Maria Elena Hewett brings a life-long passion for the arts to the YPAB. After graduating with a degree in visual arts at UCSD, she relocated to Chicago and accidentally fell into the theater scene. She wrote comedies for Second City, sat on the board of the Working Women’s History Project, and co-founded a theater company to tell stories of women living on the streets, acting as managing director for three seasons. Believing in the transformative power of the arts, she moved to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, to train in art therapy practices with women and children living in violent home situations. Now returning west to pursue a master’s degree in Nonprofit Management, she is currently employed as the operations assistant at Housing Works in Hollywood, California.