Marcus Brown has worked in the field of education and multimedia for more than 15 years.  He served as the Math & Media Instructor at The Genesis School and was responsible for producing weekly live radio shows, KC Teen Talk on 1590 and Genesis On The Air on KKFI 90.1 FM. Students participating in this program produced live in-studio and field productions. In addition, Mr. Brown has worked in the area of virtual/online learning, facilitating small group and one on one learning over the web.  He has conducted multimedia and/or writing workshops at WEB Dubois Learning Center, ACE Schools, Cristo Rey High School, American Jazz Museum and The Boys and Girls Club. Currently, Mr. Brown is the lead educator for KCDML, which provides a hands-on environment for youth to engage in the latest technologies. He graduated with his bachelors from the University of Missouri, Kansas City.

New to the Kansas City Digital Media Lab, Kyriece DeVine has always had an interest in sound. Growing up in a musical family, music quickly became a passion for Kyriece. Throughout high school, she began teaching herself how to make beats on a keyboard and would record demos on the computer before being able to get studio time. After high school, she went on to obtain a degree from Northwest Missouri State University in Broadcast Production with an audio concentration. Through obtaining her degree she had several opportunities to get hands on experience in different areas of music and radio. She served as a radio personality and the Program and Music Director at KZLX 106.7, an engineer at KXCV 90.5, as well as an audio tech at several churches. Aside from being the lab facilitator at the digital media lab, she is still involved in radio and currently hosts her own show on KUAW 98.5 as well as doing music production for herself and other Kansas City artists. In working at the DML, she hopes to be a mentor and to give the teens a good example of representation and to be an example in their lives in regards to media, higher education, or whatever path they may follow.

Although new to her role as the KCDML Youth Services Librarian at the Southeast Branch, Miss Collins is not new to the Library. She has been a Southeast Branch team member for the past three years. During her tenure at the branch, she served as a mentor for The Kansas City Digital Media Lab’s Pharobots robotics team, assisted in multiple teen engagements, and fulfilled the KCDML’s 2018 AmeriCorps VISTA position. As a VISTA she focused on: developing relationships with community partners, managing KCDML social media, website development, and building capacity. Before joining the Library, Miss Collins attended the University of Missouri, Saint Louis. While there she served as a student mentor for St. Louis Public Schools and completed her Bachelor of the Arts.  In her new position she intends to build strong relationships with the surrounding community and families; and plans to create programming that will bring families back into the Southeast Branch while helping young people explore their creativity by engaging in something new.

Andrea Sherrel Ellis has been building the Kansas City Digital Media Lab (KCDML) since May 24, 2012.  That’s the day she joined the Kansas City Public Library (KCPL) to manage the $100,000 Learning Labs grant from the MacArthur Foundation and IMLS.  Within a week she was in San Francisco mingling with other Connected Learning advocates from around the country.  Our mission: use the principles of Connected Learning and HOMAGO to create a dynamic, teen centered, production focused, Library experience.

Since then it has been a wonderful whirlwind of research, teen engagement, community collaboration, fundraising, and program development.  All of which has culminated in the renovation of the Southeast Branch of KCPL, which houses the permanent home of KCDML in The Goppert Media Center.

Although a KC native, prior to joining the library Andrea was a media educator and producer in New York City and Washington, DC.  In those roles she worked at large corporations (HBO, BET), as well as independent and community production houses ( American Montage, Inc., MHz NETWORKS, and Arlington Independent Media). Ms. Ellis received her bachelor’s from Rockhurst University and a master’s of Media Ecology: Communication and Film Production from New York University.

She’s looking forward to the next iteration of KCDML as it grows into a production hub for Kansas City teens.

Arliss has a love of animation, video games, cartoons, comic books, and Batman. This love led her to a career as an animation and visual effects artist for film and television. A self-proclaimed nerd, Arliss is always happy to geek out with anyone about anything from Star Trek to Naruto. 

Arliss has worked on feature films such as Little Prince and Twelve Strong, TV shows such as Paradise Run for Nickelodeon, and the YouTube documentary series Defying Gravity. She’s new to the Media Lab, but is looking forward to working with young people and helping them see the potential for taking something you love and making a career out of it.