Vanessa is the founder and executive director of the TALKING DRUM Theatre Arts Program, a conflict resolution creative arts program that targets underserved youth populations throughout NYC. Through collaborations with private, public, and community-based organizations, Vanessa works with young people to look critically at the messages and roles forced on them by the media and our culture and to create works of art based on their experiences. She received her MA in special education/ emotional disabilities from CUNY Lehman College. As a Bronx native, Vanessa continues to meld her professional studies and personal background of performance art into her life's work with young people. She continues to be amazed by the power and strength of storytelling and BAPT and its impact on the youngest and eldest people in today's society.