Board of Directors

SUSAN JONES - Treasurer

Susan Jones has been a tax accountant with Hughes, Pittman, and Gupton, LLP since moving to Raleigh in the mid-‘90s. A graduated of Virginia Tech, she has been a life-long ‘creative’ even though her initial career choice was not art. Once she settled in the Triangle,  she took advantage of several area art offerings beginning with Meredith College, Wake Tech, UNC Botanical Illustration and Duke’s Documentary Studies, ending with NCSU’s College of Design where she completed her Masters in 2002. Photography is her main medium; she uses colored pencils to hand color black and white photographs. Over the years, she has volunteered as an event photographer for several non-profits and served on the Board of VAE as Treasurer. She also volunteered with Chatham County Animal Shelter and did animal rescue for many years. Susan was a co-owner of Tipping Paint Gallery and is currently working with several artists to move that gallery to a virtual format. Learn more about Susan’s work here on her website. 

YOLANDA MCGILL

Yolanda D. McGill is a Raleigh native, an arts-loving transactional lawyer and policy expert who has established a solid record identifying opportunities to proactively support agencies engaging on financial issues on behalf of underserved populations. For almost two decades Yolanda has remained committed to using her training to press for fairness and access in day-to-day transactions. As a manager, as well as a member of several boards of directors and strategic planning committees, she has proven her ability to establish an organizational vision and implement the vision in a continuously changing environment. In successive positions over several years Yolanda has created and implemented processes to stand up new initiatives by facilitating workflow through large coalitions and interdisciplinary teams. National in scope, these initiatives were successfully realized in large part due to her ability to identify opportunities for the new initiative to establish itself as a resource in the community, a worthy partner to other organizations and agencies already working in the field. Yolanda’s approach to her work incorporates grassroots organizing and tireless advocacy, offering legal analysis to NGOs as well as for-profits and government agency officials, and building and maintaining the trust of stakeholders and funders. Yolanda is a 1999 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, where she was a Darrow Scholar, coached IM football, and served as president of the Law School Student Senate.

CYNTHIA MOLLENKOPF - Immediate Past Chair

In the spring of 2017, Cynthia opened Cocoon Gallery in Downtown Apex, NC. featuring high-quality, locally made, one-of-a-kind utilitarian art pieces from over 60 artists in a variety of mediums with whom she has developed first-hand relationships. Cynthia holds a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture, a Master’s in Geography (specializing in international trade), and an MBA in marketing. After some years in corporate marketing, Cynthia reignited her creative passions by delving into Feltmaking. As a fiber artist, Cynthia specializes in creating wearables, sculptural pieces, as well as wallhangings under the business name of ARTiFELTs. She also enjoys demonstrating and teaching felting as she believes creating public awareness of the felting process and sharing the potential of this medium are ongoing opportunities. Cynthia is a former member of the Town of Cary Cultural Arts Committee and, after years of participating in local arts festivals and juried art shows with her felted creations, Cynthia became a longtime member and Board member of Cary Gallery of Artists. Cynthia currently participates in the Apex Downtown Business Association and Women’s Power Networking.

Sydney Greene

Sydney Greene is a multidimensional creative, storyteller, and birth doula based in Raleigh, North Carolina. With a background in journalism, political advocacy, and public policy, Sydney has brought her creative expertise and deep knowledge of communications and social media strategy to local and statewide political campaigns, news organizations, progressive issue-based campaigns, and more.

At the beginning of her career, Sydney was a reporter covering issues like politics, policy, and culture for newsrooms like Teen Vogue, USA Today, Texas Monthly, and The Texas Tribune. Sydney then went into the world of politics and advocacy, specifically helping youth activists tap into their creativity and artistry to help move their communities to action and create social change at the local, statewide, and federal level. Sydney founded the brand and creative partnerships program at Advocates for Youth, leading the expansion of the organization’s brand through influencer, brand, and celebrity partnerships, experiential online & offline campaigns and activations, and artist commissions and collaborations. Recently, Sydney transitioned into the philanthropy sector, helping foundations, philanthropic asset owners, and other organizations deploy their capital for social and environmental change. Sydney also served as a board member and Culture and Operations Officer at Future Front Texas, an Austin-based organization that nurtures creativity, community-building and professional resilience among women and queer creatives, founders, and leaders in Texas. At Future Front, she helped curate and produce the organization's annual exhibitions, The Front Festival and The Front Market, along with other community events such as panels, annual fundraisers, and conferences.

Using her authenticity, intuition, and curiosity to guide her interests and passions, Sydney connects to her creativity in a myriad of ways — through curating and writing her newsletter, "The Greene Room," continuing her lifelong dance practice, expanding her passion for interior decorating, and whatever else feels called to practice in the moment. Sydney's love for the arts comes from her childhood, where exploring her creativity and artistry was deeply valued and encouraged by her parents, and she continues to weave that into adulthood by supporting artists and creatives in her community.

JOEL TESCH

Joel Tesch is a full time artist and native of Raleigh. After over 20 years in corporate sales leadership (including leadership roles at Nasdaq, Cisco and Business Wire), he became a full-time artist specializing in 2D acrylic paintings.  A Millbrook High School and UNC-Chapel Hill graduate with a BA in Journalism in Mass Communication, Joel has an expansive network from both his professional connections and personal, having lived in Atlanta, San Francisco, and London before returning to his home city of Raleigh in 2021 with his wife and three daughters.  He enjoys participating in Triangle Area art shows and festivals and is a current Resident Artist at 311 Gallery in downtown Raleigh.