Meet Our Executive Director and Core Team
Meet our core leadership, operations, finance, and marketing teams! Over 50 volunteers, contractors, employees, board members, and advisors support the work of YogaCare. Other team members can be found in the Programs and Classes, Board & Advisors, and Interns pages.
Teena Lorie Harris, Executive Director YogaCare
Teena Lorie Harris, newly appointed Executive Director of YogaCare, is a compassionate steward and leader.
She is a seasoned C suite executive that has served many people, assets, organizations, and boards of directors. She has transformed her life with a positive mindset, wellness, and fitness.
Teena Lorie's North Star is to honor everyone by being intentional, collaborative, and heart centric. She does this with kindness, compassion, and empathy.
Contact: Teena Lorie teenalorie@yogacareus.org
Greg Van Hyfte, MA, MA/HAP, RYT 500, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Emeritus
Greg is a queer-identified and genderfluid dreamer, teacher, social justice advocate, and inquisitive soul seeking truth, balance, healing, and interconnectedness on an ever-evolving spiritual path. He served as YogaCare's Executive Director and helped co-found YogaCare and the Socially Engaged Yoga Network (SEYN). Greg has been practicing yoga since 1999, has been teaching yoga, meditation, and wellness practices in English and Spanish since 2006. Academic studies include psychology, Spanish, and creative arts from the University of Redlands; and advanced degrees in social sciences, social work, social service administration, and health administration and policy from the University of Chicago, where he was a Schweitzer Fellow. He spends his free time reading, consulting, and hanging out with friends, family, and his partner, Scott, and their Shih Tzu, Hibou.
Adan Rodriguez, CPA, Finance Specialist
Adan is a licensed CPA with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Illinois. He has over nine years of accounting, compliance, audits, and tax experience in the nonprofit field, including at the Chicago Community Trust, La Casa Norte, and currently with NORC at the University of Chicago. Volunteer experience includes participation in the Taxation – Estate, Gift & Trust Committee at the Illinois CPA Society.
Contact: finance@yogacareus.org
Akshaya Sekharan, Data Team Volunteer
Akshaya is a recent graduate from the University of Chicago from the San Francisco Bay Area. She is passionate about dance, yoga, and body positivity. As a yoga instructor herself and someone passionate about health equity and social justice, she is thrilled to have worked with YogaCare for the past three years, helping develop and evaluate several different YogaCare programs. She will be returning to Chicago for medical school in the Fall of 2021 and is excited to work hands-on with YogaCare once again after the pandemic.
Contact: akshaya@yogacareus.org
Deborah Grant,
RYT - Teacher, Marketing & Social Media Team Member & Special Projects Consultant, BA, Rev. BMsc, MPA, MBA, CMT
Deb has been certified and involved in Yoga, Meditation, Massage Therapy, and continues to be involved in various fitness and sports, for some time. Deb’s interest is in public speaking, youth, seniors, and participating in community service projects. Deb is a dedicated team member of YogaCare and other social justice and earth-friendly organizations. Deb is currently pursuing certification in Vibrational Sound Therapy towards trauma healing and relaxation. Deb has both private and public sector professional career experience’s within areas of technology and business process analysis.
Contact: deb@yogacareus.org
Debbie Baños, MFA, Data & Spanish Program Volunteer Intern
Debbie was a YogaCare Intern when she studied at Adler University’s Counseling Rehabilitation program. She has also been working as an actor in Chicago for the last five years, where she has been seen at many different companies including Urban Theatre Company, Victory Gardens, Babes with Blades and many others. She is grateful to have a job at PrintWithMe where she has many roles. Debbie also enjoys karaoke and reading books and she is getting married in fall of 2021.
Contact: debbie@yogacareus.org
Joe Arden, Data Team Volunteer & Teacher
Joe has been doing yoga since 2004. Before yoga, Joe’s practice was primarily sitting at a desk, hunched over a computer. Needless to say, his first yoga class was an eye-opener. Joe has explored several schools of Hatha Yoga, including Forrest, Yin, and Iyengar. He finished his 200-hour yoga teacher certification at Bloom Yoga Studio in June 2016. Joe’s class emphasizes safety, breath, and alignment as the foundation of a healthy yoga practice. He volunteer teaches through several venues, including YogaCare and Prison Yoga Chicago. Joe also volunteers at s senior home teaching Chair Yoga once a week. Joe is married and has three daughters. In his free time, Joe can be found hiking, in the garden, or strumming a guitar.
Kalei Shaw, Social Media & Digital Marketing Consultant
Kalei has a background in communications and marketing with a variety of modalities and fields of work ranging from theater to entrepreneurship to e-commerce and including her own candle making business Melanated Candle Co. She is a dedicated volunteer in her community including at Trinity United Church of Christ, Habitat for Humanity, and her sorority Zeta Phi Beta. Her experience ranges from Adobe Photoshop, Canva, MailChimp, website design, and other platforms. She has a bachelor's degree in communication from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and ongoing professional education and training. She's a key member of the marketing team at YogaCare including social media promotion and community engagement, events support, newsletter development and promotions, and flyer design.
Contact: kalei@yogacareus.org
Socially Engaged Yoga Network
Marcelyn Cole, SEYN Co-Steward, YogaCare Teacher - Special Programs
Marcelyn shares yoga's transformative practices accessibly with people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds. In addition to twenty-five years of yoga practice, her offerings are informed by study and work in Ayurveda, yoga teaching for diversity, trauma informed yoga, yoga therapy, prison yoga, family yoga, Montessori early childhood education, regenerative ecological design, decolonization and accountability, de-anthropocentrism, and various holistic traditions especially Sri Vidya Tantra. Marcelyn has shared yoga in studios, schools, community centers, art and activist spaces, offices, jail, and urban farms. She has consulted for non-profits involved in increasing yoga's accessibility, and trained teachers in accessible modifications of practices. Marcelyn currently works with YogaCare’s programs in Belmont Cragin at healthcare centers, a senior center, and Steinmetz College Prep where she teaches yoga as an alternative to suspension with Northwest Side Housing Center’s juvenile justice programming. In addition to weekly classes and private lessons, Marcelyn offers workshops in support of social justice and ecological healing. She has been involved in organizing efforts on the ground and currently serves as a Harassment and Grievance Officer for the Chicago chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. https://www.facebook.com/marcelyncole/
Contact: info@seynchicago.org