About Creatives Care

Alana is a Harvard and Columbia educated psychiatrist and neurobiologist based in New York City. In addition to seeing patients in her private practice, she is currently a research fellow at Columbia’s Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute studying the organization of subcortical brain circuits that underly many psychiatric and movement disorders. She has won a number of awards as a clinician, researcher and educator, including the NIMH Outstanding Resident Award and the Gold Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award. A lifelong music lover, Alana is a classically trained violinist and has performed with the Columbia University Medical Center Symphony Orchestra and the Weill Cornell Music and Medicine Orchestra.

Email: amendelsohn@creativescare.org

Amy is a graduate of NYU’s School of Social Work with extensive training at institutes including Columbia University’s Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, the Psychoanalytic Association of New York, New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, the Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis, and the Anna Freud Center. She also runs her own private practice in New York City. A former artist herself, Amy has treated a wide breadth of actors, dancers, writers, and musicians and knows first-hand the challenges people in the creative arts face finding affordable, empathic care.

Amy spent many years working in community mental health and city agencies serving under-resourced patients and is passionate about making sure clients from all walks of life have access to quality care. In her role with Creatives Care, Amy is working to create a space where performers and providers can gain a deeper understanding of artists’ challenges and emotional needs, and provide artists of all backgrounds with the understanding and support that will help them fully realize their talents.

Email: arosenthal@creativescare.org

Lidziya (Lida) Rubanava (they/them) is a licensed therapist in the states of New Jersey and New York. They hold a Masters of Social Work degree from New York University and a Bachelors in Fine Arts from Boston University with a specialty in technical theater. As a proudly non-binary, queer immigrant, Lidziya deeply values inclusivity and is committed to providing care for those populations who have historically been excluded by healthcare systems. Their passion is helping queerdos and creatives discover intimacy, agency, and personal embodiment.

As a manger and events professional, Lida loves both the excitement and challenge of engaging in collective action to solve important problems. They thrive in taking on new projects and are proficient in building the plane as they fly it.

Email: lrubanava@creativescare.org

Harry graduated from Princeton University in 2023 with a BA in French and Spanish Comparative Literature and a certificate in European Cultural studies. Currently, he works as an investment analyst for Stagwell Global. Recently, he worked as a strategy analyst at Momentum Worldwide, an experiential marketing agency that helps clients to manage and curate their Total Brand Experience. He is an avid lover of musical performance and composition having written about the impact of film scoring in cinema and playing guitar in his band. He also has an interest in how music can be used to promote mental health and wellness.

Email: hmoross@creativescare.org

Eric is an active venture capital investor and advisor to early-stage technology companies. He previously founded Trinnacle Capital Management, a quantitative hedge fund focused on algorithmic trading. Since his Physics studies in Switzerland, he has lived in South America, Europe, and the US. A classical music enthusiast (and hobby pianist), Eric is a regular at many concert halls and music festivals around the world. He is actively involved in music philanthropy and has supported classical music institutions around the world.

Email: ekohlmann@creativescare.org

Vicky is a commercial banker at JP Morgan Chase, and holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and public policy from the College of William & Mary. Vicky was a classical concert violinist for 10 years, studying under a Juilliard pre-college teacher. She performed several seasons with two youth orchestras, including as concert mistress for performances at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen and Alice Tully Halls, and NYU Skirball Center. Her tenure also included several performances in first violin at Carnegie Hall and Kupferberg Center.

Through her firm’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion program, Vicky volunteers as a professional mentor to local not-for-profit organizations and small business entrepreneurs, providing them with pro-bono strategy and implementation consulting.

With Creatives Care, Vicky is in pursuit of expanding transparency and access to mental healthcare within the artist community, which in itself is to support the arts in New York City and beyond. Vicky believes that creating fairer and more conspicuous mental healthcare access today will benefit generations of artists and creatives to come.

Email: vma@creativescare.org

Macy Sullivan (Camas, WA) is a New York City-based dancer and teaching artist pursuing a career in the mental health field. In her twenty years of performing, she worked for classical ballet, modern, tap, Lindy hop, and vernacular jazz companies and projects, including Oregon Ballet Theatre, Caleb Teicher & Company, Dance Heginbotham, Merce Cunningham Trust, Joyce Theater Productions’ SW!NG OUT, Works & Process’ Peter & The Wolf (designed and directed by Isaac Mizrahi), and more. In 2016, while working in Southeast Asia as a cultural ambassador of the U.S. Department of State, her appreciation for dance outside of the concert performance context grew immensely, shifting her goals as a teacher. Now, she works across the boroughs as a teaching artist for Together in Dance and 92NY in lower elementary public schools. She also remains on faculty with Dance for PD® (Parkinson’s disease).

Aware of the hardships dancers face at various stages of their careers, Macy is eager to see conversations around prioritizing and supporting mental health maintenance in the arts shift from ‘maybe’ to ‘must.’

Macy holds a BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School and is working toward a BA in Psychology (expected 2024).

Email: msullivan@creativescare.org

Chengkai Hu is a Vice President within Morgan Stanley’s Tactical Value Investing Team (MSTV), with a focus on investing in consumer, media, entertainment and sports businesses. Prior to his current role, he worked in investment banking in J.P. Morgan’s Industrials and Transportation Group where he was responsible for financial analysis and deal execution on LBO, M&A and IPO transactions. He holds a B.A. in Mathematics-Statistics from Columbia University. Outside of work, he is currently studying music composition part time at The Juilliard School. In addition to his Creative Care work, he serves on various Event Host Committees at the New York City Ballet’s Young Patron’s Circle and the Acquisition Committee of the Guggenheim Museum Young Collectors Council.

Email: chu@creativescare.org

Ariana Sidman is a high school student at Ethical Culture Fieldston School, located in NYC. She is a classically trained pianist and jazz enthusiast. Ariana started her career as a composer at eight years old, and since then, has written a variety of pieces, impromptus, a sonata, and songs of all genres. Ariana hosts an annual fundraiser, In Tune with Mental Health, where she performs solo and alongside her band, featuring songs about mental health. In addition, there is a panel discussion with adolescent psychiatrists. By virtue of this event, Ariana hopes to touch audiences through music while simultaneously raising awareness for mental health. Evident by her concert and work with Creatives Care, Ariana is interested in the medical field and wants to pursue this passion academically and professionally.

Email: asidman@creativescare.org

Hong Kiu is a private equity investor at Apollo Global Management and was previously an investment banker at Evercore advising Technology, Media and Entertainment companies.

Prior to his career in finance, Hong Kiu was a classical concert violinist and spent the majority of his time in New York, London and Hong Kong. He has performed extensively around the world, including solo performances before Queen Elizabeth II in Her Majesty’s Jubilee, Carnegie Hall in New York, Kursaal Auditorium in San Sebastian and regular appearances in the Windsor Festival.

Hong Kiu holds a BA in Financial Economics from Columbia College.

Email: hkmak@creativescare.org

Christa Akerele is a junior at Columbia College majoring in Neuroscience and Behavior with a concentration in Business Management. She is passionate about social determinants of health and mental health stigma. She has volunteered at Columbia Substance Treatment and Research Service and worked on an investigation of the impact of diet on mental health symptoms. She is involved in the Community Impact Student Executive Board at Columbia University and works as a Teach for America Ignite fellow, tutoring students in minority and low-income communities. She is also a coordinator and tutor for Project Tutors, a Columbia University student group. In her free time, she enjoys music, hiking, and creative design projects. Christa is pursuing a concentration in business management to understand the overlap between the medical field and business and how it can help marginalized communities. Before undergrad, she was a competitive long-distance runner and gymnast.

Email: cakerele@creativescare.org