I was raised on welfare by a single mother of three in a small mountain town of Colorado. Her creativity made our lives sparkle big with the richness of our meager surroundings. That creativity set in my bones and made me a bit of a life artist, word engineer and creative problem solver. Not to mention an avid lover of all things outdoors!

At Cornell College in Iowa, where I double majored in Art and English. I helped run a safe house for women. It was a resource center and outreach for the women on campus lead and run by the women living there. After college I continued this work when I moved back to my home town and was trained to work as a volunteer advocate for a local safe house for battered women and children.

Professionally I have taken a ‘renaissance woman’ approach to building my resume doing such things as leading high school girls on two week kayak trips in the Great Lakes; ski patrolling in the Rockies; office management of a growing software company to being a ‘knowledge worker’ for an innovative/creative arm of Cap Gemini Ernst Young.

In recent years, I have begun to plug all my work and life experience into the job to top all others: I am currently the proud mother of two toddling children! Together with my husband, we live and work in Melrose, MA.

I came to Boston and the city life just over 10 years ago and, until my relationship with GirlTalk, had not found a way to combine my heart for women in transition with my interest in the arts. I hope that my participation on this board combined with my professional and life experience will help to grow GirlTalk into a permanent fixture in Boston’s theatre scene and outreach community. What a blessing it is to work with Stephanie and all these beautiful and amazing women. May I be so touched as to grow for having known them and heard their stories.

Ariadna Burgos-Chaves is a Pediatrician and Pediatric Pulmonologist at the South End Community Health Center in Boston, Massachusetts. She was born in Venezuela and she is fluent in English and Spanish. She graduated as a Medical Doctor in 1990 at the University of the Andes Medical School in Mérida, Venezuela. Afterward she completed a Pediatric Residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children and a Pulmonary Fellowship at the Children's Hospital of Boston both in Boston, Massachusetts.

Ayse McCarthy is a senior marketing professional with more than 20 years of financial services experience. She has a consistent track record in developing and implementing results-oriented marketing strategies and programs that generate organic growth, deepen client relationships and increase revenues. Her strengths include strategic and marketing planning, brand and value proposition development as well as project leadership and management. She is currently a Senior Marketing Manager at Fidelity Investments. Prior to working at Fidelity, Ayse held senior marketing positions at Bank of America, Fleet, and Scudder Investments. Ayse has her MBA from Suffolk University and BS in Marketing from University of Vermont.

Ayse is passionate about helping and serving disadvantaged women through Girl Talk Theatre in the hopes of creating meaningful social change, improving the quality of life of these women and giving a voice to those who had dreams and hopes before a twist of fate landed them where they are today.

Brian Sears grew up in Walpole, Massachusetts and was introduced to metal manufacturing in high school. He received further training in technical carpentry at a theater program in California. When Brian moved back to Massachusetts, he worked for a small local theater as a lighting designer and master electrician before moving back into the field of scenery. He then spent four years working on scenery installs for corporate shows, malls, museums, theatre, and rock bands around the country. He is currently the Scene Shop Foreman at the Huntington Theatre Company, and a metal fabrication instructor for Boston University's School of Theater.

Leslie Sears grew up in San Diego, California and was introduced to the backstage life and the logistics of running theaters at an early age. She received her B.F.A. in Stage and Production Management from Boston University's School of Theater. She now works as a freelance stage manager, specializing in opera. Recent work includes shows with Boston Lyric Opera, Tanglewood Music Center, Boston Early Music Festival and The Old Globe Theaters. She loves to travel and is constantly amazed and encouraged at theater's ability to cross social and cultural boundaries, as well as by its ability to transform creators, actors and audience members.

With over 20 years of creating award-winning and engaging experiences for a variety of audiences, Mark brings value through thoughtful planning, creative execution and a healthy return on the investment.


One of the projects he is most proud of is Volkswagen's Autostadt. Opened in June 2000, Autostadt is a $500 million dollar, forty-acre branded experience, featuring attractions on automobility, an auto museum, a corporate visitor center, brand pavilions, several theaters, restaurants and a Ritz Carlton hotel. This project, on which he served as a Creative and Design Director, continues to attract over 2 million guests each year. Mark has created other experiential projects for Intel, IBM, Gillette, HP, CNN, LEGO, General Motors, Ericsson, Volvo Trucks, 20th Century Fox, Sea World, Universal and Walt Disney World.

Mark holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Theatrical Set Design from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Set Design from Auburn University. He is a Professional Affiliate of the AIA, Boston Society of Architects and a member of the Association of Briefing Program Managers.

For Mark, being involved in Girl Talk Theatre offers a chance to utilize his talents to impact for good, the lives of women who are traditionally overlooked in our society.