Currently: Senior Project Manager, Westchester Medical Center
Previously: Management Consultant, Accenture
B.S. Applied Psychology, NYU Steinhardt
Stephen grew up in the Bronx and attended New York City public schools. From 2nd through 8th grade, he participated in Summer on the Hill at Horace Mann School, a year-round enrichment program that brought promising students from low-income backgrounds onto one of the country's most selective independent school campuses each summer and on Saturdays throughout the year.
When the program ended, he dropped out of high school in 10th grade. He earned his GED at 19, attended Bronx Community College, and later received a full scholarship to NYU Steinhardt, where he studied Applied Psychology with a minor in Social and Cultural Analysis. He went on to work as a Management Consultant at Accenture on Fortune 100 Life Sciences initiatives before moving into healthcare operations as a Senior Project Manager at Westchester Medical Center.
Summer on the Hill ran for thirty years before closing in 2024. The Masters Project is what comes next.
Currently: Canterbury School
Previously: Ethical Culture Fieldston School; Director of Operations, Make a Play (501c3)
B.S. Sports Management, Sacred Heart University
Justin has spent his career working inside independent schools and youth-serving organizations. As Director of Operations at Make a Play, he helped build and run a 501(c)(3) from the inside, developing systems for scheduling, community engagement, and day-to-day logistics that allowed program staff to focus on delivery. He brings that same operational clarity to The Masters Project.
His experience in independent school environments gives him fluency in two worlds: the structured, high-expectation cultures that programs like this aspire to introduce scholars to, and the realities of the communities those scholars come from. That ability to move across contexts is exactly what a program operating at this intersection requires.
Currently: Equality Charter School
Previously: Ethical Culture Fieldston Middle School; 10 YOE as NYC classroom teacher
B.S. Biology; M.S. Kinesiology
Ricardo has spent a decade in New York City classrooms, most recently at Equality Charter School and before that at Fieldston Middle School. He understands how to meet students where they are without lowering the ceiling, and knows firsthand what it takes to close academic gaps with students who have been underestimated by the systems meant to serve them.
His curriculum work at The Masters Project is grounded in the same principle that drives the program: instruction has to be calibrated to the specific learner, not the imagined average. Every unit, every session plan, every assessment is designed with the individual scholar in mind.
Currently: Community Health Partner, Cityblock Health
Omar works at the intersection of healthcare and community. As a Community Health Partner at Cityblock Health, he builds relationships with Bronx families, helping them navigate complex systems and connect with resources that can actually change outcomes. That work requires trust, consistency, and a deep understanding of what motivates people to engage with something new.
At The Masters Project, he does the same: building bridges between families and the program, ensuring that scholars and their parents feel seen, informed, and genuinely supported from enrollment through the end of the year. Community buy-in doesn't happen by announcement. It's built one conversation at a time.