Danielle Segal
Danielle Segal is the Program Director at the Honeycomb. Danielle is from London, United Kingdom, and moved to New York in 2010. Inspired by her love of the Jewish community and combining her teaching, program management and theater skills, Danielle has worked in the non-profit Jewish field for nineteen years as a Jewish educator, camp director and non-profit manager. She has developed several curricula, including teen leadership courses, and has led workshops on teacher training, team management and improvisation. Danielle presents at conferences and seminars nationwide about Jewish youth philanthropy, experiential education and teen engagement. She was awarded the Jack Petchey Award for Outstanding Service to Young People in 2009.
Danielle is Vice Chair of the JPRO NY Board and serves on the Board Of Directors for Tkiya. She presents and produces the Honeycomb podcast “Outside The Tzedakah Box”. Danielle completed the Certificate in Jewish Leadership For Educators with Spertus Institute and Northwestern University.
Dr. Beth Cooper Benjamin
Dr. Beth Cooper Benjamin is an adolescent development scholar, an achievement culture critic, and a designer and facilitator of civic engagement, leadership, and philanthropy programming. She has developed civic engagement strategy as Founding Associate Director of the Center for Social Responsibility at the Marlene Myerson JCC Manhattan, led collaborative research with Jewish teen girls at Ma'yan, and served as Director of the Westover Resiliency Project at Westover, a girls' boarding and day high school in Middlebury, CT. There she led a three-year grant-funded initiative to challenge achievement pressure and perfectionism and to foster resilience and well-being among students and adult staff.
Currently, she serves as Director of Programs & Peer Networks at the Jewish Funders Network, where she develops educational programming for philanthropists and foundation professionals. She received her masters and doctorate in Human Development and Psychology from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, where her research examined the definition and practice of girls’ leadership in an affluent, suburban, teen Girl Scout troop.
Atara Burian
Atara Burian is an Assistant Director at UJA Federation of New York and heads the Center for Youth Philanthropy and Leadership (CYPL). At UJA, Atara is responsible for the curriculum development and facilitation of The Philanthropic Advisory Council for Teens (PACT) which engages 150 high school students each year, and the Give a Mitzvah, Do a Mitzvah B'nai Mitzvah project program. In addition to her work with CYPL, Atara oversees a major gifts fundraising portfolio and supports the Upper West Side and Upper East Side fundraising campaigns, cultivating donor relationships through stewardship, events, educational programming, and volunteerism. Atara received her master’s degree in social work (MSW) from the Wurzweiler School of Social Work Block program and was awarded the HRSA grant for working with high-risk school aged youth. She was involved with UJA as a lay person before pivoting and joining professionally in 2019.
Josh Conescu
Josh will be presenting at the Honeycomb Facilitator Training as part of the Jewish Studio Project. Josh Conescu has been a Jewish educator in the Boston area for over 25 years. He taught 4th grade at The Rashi School. Josh has worked at many synagogues around the area including Temple Shalom of Newton, Temple Beth David (Westwood), BETC (Belmont), TBE (Wellesley) and Shir Tikva (Wayland). He spent seven summers at Camp Pembroke as the Director of Jewish Life and Learning. Josh loves bringing Jewish texts alive with his students. Besides teaching, Josh loves to make art, bake and hang out with his 2 year old grandson!
Laura Hemlock-Schaeffer
Laura Hemlock-Schaeffer is the Program and Education Director at Honeycomb. Most recently, Laura was a Project Manager for the Platelet Disorder Support Association. Prior to that, Laura spent over 13 years working in the Jewish non-profit space at organizations such as UJA-Federation of New York, BBYO, Hillel of Buffalo, and the Yeshiva Day Schools of Pittsburgh. Laura holds a Master’s in Education and a Bachelor's in Theater, both obtained at the University at Buffalo (go Bulls!). Passionate about all things Jewish life, Laura serves as Vice President of the Hillel of Buffalo Board of Directors and is an active member of B'nai B'rith Connect, where she was a 2025 recipient of the Label A. Katz Young Leadership Award.
Matt Bergman
Matt is the Senior Manager of Operations and Communications at Honeycomb. Previously, Matt has been the Communications and Marketing director for multiple private maintenance companies on Long Island and in New Jersey, and as a classroom teacher in New Jersey. Matt’s love for Jewish camping and alternative education has led him to be very active in the communities he has called home. He has spent his summers at Sprout Lake, Tel Yahuda, JCC Camp Ruach, and URJ Eisner Camp since he was five years old! Matt still belongs to and gives back to the synagogue which he grew up at as a former director of his temple’s Hebrew High School program, and as the outgoing President of the temple Men’s Club, Matt has a great deal of experience with engaging people in all ages and stages!
