Staff

Candice Anderson is Executive Director of Cool Culture.  Previously, Candice served as Director of Child Care and Head Start Collaboration at the NYC Children’s Services where she worked to coordinate effective use of resources and strengthen program services.  Prior to that she served as Senior Policy Associate for Child Care, Education and Youth Development at Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York where she conducted research and advocated on behalf of children and families.  Candice also worked at the Child Care Action Campaign, received her MS in Urban Policy from the New School for Social Research, and BA from Oberlin College.

Monica Abend is the Program Director at Cool Culture, and comes to the organization from the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum, where she developed the Museum’s first Public programs calendar and arts education school program.  Prior to that, Monica served as the Museum Education Program Director at the Grumblethorpe Museum in Philadelphia, PA, worked in museum education at PS 1 Contemporary Art Center and The Museum of Modern Art in New York City.  Monica received her BFA from University of the Arts and her MPA from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.  She exhibits her visual art and performance works on a local and international stage.

Lindsay Booker is the Communications Assistant at Cool Culture.  Prior to that she worked in the Children’s Library at Fayetteville Public Library in Arkansas where she led activities centered around reading to young men with Youthbridge, a provider of care to troubled teens.  Lindsay graduated from Princeton University, where she earned an BA in sociology with a certificate in African-American Studies. Her coursework focused on early education and the potential causes of the achievement gap.

Barbara Palley is Education Manager at Cool Culture, where she develops educational resources and coordinates Literacy through Culture, a rich, multi-site partnership between cultural institutions, early childhood centers, and their families. She has over 13 years of experience engaging youth, families and adults in arts learning experiences in museums. She formerly served as an in-house evaluator at the Museum of Modern Art, as the school programs manager at the Brooklyn Museum, and as a research assistant at Project Zero. She has a BA in Art History, University of Virginia and an Ed.M., Arts in Education, Harvard University.

Li Zhou is the Program Coordinator at Cool Culture. Previously she worked for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines in Geneva, Switzerland, and Directions for Our Youth, a youth-organizing group in New York City.  Li is a graduate of Colgate University, where she received a BA in Political Science and Peace and Conflict Studies.