About Cause to Wonder
Our work:
Cause to Wonder events focus on curiosity and interactive performances. They educate and provoke word of mouth media. When a health, conservation or human rights organization needs grassroots dissemination of information to people in isolated regions, they can call upon Cause to Wonder to devise a plan of discovery.
MISSION: To reduce human suffering and promote social justice by producing creative, collaborative, cross-cultural public performances and events that facilitate the exchange of ideas, dialogue and education.
ALI SHELLEY MEMBER OF THE BOARD 2017-
Ali is trilingual and has taught in Russia, Japan, Israel, and France. A second generation magician and a Brandeis graduate, she integrates curiosity into the classroom to break down linguistic and cultural barriers working at the grassroots level.. Ali has experience with Hospice, Make-A-Wish and Breathe the Magic. YOu may have seen her on Emeril’s Table or on the Travel Channel.
Derrick Stevens Board member since 2016-
Winner of the 2012 Leland award, Derrick was voted the best wilderness guide in North America. Steven's work with Stone Mountain Safaris is how he came to join the Cause to Wonder team. In 2015 he presented as Cowboy Derrick in the "Attitudes for Success" Elementary school program. He is also a student of tango dancing.
Cause to Wonder — Board of Directors:
Lisa Menna, Founder 2011 Current board member
With 30 years and 60 countries of performing experience, professional stage magician Lisa Menna understands why theater and education have gone hand in hand since antiquity. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Inc., and Entrepreneur Magazines and on CNN, Discovery and the Disney Channel. She has been called the most influential woman magician of the 20th century.
Captian Tambra Swan,
travel advisor- Founding board member 2011-2014
Tambra is currently a Captain for a US-based major airline. She has been a professional pilot since the age of 19, logging over 16,000 flight hours in everything from single engine airplanes to Airbus A321s airliners. When not flying, she spends her time volunteering to promoting leadership opportunities for young girls, running her textile business and traveling.
Mary Vargo, Founder BOD 2011-2013
Mary Vargo is a nonprofit professional who spearheaded the creation of Cause to Wonder and its 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. She is a StartingBloc Fellow at the Institute for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship and formerly a member of the EDS/Hewlett Packard Global Events and Executive Briefing teams. A Bowdoin College graduate, she will soon complete her MBA in Sustainable Business at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. SHe is currently teaching at Gift Hill school.
Ralph Perkins, Creative consultant
BOD 2013- 2016
is a professional choreographer and director. He has worked in regional and educational theaters across the United States as well as Las Vegas venues. Ralph was artistic director and co-founder of The New Works Project, a contemporary dance company in Las Vegas. He is also a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. Ralph joined the Cause To Wonder family in 2011 when he directed the "What Have You Got to Lose?" Gang Prevention Program for the organization. Currently, Ralph is the Director of Dance for Theater at The Hartt School, University of Hartford, Connecticut.
