Meet Our Team

Executive Director

jfeldman@zygotepress.org
216-621-2900 ext 1

Jackie Feldman joined the Zygote team as Executive Director in 2021. In her years as ED, she has launched a new Fellowship for artists of Color, engaged the organization in new programmatic partnerships, and shifted the demographic make-up of Zygote to reflect the city of Cleveland. Jackie has over 30 years of experience working in nonprofit management and education. She graduated from Cleveland State University with an MA in English Literature, with a focus on reading across cultures. Her Master’s Thesis explored social fatalism as a trope in classical to contemporary Russian literature. Her work in nonprofit management centered on creating cross-cultural social and practical systems to deliver supportive services and immersive experiences to newly arrived refugees. In this role, she designed the first intensive English as a Second Language program in Ohio that became a model for future community-based immersive language programs. During her years with Cuyahoga Community College, relying on her fluency in the Russian language, Jackie established a cultural exchange program between refugees from Eastern Bloc countries and students of Color that culminated in an annual two-day experiential study of the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. In the years before she joined Zygote Press, Jackie worked with Council Gardens, a HUD Housing Project, as Director of Development and Community Relations. During her 14-year tenure there, she instituted anti-racist policies, designed community-based programs, and initiated cultural programming such as the Heights Culinary Heritage Contest, and “Writing in the Gardens” - a collection of multicultural personal narratives written by Cleveland Heights residents. In addition to her dedication to education and her work to expand the reach of nonprofits, Jackie is a fiction writer and supporter of literary arts. Having come to the United States from Ukraine as a child, Jackie often touches on themes of immigration and estrangement in her writing. Her short fiction appears in Pithead Chapel Literary Journal, Coffin Bell Journal, and Novel Noctule Magazine. She continues to write fiction and creative nonfiction, and uplift all facets of the arts in her daily life.

Gallery Coordinator

scout@zygotepress.org
216-621-2900 ext 3

Scout Bach is an African-American interdisciplinary artist whose work primarily consists of playful portrayals of figures and thrown stoneware bodies. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, particularly hailed from Coventry in Cleveland Heights. They graduated from Cleveland School of the Arts (2022), alongside internships at arts organizations including the School of the New York Times, Newbridge, The Cleveland Print Room, Terravista Studios, and Zygote Press. 

Scout’s work reflects their interest in the philosophy of selfhood. Constantly contrasting what is thought and what is real. Inner versus external identity, healing the inner child, and exploring the self. Heavily inspired by early 2000s cartoons in their likeness and color story. As well as, Kevin Snipes and his study of otherness and human behavior. Sound and music also play a role in the inspiration behind Scout’s work. Riot Grrrl was a subcultural movement in the 1990s, which they attribute to their grit, substance, and femme themes. Scout urges their audience to start a conversation and, above all, question their surroundings.

Shop Technician

michaella@zygotepress.org

Born and raised in the Cleveland area, Michaella is a recent graduate of Pratt Institute where she studied Illustration and minored in Book Arts. First introduced to printmaking in high school via linocuts, Michaella has had a passion for it ever since and used her time at Pratt to explore as much of the medium as possible, becoming familiar with relief prints, riso, silkscreen, and lithography, overall becoming enamored with fine art printmaking and the hands-on process heavy quality behind it. Her current work has been heavily influenced by florals and poetry but really can expand to whatever bewitches her in the moment

Zygote Press Shop and Residency Manager

elyseherrera@zygotepress.org

Elyse Herrera is a first-generation American fine art printmaker, specializing in various mediums such as risograph, etching, letterpress, relief, and screen print, and holding a BFA from Bowling Green State University (2018) and an MFA from Northern Illinois University (2026).

Elyse worked as a Shop Technician at Zygote Press between academic work, to gain experience in experimental printmaking. Elyse has taught classes and workshops in printmaking at Orange Arts Center, Pivot Center, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Ohio State University, and Northern Illinois University. Residencies include: The 961 Collective, Zygote Press, and Directangle Press. Elyse’s artistic work delves into the intricate emotions of grief and the transient nature of memory and life, drawing inspiration from a Cuban cultural background. Presently, Elyse is working as the Shop Manager at Zygote Press.