Meet our Team
Amanda McDowall
Co-Founder & Executive Director
Amanda McDowall is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of International Girls Ensemble. She founded IGE on a simple but powerful belief; that girls and women deserve a space where their voices are centered, their stories matter, and leadership is built through collaboration, ensemble, and trust in one another.
A Queens, NY native and lifelong artist, Amanda brings a rich and varied background to her work at IGE. She holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from the University at Buffalo and an MA in Arts Administration from Baruch College, and began her arts education at the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, Queens.
As a director and theatre maker, her recent credits include Associate Director of Ginger Twinsies at the Orpheum Theatre and co-directing the Little Red Light Theatre Night of New Musical Cabaret. Amanda serves as Director of Theatre for both A Broader Way and the Felix Organizations, and her relationship with Harlem School of the Arts spans administration, directing, and teaching — reflecting the full breadth of her experience as both an arts leader and practitioner. She also serves as a teaching artist at Red Bull Theatre. She has additionally completed the TATI training with Marquis Studios, expanding her practice to include inclusive work with the disabled community.
Amanda is a sought-after speaker and facilitator who has brought theatre-making and storytelling tools to audiences well beyond the stage, presenting at the Women's Summit at Bryant University, the Women in Finance Conference, the Women in Insurance Conference, and at ITAC 6 in Oslo, Norway, one of the leading international gatherings of applied and community-based theatre practitioners.
Earlier in her career she worked as a Costume Coordinator at the Juilliard School, the New York Philharmonic, and The Met Museum's Live Arts Series, with her work extending beyond traditional theatre spaces to include venues such as Soho House and Zero Bond.
Amanda believes that when women lead together, everything is possible, and she has built her life and her work around proving it.
She/Her
Our Staff
-
Social Worker | She/Her
A Licensed Clinical Social Worker Michelle Jervis-White has been practicing in New York City for over 20 years, and has worked in substance abuse, aging and mental health. She has worked as a crisis social worker at NYC Department of Education for over 15 years,running her mental health private practice for over 7 years and founder of Girls Mentor Girls in 2019. This came after creating the young women’s sisterhood program, The Girls’ Circle in a Bronx middle school, which continues to be in existence for the past 16 years, Michelle has received the Mentor Coordinator of the Year Award and was accepted into the MENTOR NY Changemaker Fellows program because of her relationship with Mentor NY. which she completed in April of 2020. Michelle also received the UFT (United Federation of Teachers) SRP (School Related Professional) Leadership award for her work with parents and families in NYC public schools.
-
Teaching Artist | She/Her
Traci is an actor, director, choreographer and educator currently residing in NYC. She is a former company member and resident choreographer of the Classical Theatre of Harlem and founding director of The Legacy Arts Ensemble (LAE) , a West African storytelling, drum and dance troupe. In 2015, Traci was able to trace her ancestral roots to the Temne people living in Sierra Leone, her journey has led her to start LAE. Choreography & theatre Credits include: Legend of Igbo Landing, Living Legacy, Archbishop Supreme Tartuffe, The Black Nativity, Hip Hop Monologues, Sweet Sweetbacks Baad Aaaasssss Song The Musical, Romeo and Juliet, Aint Supposed to Die A Natural Death, Macbeth, Best of Both Worlds ; American Reparatory Theatre, Aint Nothin' But The Blues; New Haarlem Arts Theatre, The Stronger; Gabrielle Lansner Productions and The Man Who Ate Michael Rockefeller; Dog Run Rep.
-
Teaching Artist | They/Them
Danielle Aucoin (they/them) is a performing artist and arts educator residing in NYC. They earned a BA in Theatre Arts and an MSed in Educational Theatre. They have performed in various venues throughout NYC and New England and have worked as a teaching artist with various organizations including Treasure Trunk Theatre, The Leadership Program and Brooklyn Acting Lab. Danielle is thrilled to be a part of the International Girls Ensemble team!
-
Teaching Artist | She/Her
Trisha has been a teaching artist in NYC since pursuing her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre at Lehman College, CUNY. Fresh off the boat from singing Scott Bradlee’s PostModern Jukebox via Holland America Line, Trisha is thrilled to join the fantastic team at International Girls Ensemble. As an actress and singer, her performance credits include Broadway’s Motown The Musical, Rent, All Shook Up, and the OBC of Little Shop of Horrors. She was most recently seen as “Lisa” in the short film An Anomalous Love, “Sam” in the new play Antoinette: Lost In A Changing World, and “LaReine Beausoleil” in the world premiere of the new musical Loveless Texas. It is Trisha’s pure joy to help engage the minds of young people, building their knowledge and self-esteem through the arts.
www.trishajeffrey.com @trishajeffrey
-
Teaching Artist | She/Her
Maria Isabel Castillo (she/her) is a Dominican-American artist who earned her BA from Muhlenberg College, where she double majored in Theatre and English-Passionate about the arts, she focuses on acting, modeling, teaching, activism, and creative writing, while using fashion as a form of self-expression. More recently, Maria Isabel was a part of Spotify's 2023 Wrapped Ad Campaign and has gone on to work as a Teaching Artist/Internship Coordinator for Apollo Theater and Assistant Teaching Artist for Ping Chong & Company. Maria Isabel graduated from Harlem School of the Arts Conservatory Theater Prep in 2020 and has trained with The Barrow Group. In addition to her extensive performance work, Maria Isabel feels content to be working with IGE and looks forward to collaborating with young minds to create work that builds confidence through the power of storytelling in the arts!IG @themariaisabel
-
Teaching Artist | She/Her
Natalia has earned both a BA in Theatre arts and MS.ED in Educational Theatre, from The City College of New York. She’s performed in numerous theatre and musical theatre productions and is a founding member of the Harlem Repertory Theatre Company, recently Adelco nominated for best musical revival, for Lin- Manuel Miranda’s Tony award winning musical In The Heights. Her most recent theater credits include: In the Heights (Vanessa), The Colored Museum (Ms. Pat), Ain’t Misbehvin’ (Various), West Side Story (Anita), Dream Girls (Deena), The Life (Queen), Hair (Sheila), For Colored Girls Who’ve Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enough (Lady Red), including the off Broadway hit, I Like It like That. Natalia also Participated in the first season of Telemundo’s “ Yo Soy El Arista”
-
Choreographer and Movement Specialist | She/Her
Broadway: Color Purple (u/s Nettie, Squeak) , Lion King (Cheetah). 1st National Tours: Motown (Mary Wells, Gwen Gordy), Color Purple (u/s Nettie, Squeak) Regional: Matilda The Musical (Miss. Honey), Smokey Joe’s Cafe(Brenda),The Wiz, Center Stage; A.R.T. Witness Uganda, Off Broadway: Invisible Thread, 2nd Stage, Plays: On Strivers Row (Cobina). Workshops: Beehive on Broadway with Debbie Allen. Short Films: Staying Power, What Happened to Girls Night. Was a member of Ailey II. B.F.A. Towson State University.
-
Teaching Artist | She/Her
Alicia is a Detroit native and now NYC is home too. She's a performing and teaching artist. She has worked as a teaching artist with Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, heal.be.live, FunikiJam, and ENACT. As a performing artist- actor, dancer and singer, some selected regional theatre productions Alicia has appeared in are Dreamgirls, A Lion in Winter, The Producers, and A Raisin in the Sun. She has received a BS in Theatre at Bradley University. Her early roots come from the dance world and the start of her acting training was at Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit. Alicia is always willing to throw herself into learning something new and keep involving/growing as a person and with her career. She's excited to be on the IGE team!
Real Voices, Big Impact
"It helps them to feel empowered and confident in the work they present, because it is their story and voices being amplified in the space."
-Kalle Macrides
DOE Theatre Teacher, Robert Wagner Middle School
MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Your donation funds theatre workshops, ambassador training, and international programs that change girls' lives, and the communities around them.
Every Dollar Gives a Girl a Stage to Stand On
WITH THE SUPPORT OF
