As the Founding Executive Director of the Urban Design League, Janeen Ettienne dedicates her work to disrupting generational barriers to opportunity by building intentional pathways to academic achievement, leadership, and self-determination for marginalized youth.  

 

Janeen’s journey in the nonprofit sector spans more than 15 years and is grounded in an unwavering commitment to social justice, national service, and civic engagement. As a former AmeriCorps member and later AmeriCorps program director, she built her leadership foundation through service, mobilizing young adults to address community needs while cultivating their own professional growth. Her experience in national service shaped her belief that education and workforce development must be intentionally connected to create lasting pathways to economic mobility.

 

Earlier in her career, Janeen served as an employment coordinator, directly connecting young people to job placements and career exploration opportunities. In that role, she worked closely with employers and community partners to ensure youth could access meaningful professional pathways rather than temporary work experiences. That commitment continues today through the Urban Design League, where she integrates workforce exposure, paid youth employment opportunities, mentorship, and leadership development into STEAAM programming.
 

Mary Olukun is an experiential educator with more than a decade of experience working within the nonprofit sector. With a deep commitment to youth development and community empowerment, she has dedicated her career to supporting children, adolescents, and adults through transformative, hands-on learning experiences.

Mary specializes in outdoor education as a powerful vehicle for social-emotional growth. She designs and leads programs that use nature, adventure, and experiential learning to help participants build resilience, self-awareness, teamwork, communication skills, and confidence. Her work centers on equipping young people with practical tools they can use to navigate their schools, communities, and broader social landscapes with clarity and courage.

 

At the Urban Design League, Mary provides strategic oversight for outdoor programming, including Tech Trek, the organization’s signature summer program, and year-round outdoor learning opportunities. She ensures that each experience intentionally integrates STEAAM learning, leadership development, and social-emotional skill-building. Mary approaches her work with the belief that the outdoors is not simply a destination, but a classroom, one where identity, leadership, and possibility can take root. Through her leadership, programs are not just activities, but transformative experiences that cultivate lifelong learning.

Jaya has been a member of the Urban Design League since its founding year, playing an integral role in shaping the organization’s creative vision, program culture, and community-centered approach to youth development. As UDL’s Program Coordinator, she helps translate the organization’s vision into meaningful, well-organized, and engaging learning experiences for young people.

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With a professional background in Communications Design and a specialization in Illustration, Jaya understands the power of visual language, storytelling, and creative expression to shape how young people see themselves and their communities. Growing up immersed in the vibrant culture and dynamic energy of Brooklyn, she developed an early passion for storytelling through art. From doodling in the margins of her notebooks to filling sketchbooks with intricate drawings, she found both refuge and self-expression in the creative process. That early love of making has evolved into a professional practice rooted in intentional design, youth development, and community engagement.

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Jaya develops and supports curricula that integrate creative technique with meaning, encouraging students to use drawing, illustration, design, mixed media, branding, and storytelling as tools for self-expression, advocacy, and community connection. Her approach reflects UDL’s belief that art is not simply an enrichment activity, but a powerful vehicle for critical thinking, identity exploration, communication, and social impact.

Wendell Bullen is a professional artist, dancer, choreographer, and beloved faculty member who has been with the Urban Design League since its inception. Wendell teaches liberation through movement and helps young people connect deeply with their bodies, identities, and communities through dance. His commitment to this work extends far beyond technique. He sees movement as a tool for expression, resilience, cultural connection, self‑possession, and joy.

 

Born and raised in Carriacou, Grenada, West Indies, Wendell’s foundation in dance draws from a rich tapestry of styles, including Hip Hop (Breaking, Popping, Locking, and Waving), Ballet, Modern, Contemporary, Jazz, Street Jazz, Salsa, African forms, and Dancehall. This breadth of training reflects both his formal study and his lived experience engaging with global and diasporic movement traditions. His artistic journey encompasses not only performance and choreography but also teaching, mentoring, and creating opportunities for youth to see themselves as practitioners of powerful artistic vocabularies.

 

At UDL, Wendell also supports the organization’s boys programming, providing safe, affirming spaces where young men can explore movement as a source of empowerment, emotional expression, community building, and healing. Wendell’s work is grounded in his belief that movement, whether traditional, contemporary, street, or culturally specific, cultivates liberation. He encourages students to move with intention and courage; transforming dance from a performance skill into a practice of agency and voice.