ARCK TEAM
Sara Mraish Demeter
Founder & CEO ARCK
Sara Mraish Demeter is a social impact entrepreneur, education innovator, and cultural bridge-builder. She is the Founder and CEO of ARCK (Art Resource Collaborative for Kids) and Co-Founder of LearnBridge, an EdTech platform designed to open doors globally for non-native English speakers through personalized learning. Together, these ventures advance her mission to reimagine education through creativity, leadership, and civic engagement.
Guided by the belief that every young person—especially those from marginalized communities—deserves the opportunity to flourish and lead, Sara has built ARCK’s human-centered, project-based programs to empower students with the skills, resilience, and networks needed to thrive in college, careers, and civic life.
An educator, artist, and mother, Sara draws on her own journey of using creativity as a pathway to belonging and empowerment. She recently earned her Master in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School as a John F. Kennedy Fellow, deepening her expertise in systems change, education innovation, and moral leadership.
Sara’s work connects educators, civic leaders, nonprofits, universities, and technology innovators to create scalable models that expand opportunity. Her vision is to transform education into a platform where creativity, leadership, and innovation are not extras but essential tools for a just, vibrant, and inclusive future.
Outside of work, Sara enjoys spending time with her husband and three children, as well as golfing, writing, skiing, painting & dancing, and building meaningful connections.
Reyn Ricafort
Marketing and Communications Coordinator
Reyn Ricafort is a Filipino-American playwright, dramaturg, actor, and theater administrator based in Boston, MA. His play The Year It Stops was a finalist for the 2025 Miranda Family Fellowship Summit Presentation with the help of Pregones/PRTT. Reyn is a 2023 Miranda Family Fellow and holds a B.S. in Theater from Skidmore College. Utilizing his background in dramatic and embodied storytelling, Reyn hopes to uplift ARCK’s messaging through compelling media that tells the company’s story and raises awareness about its mission.
ARCK MENTORS
Jay Calderin
*Creative Catalyst Member
The Boston Globe refers to Jay Calderín as "a budding designer's best friend.” The LA Times called his first book — The Fashion Design Reference & Specification Book — "a new fashion bible for designers, aspirers and the just plain curious, this tome contains all the secrets.”
Jay Calderín is an author, artist, educator, designer, and the Founder/Executive Director of Boston Fashion Week. His fashion design work has graced the pages of Vogue and Elle, been acquired by the Peabody Essex Museum, and been featured in the New York Times. He teaches at the School of Fashion Design - Boston, Massachusetts College of Art + Design, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Jay was honored by BBBS of Massachusetts Bay as “Big Brother of the Year” (2009), by Youth Design as “Mentor of the Year” (2014), by the BAA Honors in 2018, and by Boston Design Week as “Mentor of the Year” (2019).
It’s an honor to have been asked to join the ARCK CCC. I value the opportunity to share my experience in support of teens looking to express themselves creatively while driving positive community impact.”
Lisa Astley-Sparke
*Creative Catalyst Member
I would like to introduce you to LifeMAP coach Lisa Astley-Sparke, B.A. Lisa is a LifeMAP coach at AANE- AANE.org and a member of the Autism Professional Coaching Association for the last three years.
Formerly a business owner at Monkey Music Oxford, UK, she has decades of experience in FMCG key account management for large corporations such as Scholl & Haagen-Dazs.
As a parent of two daughters and an adult son she has dedicated the last two decades to advocating for her son’s needs and educating herself about different neuro-types.
Lisa is skilled at building trusting relationships and helps young people and adults navigate academic and social challenges, plan life post-graduation, and find meaningful employment and connections.
Originally from England UK, Lisa has resided in Boston for the past 20 years. In her spare time Lisa loves to walk her dogs , squish her cat travel, take yoga classes and is interested in healing through sound.
It is a privilege to be able to mentor at Arck’s Creativity Lab and be part of such a dynamic and creative community!
Scott Ruescher
*Creative Catalyst Member
Scott has published two collections of poetry— Waiting for the Light to Change (Prolific Press, 2017) and Above the Fold (Finishing Line Press, 2025)—and has exhibited paintings and drawings in Cambridge at 1369 Coffee House, Cambridge Public Library, Cambridge Art Association, and Cambridge Open Studios. His new poem about drawing a statue of Aphrodite at the MFA, Boston, appears in The Ekphrastic Review and the Colby Museum of Art.
Scott administered the Arts in Education program at Harvard GraduateSchool of Education for 18 years while teaching English part-time in state prisons for Boston University. In his retirement he helps teach English at the Immigrant Learning Center in Malden and does publicity for The Neighborhood Developers in Chelsea. His involvement with ARCK goes back to its inception, during an arts-enrichment program at the Quincy School in Chinatown in 2012.