Meet the humans that power Bream.
We’re a close team with diverse perspectives united by a singular mission.
Bream is our passion, and it shows.
That’s why we’ve teamed up with acclaimed teaching facilitators, advisors, and industry leaders to bring you a comprehensive approach to life-long learning that feels personal.
Meet our Founding Director
Ryan Reid
I've spent my career working with, designing for, and thinking about older adults and intergenerational groups.
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In 2014, I founded my first company Sprat, a non-profit organization to bring wellness education to older adults at care centers across the United States. I then ventured to Nepal on a Fulbright Research Grant to study how community ties served older adults there.
Bream was inspired by many things, but Anna Halprin, the “grandmother of post-modern dance” was my greatest mentor, and her approach influenced the teaching methodology we use at Bream.
At the Tamalpa Institute, I formalized curricula and research-backed programming in expressive arts, group facilitation, and community building.
Bream is a solution for the older adults and care providers who I value and hold dear to my heart. My mission is to support our partners and teaching artists to nurture older adults and positively shift how we experience care and community.
Team building is our heart and soul. Say hello to our trusted advisors helping to shape our culture and community.
Dr. Jeffrey Cummings, MD, ScD
Gerontologist, Brain health expert & Bream advisor
Specializing in the development of seniors, Dr. Jeffrey Cummings is globally recognized for his contributions to Alzheimer’s research, drug development, and clinical trials.
Dr. Cummings is the Joy Chambers-Grundy Professor of Brain Science and Director of the Chambers-Grundy Center for Transformative Neuroscience as well as the Co-Director of Pam Quirk Brain Health and Biomarker Laboratory, and a professor in the Department of Brain Health at UNLV.
He was also the former Director of the Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research at UCLA, and Director of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. He has authored and edited 43 books and published over 800 peer-reviewed papers.
Molly Waseka
Director of Venture Development & Bream advisor
Molly Waseka is Director of Venture Development at Alive Ventures, a startup studio that works with leading entrepreneurs to create and launch companies to support a more joyful later life.
Through her work she partners with entrepreneurs in residence to imagine and bring to market bold new products that are truly responsive to what older adults want, rooted in the aspirations and preferences of their own lives
Molly is passionate about bringing others into these opportunities and seeing designers, entrepreneurs, and investors succeed with older adult-centered companies.
Don Atkins
Education Technology Founder & Bream advisor
Passionate about fostering personal and social growth through education, the arts, and creativity, Don has a UC Berkeley Haas MBA and is a classically-trained pianist.
Don lends his experience in program management, policy, strategy, and operations in the agricultural and food innovation industries.
Don is a founder of an education technology company focused on music education, as well as the director of community arts programs and events.
Dr. Sharbreon Plummer
Founder, Artist, Educator & Bream advisor
Dr. Sharbreon Plummer is an artist, strategist, storyteller, and educator with over a decade of experience in arts and community engagement.
She is the founder of AYA Thought Studio. Her upbringing in southern Louisiana informs her interest and investment in how culture and ancestral memory influence personal expression and contemporary work, specifically within the African Diaspora and Global South.
Dr. Plummer has served as an Alliance of Artist Communities Diversity and Leadership Fellow, YWCA Leadership for Social Change Fellow, and a participant in the 2018 Tate Intensive. She has created and facilitated work for institutions such as Project Row Houses, Rush Corridor Gallery, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, Hampshire College, Americans for the Arts, and Blaffer Museum.
James Williams
Professional teaching artist & Bream advisor
James Williams, originally from a small town in Pennsylvania, currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1960 to 1966, and moved to New York in 1972 to pursue an acting career where he performed in Off-Broadway, Off-Off Broadway, and Regional Theater.
James was a member of Nicu’s Spoon, a repertory company from 1998 to 2008 and also performed in two plays by Ryan Reid, Off-Off Broadway and in Las Vegas. He has an MFA in Arts Management and is currently the Artistic Director of Ad-Lib Theater Productions and Rising Together Guerrilla Theater. James is the father of three children, five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren!
When it comes to the art of teaching, we’re invested. Meet our founding teaching artists who influence our approach and method.
Adrian Arias
Adrian Arias is a visual artist, poet, performer, curator, activist, and cultural promoter, who brings together multidisciplinary artists to engage in community projects with messages of social justice, racial equality, climate change, peace, beauty, health, and hope in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was born Peru and is now living in the United States. Arias is one of the founders and creators of the Mission Arts Performance Project and a creator of festivals in the San Francisco Bay Area such as VideoFest, Luna Negra, and ILLUSION shows.
Adriana Chavez
Adriana Chavez is an actor, director, and performance and visual artist. They incorporate theater, mask-making and performance, collage, assemblage, movement, and sculptural installation into their art practice.They are interested in creating narratives that incorporate humor, the divine, the grotesque, and the absurd. They view the work they do as a kind of poetic collage practice. Adriana is on a quest to find their joy, resilience, and identity through their art.
Donté Clark
Donté Clark, a native of Richmond, California, reigns as one of the most prolific writers and voices out of the Bay Area arts community. Donté is eclectic in the art of storytelling; through spoken word, his body language, and musical presence.His performance is poetry. Donté Clark is an actor, stage and film director, scriptwriter, lyricist, and Public Defense attorney consultant. All of Donté’s work as an artist and community member is dedicated to shifting the narrative(s) of black/aborigine peoples history, while challenging educators and courtroom officials to abolish all racist policies.
Maggie Silverman
Maggie Silverman is a registered Somatic Movement and Dance Educator, CMT, Certified Tamalpa Practitioner, and a Practitioner of Healing the Wounds of History. She is a performer, visual artist, director, and producer who has taught and practiced somatic movement and expressive arts for over 30 years. Maggie is the founder of The Talking Body and her workshops and classes have been taught virtually, at universities and colleges, private and non-profit organizations, and dance schools.
