Songbird Sings' leadership brings years of experience in trauma and music advocacy. In addition to Robin Lane, Creative Director and President, the staff includes:

Carla DeSantis -- Executive Director

Carla DeSantis is the nation's leading advocate for women in rock. A former musician and music industry veteran, Carla rose to prominence as the founder, publisher and editor-in-chief of the ground-breaking and award-winning ROCKRGRL Magazine (1994-2005), the only national publication for female musicians.

She also produced two highly successful and critically-acclaimed ROCKRGRL Music Conferences, which took place in Seattle in 2000 and 2005, respectively, as well as ROCKRGRL Day at Musicians' Institute in Los Angeles in 2003. A ROCKRGRL Music Conference is currently being planned for fall of 2010.

The diverse line-up of speakers and performers at the ROCKRGRL Music Conferences have included such musical luminaries as Patti Smith, Bonnie Raitt, Courtney Love, Ronnie Spector (Ronettes), Amy Ray (Indigo Girls), Ann Wilson (Heart), Johnette Napolitano (Concrete Blonde), Cris Williamson, June Millington (Fanny), Kathy Valentine (The Go-Go's), Wanda Jackson, The Gossip, Exene Cervenka (X) and hundreds more

In 2006, Carla was named one of the "50 most influential people in Seattle music" by Seattle (Sound) Magazine and has twice been nominated for a Lifetime Achievement Award by Seattle Weekly. She is also a three-time elected member of the governing board of the Northwest Chapter of the Recording Academy (Grammy organization) and served on the advisory board for the capital campaign of the Vera Project, Seattle's all-ages music/arts organization.

These days, Carla consults and mentors artists seeking career advice and lectures frequently on the topic of gender disparity in rock. She is a popular, entertaining and knowledgeable public speaker and is always interested in opportunities to educate young people about sexism in music, the music industry and independent publishing.

In 2008, the ROCKRGRL Magazine and Conference archives were acquired by Schlesinger Library at Harvard/Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. The library houses one of the most impressive collections of American Women's History in the country.

Maria Rodman -- Treasurer

Maria Tarajano Rodman currently serves as the Associate Executive Director for Program and Community Development with the Western Massachusetts Training Consortium, a center for responsible innovation that creates conditions to enhance the lives and make possible the dreams of people living with disabilities and/or living with the impact of abuse. There, she provides agency-wide direction and oversight relative to the agency's trauma-informed practice, new program development, existing program review and improvements, monitoring and evaluation strategies and techniques, and both short-term and long-term strategic planning.

Maria also serves as a consultant on the National Trauma Consortium's Center on Women, Violence, and Trauma.

Previously, Maria served as Executive Director of the Montague Catholic Social Ministries' Turners Falls Women's Resource Center, which grew out of the Women and Co-occurring Disorder and Violence Study.

Prior to that, she was the Program Specialist for Save the Children's Southeast Programs where Maria witnessed the profound discrimination that impacts the health, education, quality of life, and hope of children and families throughout the United States. As the Assistant to the Director of Global Missions for the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., Maria understood the importance of working side by side with those in need in more than 80 countries around the world. Serving as the National Program Administrator for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, she worked with health professionals, researchers, social workers, families, local providers, and business organizations to raise over four million dollars for basic, clinical, and translational research, seeking to find the cause and cure of childhood brain tumors.

Maria strongly believes in working for and with trauma survivors, promoting the need and importance of trauma-informed practice in all systems (health, social, educational, correctional and others).

Maria holds an M.A. in Service Leadership and Management from the School for International Training. She immigrated from Cuba in 1968 and is fluent in Spanish.

Deb McGranaghan -- Clerk

Deb McGranaghan spent 12 years working in the fast-paced world of New York City advertising. Deciding on a more fulfilling path, for the past seven years she has worked with female trauma survivors in community based, hospital, and correctional settings. She will receive her Masters in social work from Springfield College in May 2010. She is also the proud writer and singer of more than six A Woman's Voice songs. She happily resides on her hill top home in Conway, MA, with her three young sons.