Staff

Valeria Marto
Director

Valeria is passionately committed to developing kids through drama as she herself benefited from it as a child. Valeria’s first appearance on stage was in middle school — an experience that changed her life forever! She devoted her teen and young adult years to studying theatre and participating in numerous productions. Upon graduating from Columbus State University, Valeria began her career in the corporate world. There she quickly learned that an articulate and expressive person, with dynamic presentation skills, would heavily outweigh the soft-spoken scholar. Joining Drama Kids International was a natural transition in 2007 when she brought the program to the Chattahoochee Valley. Today, Valeria lives out her passion by helping children to develop those essential skills that will make the journey through life much easier. In addition to overseeing the program locally, Valeria teaches her beloved Acting Academy program for students in middle and high school.

Leslie Cardwell
Program Manager

Leslie has been with Drama Kids since 2012. She has been teaching drama for more than 15 years, and has over 25 years of experience in working with kids. Leslie is also a published playwright. She has written more than 20 plays and coaches our summer campers on writing their plays every year. Leslie LOVES and shares the vision of Drama Kids, which is to build confidence, communication skills and acting abilities through drama, or in her own words, “seeing kids blossom and gain confidence through the skills they learn on stage.” In addition to training and coaching new teachers, Leslie teaches our Community Classes for elementary school students.

Khaliah Wiggins
Drama Teacher

Khaliah started with Drama Kids in early 2022, when she came to help us direct our spring shows. She has been no stranger to the stage. Since her elementary school days, Khaliah has been involved in theatre in various forms – from back-stage support, to stage managing, to starring in lead roles. Khaliah was in the first graduating class of the prestigious Rainey McCullers School of Performing Arts in Columbus, GA. While in high school, Khaliah was the Thespian president for Troup 8787. Khaliah’s dream is to work in Arts Education for the rest of her life. She is currently pursuing a degree in Theatre Education. She loves helping others navigate their adventure in the field of drama, and is excited to share her knowledge and skills with her very own drama kids.

Tina Holder
Drama Teacher

Tina is BACK in Drama Kids after several years of focusing on being a mom to her three beautiful children and pursuing her acting career. She is a working actress and has appeared in four Network TV shows, three feature films, two short films, and a variety of plays. Tina also holds 30 credit hours in Elementary Education as part of her overall Bachelor of Science Degree. She taught Drama Kids in 2009 and 2010 and thoroughly enjoys working with children. She can relate to her Drama Kids because she also began acting while she was still in elementary school. She acted in both plays & musicals throughout Middle & High school. In High school, she won numerous acting awards, such as receiving Superiors in State Competitions, and “Best Actress” twice in regional competitions. During college, she competed in 2 scholarship pageants, in which both of her “talents” were monologues from classic plays.

Lydia Rice
Drama Teacher

Lydia has always been passionate about inspiring and uplifting students through drama. Her theater journey started when she was eight years old in Drama Kids, where she participated from third to fifth grade! She learned how to be herself and use her creativity. She continued being in plays in middle school and high school. Theater has been her life and passion. She has done all types of theater including Greek, Shakespeare, musicals, murder mystery, and comedies. She has been a part of the Springer Theatre Academy and is now studying at Columbus State University to become a drama teacher. She is super excited to join the Drama Kids Teaching Team and meet all her new students. She has so much energy and passion for teaching and can’t wait to make amazing memories with her drama kids!

Simone Bowen
Drama Teacher

Simone is thrilled to be joining Drama Kids! She loves anything that has to do with being creative. She has been involved in dancing, acting, and singing her whole life. Simone has been dancing since she was 5 years old. She has always loved creating routines and seeing the steps she envisioned come to life. Theatre became a passion of hers since in 6th grade. Simone graduated from Rainey McCullers School of the Arts as theater major. She has written her own script and performed in several plays. Simone is furthering her education at Columbus Tech and aspires to become a school counselor. She is looking forward to being a positive influence in the life of her students and helping them discover the fun in theater!

Kevin Johnston
Drama Teacher

This is Kevin’s first year with Drama Kids and he’s very excited for it. Kevin has had a passion for acting since the age of five, after viewing “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” with Jim Carrey as the Grinch. He’s always been passionate about the voice and how to manipulate it, as well as physical acting. He has performed in a variety of shows in many of the Columbus theater venues: Springer, River Center, and CSU. Kevin has been a Summer intern at the Springer Theater Academy, and he also helped start a Drama Club for Eddy Middle School. He’s always thought that children having access to the arts is extremely important, whether they pursue a career in the field or not. It teaches children to express themselves and become in touch with their emotions. Kevin thinks that Drama Kids is an incredible group that will help our future generations stay inspired and caring for one another.

Taromi Joseph
Drama Teacher

Taromi is thrilled to be joining Drama Kids. She loves acting and can’t wait to share her passion and experience with her students. Her first appeared on stage in 2005 with the Trinidad Theatre Workshop. In 2006, she travelled to Hollywood, California to represent Trinidad & Tobago in the World Championships of Performing Arts (WCOPA). She received call backs and go sees from MTV and the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, where she attended in 2009. Taromi can also be seen in many TV commercials and billboards throughout Trinidad, Tobago and the Caribbean. Her award-winning films have been screened the world over, most notably at Cannes Short Film Festival. Taromi won the Best Actor Award (Female) at the WorldWide Women’s Film Festival and at the Palm Bay Caribe Film Festival in 2019 for “Hush-a-Bye’, a short film she wrote, directed and produced. In 2020 she was a member of the screening committee for the Diversity in Cannes Short Film Festival and the Screenplay Reading Committee for the 2021 Atlanta Film Festival. Her most recent work includes America’s Funniest Home Videos (ABC) and Atlanta (FX, Hulu).

Join our team! Click here to apply!
Drama Kids is seeking dynamic and fun part time teachers to meet our growing class schedule.