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.
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.
Mara Braunfeld
Mara Braunfeld serves in the role of Director, Think-Action Lab at The Jewish Education Project, helping to innovate in structure, pedagogy, and content across diverse Jewish educational environments. A Jewish educator with two decades of experience, Mara has held leadership roles at Hadar, Temple Israel Center (White Plains, NY), Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, and Temple Shaaray Tefila (Bedford Corners, NY). She earned her B.A. from Brandeis University and a Master's in Jewish Education from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Mara brings a deep commitment to progressive, pluralistic Jewish education and to building meaningful, relational communities.
Rabbi Yaffa Epstein
Rabba Yaffa Epstein is the Senior Scholar and Educator in Residence at the Jewish Education Project, bringing decades of experience as a teacher, scholar, and institutional leader to her work. She previously served as Director of the Wexner Heritage Program at the Wexner Foundation and as Director of Education, North America for the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, where she was also a faculty member. She has taught on the faculties of Yeshivat Maharat and the Drisha Institute. A sought-after Educator, Rabba Epstein has partnered with a wide range of organizations — including M2: The Institute for Experiential Education, the Dorot Foundation, Mem Global, the Jewish Federations of North America, UJA New York, the Covenant Foundation, the Nahum Goldmann Fellowship, Repair the World, JPro and the Jewish Parent Academy. She has lectured at Limmud events around the globe, developed curriculum for the Global Day of Jewish Learning, and created innovative educational programming for Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life and the SRE Network. Rabba Epstein holds Orthodox Rabbinic Ordination from Yeshivat Maharat and an additional private Orthodox Ordination from Rabbi Daniel Landes. She earned a Law Degree from Bar-Ilan University and studied at the Talmud Department of Hebrew University. A member of the inaugural cohort of the Sefaria Word-by-Word Writing Circle, her writing has appeared in the SAPIR Journal, the Jerusalem Post, and numerous Jewish publications. In 2024, she received the prestigious Covenant Award for outstanding contributions to Jewish education. Across her career, Rabba Epstein has taught educators, rabbis, and lay leaders from every corner of the Jewish denominational spectrum. She is passionate about making Torah study exciting, relevant, and accessible to all who wish to learn.
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.
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.
