Christy Swanson is Through The Kitchen Door’s Director of Programs. Christy brings a wealth of experience in community development, issues of immigrant rights and low wage workers, public health and education and training to her important position with Through The Kitchen Door. Trained at Union Theological Seminary in New York, she has practiced a 'community mission' throughout her professional career. While in New York she worked at the Borinquen Health Center in East Harlem and was a leader within the nascent Battered Women’s Movement. She also worked in area churches in both the South Bronx and Washington Heights.

Moving to Washington, DC she worked with both CARECEN and La Clinica del Pueblo. For nearly 10 years she was a Program Director with United Methodist Seminars on National and International Affairs where she honed her facilitation skills conducting training on community development and social change. She worked at the Washington Free Clinic focusing on public health initiatives and the training of volunteer patient advocates. Moving to CASA of Maryland she directed the Health Program for 5 years and for 2 years oversaw all of CASA services in health, employment, legal and social services. She is excited to bring her skills and experience to Through The Kitchen Door. She is also a mother of two boys ages 13 and 9.

Alexandra Fields Colin is an accomplished trained chef and cooking teacher. In addition to her work in noted restaurants, Alexandra teaches vegetarian gourmet cooking. A single mother of two young children, she works with Through The Kitchen Door and is a supervisor of our advanced experiential training and a lead teacher in our basic training programs.

Laura Otolski is the chief nutritionist for Food and Friends and serves as the Through The Kitchen Door volunteer chief nutritionist. Laura has her Master's in Nutrition and Dietetics from New York University (summa cum laude) and has served as a Public Health Nutritionist for the D.C. Department of Aging.

Yakeline Argueta is a lead teacher for the Teens Get Cooking™ course and Essential Kitchen 101. She is originally from El Salvador and has lived in the United States for 15 years. She has worked in restaurants for over 10 years. She took her first course with Through The Kitchen Door in August of 2006 and by December of 2006 had trained in both catering and teaching. She has an excellent rapport with the students and utilizes her own life experience as a resource for her teaching and connecting with trainees. She has three children ages 16, 9 and 8. She values the flexible work hours at Through The Kitchen Door which allow her to be present with her children and to pursue professional skills and goals in her own life.

Nancy Hinojosa is a lead teacher for Teens Get Cooking™, Essential Kitchen 101 and assists in supervising catering and service. Originally from Ecuador, Nancy attended one Through The Kitchen Door’s first U.S. training programs and and started our professional training immediately thereafter. Once shy and retiring, Nancy has assumed a leadership role in our organization and is an eloquent and respected member of our team. The mother of young children, she especially appreciates the flexible work schedule and the confidence she has gained since starting with Through The Kitchen Door.

Linda Bartley Button
A former senior librarian at the Library of Congress Congressional Research Service, Linda is a long time resident of Montgomery County. She is an artist, member of the River Road Unitarian Universalist Church and director of its annual charity bazaar. She has international experience, having lived abroad extensively, and is an active community volunteer and contributor. Linda is married to Ken Button, a consultant in international economics.

Eliza Leighton
Eliza is an Attorney at CASA de Maryland. She began her work with CASA through the Liman Fellowship Program at Yale Law School. Eliza’s work focuses on combining legal tactics with the strength of community organizing in a variety of areas effecting recent immigrants. Prior to attending law school, Eliza was the Co-Founder and Deputy Director of Stand for Children and has extensive experience in the areas of community activism and the national, state and local political processes. She is a graduate of Wesleyan University in Connecticut and Yale Law School. Eliza is married to Josh Wright, a representative elected to the Takoma Park City Council.

Liz Lerman
Founding Artistic Director of the Dance Exchange, is a performer, writer, educator and choreographer whose innovative work has been seen throughout the world. Combining dance with realistic imagery and the spoken word, her works draw from literature, personal experience, philosophy, and political and social commentary. Recognized in 2002 with a MacArthur "Genius Grant" award, she has also received an American Choreographer Award, the American Jewish Congress "Golda" award, Washingtonian Magazine's Washingtonian of the Year, and others. From 1994 through 1996, she directed and collaborated with The Music Hall in Portsmouth, NH in creating "The Shipyard Project". She then conceived and directed the Hallelujah project, a three-year national initiative in which collaborative residencies resulted in15 communities. She is a frequent keynote speaker and panelist for arts, community, religious, and educational organizations nationally and internationally. She originated the Critical Response Process, a method for assessing artistic works-in-progress through group dialogue; it will soon be released in a book version. Her current projects include consultations with organizations such as Julliard School of Music and Americans for the Arts; participation in and artistic exchange project with Japan; and the early stages of a choreographic and multi-media project to be focused on the human genome. She attended Bennington College and holds a B.A. in dance from the University of Maryland and an M.A. in dance from George Washington University.

Lloyd Levermore
A community economic development specialist, was as an asset manager for the RLA Revitalization Corporation in Washington, D.C., Lloyd has been involved with numerous non-profit organizations over the years focusing on (1) real estate development that spurs job creation and (2) coordinating efforts of neighborhood merchants. Previously he has worked for the Washington, DC Department of Housing and Community Development and Peoples Involvement Corporation. Llovd has a BA from Howard University and an MBA from Rutgers University.

Pilar Obando
Ms. Obando became associated with Through The Kitchen Door initially by attending one of our basic courses was a previous president of Unión Y Sabor, a small business cooperative of recent immigrant Latina women living in Gaithersburg, MD. This group has received professional training from Through The Kitchen Door and is providing catering and hospitality services to private clients. Pilar was born in Ecuador and is married with five children. She has recently returned to Ecuador and is working there to open Through The Kitchen Door in Ecuador.