over 18 years. A credentialed 7-12 English teacher and prevention certified youth advocate, Amy is co-founder and oversees all operations of Lake Erie Ink. She still works directly with youth, primarily teen poets, facilitating writing and spoken word workshops, both on site and off. Amy also designs and facilitates professional development workshops for teachers and other youth serving professionals. Amy has been teaching as adjunct English faculty at Lakeland Community College since 1998. She received her BA in English from Hiram College and her teaching certification and graduate work from San Francisco State University. Her training in Bay Area Writers’ Project has given her a passion for and strategies in incorporating writing throughout the curriculum. She believes that all youth have stories that deserve to be heard and uses creative writing as a way to make that happen.

Jill Levin
Program Director / jlevin@lakeerieink.org

Full of wonder, continuing to learn

Jill Levin is a career arts educator with a range of experience working with students of all ages. Most recently she taught and directed theater at Montessori High School at University Circle. She is a former director of education for Cleveland Public Theatre and has taught acting at a number of area theaters and colleges. As a writer, Jill is especially interested in personal narrative as a form of creative expression and is very pleased to be part of an organization that works with young people on finding their own form of creativity.

Cynthia Larsen
Curriculum Director & Lead Teacher / clarsen@lakeerieink.org

My home-work: working with writing, kids

Cynthia Larsen is Lake Erie Ink’s co-founder and Curriculum Director and Lead Teacher.  She holds a BA in English with an emphasis in creative writing from Stanford University and a single subject teaching credential in English and Language Arts from San Francisco State University. Ms. Larsen taught secondary English in Jersey City, New Jersey; Oakland, California; and Cleveland, Ohio before attending graduate school at the University of Arizona, where she received her MFA in creative writing.  Ms. Larsen has facilitated project-based creative writing in collaboration with teachers for over ten years, combining her training in education with her passion for writing.  Ms. Larsen continues to stay abreast of new standards, methods and technology that helps Lake Erie Ink best meet the needs of youth and educators.  At Lake Erie Ink, Ms. Larsen develops and implements creative writing curriculum that supports and meets the educational state standards for English and Language Arts.

Barbie Estrada
Development + Administrative Manager / bestrada@lakeerieink.org

Raise and educate kids who create

Barbie is the development and administrative guru at Lake Erie Ink. With a BA in Creative Writing and a Masters in Nonprofit Management, she has been working for youth and literacy initiatives since 2008 through the Americorps as well as for various organizations and schools. Barbie supports bucket lists, clementines over oranges, and descriptive grammar.  She writes to remember the magical little moments in life and to make sense of the grand ones.

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Naazneen Diwan
Creative Arts Teacher

Naaz is a Creative Arts Teacher here at Lake Erie Ink. She is a poet, social justice educator and healing arts and meditation facilitator. Her tent literally blew away and I had to chase it down, while camping in Zion National Forest in Utah. Naaz writes because when she’s writing she loses track of time and space and constraints and its a beautiful thing. 

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Kisha Nicole Foster
Creative Arts Teacher

I am a mother, artist, healer

Kisha Nicole Foster is a mother, nationally performing poet, and teaching artist. The author of Poems: 1999-2014 and Blood Work, Foster is the recipient of the 2019 Cleveland Arts Prize for Literature. Foster is also three time Ohio for the Center for the Book fellow, Regional Coordinator for Poetry OutLoud/ Ohio Arts Council, and a two time Pink Door Fellow. She is currently the Literary Cleveland Fellow/ Cleveland Stories program Coordinator, teaching artist with Lake Erie Ink and crafted the poem for the Justice Center Mural Project. Foster uses her locution as a conduit towards healing and fostering truth within language; allowing mistakes and humility to guide her craft.

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Jarod “Od” Perry-Richardson
Program Assistant

Sitting down sketching, away like always

Jarod “Od” Perry-Richardson is a Program Assistant at Lake Erie Ink. Beginning his time at LEI as a volunteer, Od eventually joined the LEI family as a teacher. As a current student at the Cleveland Institute of Art majoring in Illustration, Od brings his artistic experience and love of the arts to the table. When he isn’t busy teaching or drawing, Od can be found at one of Cleveland’s many concert venues. He believes that visual arts and creative writing are invaluable expressive outlets for which the youth can channel their creativity and let it burst out in all directions. 

Nicole Rossa
Creative Arts Teacher / nicole@lakeerieink.org

Cliff Sweeney
Creative Arts Teacher

Vivian Vail became a certified elementary teacher with a reading endorsement many years after earning a Master’s degree in dance.  Her experience teaching in various academic and community settings has taught Vivian that we all do better when we find our voice.  She loves to garden and makes a mean guacamole.

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Raquel Wilbon
Creative Arts Teacher

A true safe place for love

Raquel Joy Wilbon is a teaching artist, an award- winning published poet, a playwright instructor, and hasjudged poetry for America Scores slam poetry. Her work was selected more than once for inclusion in the Literary Magazine Breakwall (2018), Vindicator magazine (2017) and Eber & Wein poetry Anthology (2015). Raquel has earned a BA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing. Her role is to inspire as many youth to safely imagine and create written work in multiple ways. . She writes to breathe life into and inspire individuals, and the youth who do not feel safe to express through the language of penmanship.