American Museum of Natural History

Jennifer Young is a writer, editor, and historian. Her writing on immigration history, cuisine, parenting, and Jewish culture has appeared in the Jerusalem Post, Time.com, and Atlas Obscura. The former Director of Education for the YIVO Institute for Jewish research, Jennifer has also worked at the Tenement Museum and the New-York Historical Society. She is interested in telling untold stories about American history and the surpising and unexpected ways that the past continues to speak to the present. She holds graduate degrees in anthropology and education, and completed doctoral work in American history at New York University. She also serves as a judge for New York City History Day.

Monica Valley is a media designer and an art historian, specializing in later twentieth century art. A popular teacher in New York museums and galleries, she is currently pursuing doctoral studies focusing on the early work of Robert Rauschenberg. Monica has programmed and led art study tours to India, Italy and Portugal, and is fluent in Portuguese.

Mandy's passion for the environment, its health and history, and how humans interact with it, stems from her childhood spending time at Mammoth Cave National Park. She went on to study Anthropology, Archaeology, Geosciences, and Urban Restoration at the University of Cincinnati and New Jersey City University. After graduation she began seasonal work at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island NM as a Park Ranger for the National Park Service for two consecutive seasons where she conducted extensive historical research and gave tours daily. This led to working for the non-profit Save Ellis Island giving and developing public tours for the abandoned hospital complex on Ellis Island. Most recently she spent the 2016 season as a Park Ranger at Governors Island National Monument and will be there again in the coming 2017 season. She has spent countless hours volunteering with Liberty State Park, NY/NJ Baykeeper, and the National Park Service. Focusing most of her attention on New York Harbor. She is currently a member on the board of directors of The Friends of Liberty State Park, and volunteer with Breezy Point Historical Society.