LET’S IMAGINE
LEARNING FROM THE LEADERS OF THE IMAGINE AWARDS
Meet our amazing panel!
-DEIA Award Winner: Fiver Children’s Foundation represented by Christie Ko, Executive Director
-Rising Star Award Winner: Grassroots Grocery represented by Dan Zauderer, Founder
-Leadership Excellence Award Winner: Katrena Perou, Executive Director of Inspiring Minds NYC
-Innovation Award Winner: Teens for Food Justice represented by Emily Miller, Director of Development & Communications
-Fan Favorite Award Winner: The Brave House represented by Lauren Blodgett, Executive Director & Founder
Objective: Learn from a contingent of highly regarded non-profit leaders that are successfully moving the sector forward. Let their experience guide you to think differently and effectively advance your non-profit to the next level.
This discussion will be moderated by Kenneth Cerini, CPA, Managing Partner of Cerini & Associates and Founder of the Imagine Awards, an event designed to recognize non-profits for their innovation, impact, and leadership. Attendees will be given the opportunity to directly ask the guest panel questions.
MEET OUR SPEAKERS

Christie Ko began her journey with Fiver as a seasonal staff member at Camp Fiver before becoming Camp Director and, since 2009, has served as Executive Director of the Fiver Children’s Foundation. She holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Columbia University and a BA from Hofstra University. Christie’s professional background includes social work in New York City’s supportive housing sector and two terms of service with AmeriCorps*NCCC. She is the President of the Board of the American Camp Association, NY & NJ, and lives in Queens with her husband and twin daughters.

Dan was a middle school teacher at the Bronx’s American Dream School until he discovered that one out of every four of his students were living with food insecurity. He left his paying job and started Mott Haven Fridge Network, which has now grown into Grassroots Grocery. His passion is to bring dignified access to healthy food to under-resourced communities that often remain out of reach. Dan is driven by the simple tenet that together, we can #driveouthunger.

In 2019, Katrena Perou founded IMNYC to create a community-driven model in Bedford-Stuyvesant. This initiative aims to connect high school students with their community through leadership sessions focusing on identity, wellness, and civic engagement. Partnering with NYC schools, this initiative operates during school hours and after school, culminating with our IMConnected Shark Tank competition and youth-led city-wide youth conference.
Katrena, having never worked for a nonprofit led by the community it served, took a leap of faith and left her job to build one in her own neighborhood. After receiving her first grant, she led a focus group of 40 students from the Boys and Girls High School Campus and learned they felt disconnected from their community. In response, she created a culturally responsive leadership institute, engaging youth with community leaders through workshops and conferences.
Her model was adopted across Brooklyn by My Brother’s Keeper, impacting 47 high schools and the citywide Young Women’s Empowerment Program, which supports 150 girls from 18 schools. Additionally, she provided seed funding and guidance for 38 teens to launch community-focused businesses, which they have the choice of continuing as they transition to college.
Despite pandemic challenges, Katrena increased her organization’s revenue from $125,000 in 2019 to $2.1 million in 2024 due to her resilience and innovative approach to engaging youth from underserved communities. She recently advocated through a Chalkbeat article about how city payment delays harm BIPOC-led nonprofits, which led to expedited payments and broader discussions on systemic improvement.

Emily R. Miller is an accomplished New York-based development and communications leader with 17 years of experience across local, national, and global nonprofits. Her commitment to social justice, grounded in practical solutions, is evident in significant leadership roles with Manhattan Neighborhood Network, the National Farm Worker Ministry, The United Methodist Church, and as a dedicated board member with the Appalachia Service Project. Emily has also contributed as an Adjunct Faculty at both FIT and Pace University, where she taught Publication Design in the MS in Publishing program at Pace, and a variety of classes for the Communications Design program at FIT. Holding a BA in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia, an MBA from the Quantic School, and a certificate in Economic Advocacy from the American Friends Service Committee, she brings a wealth of expertise to the intersection of social impact, development and communications.

Executive Director and Founder, Lauren Blodgett (she/her) is an immigration attorney and human rights advocate with over 12 years of experience. Lauren was honored on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Law and Policy for her innovative approach to protecting human rights in a holistic and joyful way. Her legal career in NYC began as an attorney at another nonprofit in New York, where she founded a girls’ empowerment group, Las Mariposas, and represented children in deportation proceedings through an Equal Justice Works fellowship. In law school, she directed the Harvard Immigration Project and worked in human rights clinics in Boston and abroad. Additionally, she worked at a refugee center in Cape Town and was a Fulbright scholar in Austria researching international law. As the Executive Director of the Brave House, Lauren leads, creates, and implements the programs and development of the nonprofit.