Meet Our Board of Directors
Karen Snook
Karen Snook is our Executive Director. After 20 years in the corporate world where her last role was Vice President of Leadership Development for Countrywide Financial Corp., she decided to follow her heart and work in the non-profit world. She got her undergraduate degree from UCLA and her MBA from Pepperdine. She has been the Executive Director for three other animal advocacy organizations and learned a lot from each experience. She earned her Permaculture Design Certificate from Larry Santoyo, and enjoys designing super-efficient multi-function gardens. Kindred Spirits Care Farm is the fulfillment of a dream for her.
Nathan Goreham
Nathan is our facilities manager here at Kindred Spirits Care Farm. He has over 30 years in the construction industry, a degree in fine art and is also an ordained Tibetan Buddhist Lama. In this photo, he is conversing with another kind of llama, the four footed variety. Nate doesn’t always wear his lama robes, but when he does, he likes to be in the presence of other “llamas."
Maria Maisto
Maria has always had a caring heart and started volunteering to help seniors on the geriatrics ward of her local hospital at 16 years old. When she moved to Los Angeles, she started volunteering with youth while finishing work on her B.S. in Kinesiology at USC. In 2017, she discovered Kindred Spirits Care Farm and became smitten by a goose named Orville. She realized a care farm (and Kindred Spirits Care Farm in particular) was the perfect place to combine all three of her passions: Volunteering, helping people heal, and animals. We are so thrilled to have her skills and her heart on our board of directors.
Dani Janzen
Dani Janzen, a PhD in biochemistry, grew up gardening in Wisconsin. While volunteering at Kindred Spirits Care farm, she found she also loves irascible ducks, goats who are too smart for their own good, and all manner of animals. Dani is a wonder in the garden and on most Saturdays, that is where you can find her, helping spread gardening joy with all the volunteers. We welcome her brilliant mind and good nature to the team. We look forward to her help growing Kindred Spirits Care Farm and sharing the happiness she has found here with others.
Gabriella Laczynska Black
Gabriella has been an animal lover her whole life and has been volunteering with Kindred Spirits Care Farm since 2018. She was born in London and later moved to Canada where she trained in special effects makeup. With those skills, it was natural to move to Los Angeles to start her makeup career, but being a homeschooling mother became her full-time job. Her experience with homeschooling will be quite an asset to Kindred Spirits Care Farm as we reach out to homeschoolers to offer new ways to encourage organic learning and growth for youth. We are thrilled to have Gabriella on the board and welcome her creativity and dedication to our mission.
Advisory Board
Kenn Phillips, President & CEO, The Valley Economic Alliance
Kenn Phillips is the President and CEO of The Valley Economic Alliance, (TVEA) serving the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles County and its 5-city partners (Burbank, Calabasas, Glendale, Los Angeles and San Fernando) for the past 15 years. He has assisted more than 2,500 San Fernando Valley businesses in economic development including tax incentives in employee recruitment, training, and City and County tax credits. Kenn also serves as a Board member for the City of Los Angeles Workforce Investment Board, Sherman Oaks and Encino Hospitals, United Chamber of Commerce, CSU, Northridge Ernie Schaeffer Center for Innovation Entrepreneurship and Regional Higher Learning Consortium.
Allan Kornberg, M.D.
Dr. Kornberg is Board Certified by the American Board of Pediatrics. He earned his undergraduate degree from MIT and his Doctorate of Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, NY. He then completed his Pediatric Residency, as Chief Resident, at Women & Children’s Hospital of Buffalo in Buffalo, New York. He later received his Masters of Business Administration at University of Rochester’s Simon Graduate School of Business Administration Executive Development Program in Rochester, New York.
Stephanie Darling
Stephanie Darling received her B.S. in Biochemistry and her M.S. in geology with an emphasis on environmental hydrogeology. She has been teaching and mentoring at-risk youth for almost 20 years. In 2012 she began her work at John R. Wooden High School, a continuation school working with at-risk youth in Los Angeles. She is vegan and has a passion for animals and showing kids how to live healthier lives.