Agni Zotis

MAY Kids Transform/ Founder

Agni Zotis is an artist and meditation/yoga educator with a discipline in both paths for over 30 years. She is certified as a Functional Nutritionist and Health and Wellness coach. By dedicating her life to her passions, she has created a lifestyle of wholeness, wellness, creativity and self-empowerment. Agni received a degree from Hunter College in Fine Arts and psychology. Her yoga practice started as a teen in New York City and at 25, she dove deep into a meditation practice on her visit to India. She became a certified yoga instructor in 2001 and a meditation teacher in 2006. Her teachings are based in ancient wisdom influenced by Vedic tradition and Philosophy supported by modern science in neuroscience and epigenetics. 

Inspired by her son and the lack of art classes in schools, Agni started bringing art to youth in 2001, by creating and establishing a ceramics workshop at the Co-op Nursery School YMCA. As the director of AGNI Gallery in the East Village (2004-2009), she hosted the avant-garde art scene in New York City and held painting workshops for the youth community. Through her involvement with youth, she understood the necessity of incorporating mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and creativity in the curriculum. With her son Francis as an advisor, she developed the MAY Kids Transform curriculum in 2013 at NYC LAB High School. The curriculum was inspired by generation Z and their contemporary needs. She develops wellness curriculums for different communities globally, as her purpose is established in alleviating human suffering for all. 

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Francis Serrano

MAY Kids Transform Board Member / Founder

Compelled by the voices and needs of his peers, at 14, Francis collaborated to design the MAY Kids Transform curriculum. Born and raised in New York City, Francis empathizes with the many pressures and stresses that come with city life.

Francis is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, with a degree in Environmental Biology. In October 2016, he fostered the start of a multimedia art collective at Wash U called Open Crown Collective (OCC). Through practice of mindfulness techniques and art, the members of OCC developed valuable stress management skills and created collaborative works of art. OCC members view the MAY curriculum as rewarding as it helps with focus, studying, and facilitates positive social spaces. Francis also collaborated to create a start-up business called Find Your Farmer, making real food accessible to all in St. Louis. He is currently enrolled in a masters program to study marine biology. 

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Alexandra Arneri

MAY Kids Transform Board Member/Founder

Alexandra is an attorney practicing in San Francisco and New York at her firm Cittone Demers & Arneri LLP. She has a podcast on human rights and the environment, thegravity.fm and a blog on parenting ninjabelly.com Alexandra is passionate about bringing the MAY Kids Transform program to youth. She is a mom of two boys teaching them mindfulness, art and yoga at home. She has been practicing yoga since she was 19 and paints in her spare time. 

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Francisco Cavia

MAY Kids Transform Board Member

Francisco is an attorney for 10 years with a PhD in Law. He has a practice for over a decade in yoga & meditation. He is passionate about the vision and the work MAY is providing to the community and beyond. He helps spread awareness of MAY's mission. 

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Lucy Taylor

MAY Kids Transform Intern 

Lucy is the ​host, executive producer, and editor of the six part podcast series, SNAPPED. She graduated from the University of Maryland where she majored in theatre and minored in rhetoric. Lucy is passionate about self-expression and spreading awareness about institutions which perpetuate harm to unprotected communities. As a New York City native, Lucy has seen first hand how the public school system deserves more support when it comes to students' emotional wellbeing. Lucy is deeply inspired by Agni’s work and is helping spread awareness of MAY’s mission as she herself was a student of Agni's when in LAB HS.

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Anxhela Kanani

MAY Kids Transform Intern

Anxhela Kanani is a graduate from Queens College with a focus in psychology and urban studies. She is working on her PhD in clinical psychology at Adelphi University. Anxhela strives to attain a deep holistic understanding of mind and body. She aims to help eliminate the stigma around mental health and improve the lives of those struggling with minimal support. As a student of MAY in her teens in LABHS, she learned tools to be more mindful, present, control her emotions and connect to the world. She wants to raise awareness of MAY for others. 

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Sarah Templeton

Supporter

Sarah Templeton is a youth counsellor focusing in high risk youth and a supporter of MAY Kids Transform. She believes in social change through empowerment. She is committed to teaching youth to cultivate their highest self and tap into their own power in order to impact and inspire the world. She currently lives and works in Jamaica and incorporates MAY Kids teachings. 

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Carolina De Luca

MAY Kids Transform Past Board Member 

Carolina is a professor of Literature, English Composition, Italian Language and Public Speaking. She taught for 23 years in various universities in New York City, such as Hunter College, Queens College and New York University. She now lives in Rome with her daughter and teaches at John Cabot University and incorporates MAY's principles in her classes.

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Lori Mason

May Kids Transform Past Board Member 

Lori is a practicing entertainment attorney in NYC, and a passionate yogi and mom.  She is a strong believer in MAY Kids' mission.