2023 Southern California Benefit

Steve leads a team of Facing History staff who are deeply involved both in classrooms and in creating whole school cultures. This work equips teachers with the tools they need to provide transformational educational experiences that empower students to overcome the systemic issues that have placed them at risk.

Before joining Facing History, Steve taught high school social studies for 11 years. He was nationally recognized as a leader among educators, earning Junior Achievement’s State Teacher of the Year Award in 2005.

Steve has a BA in Economics from Rhodes College, a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership, and an advanced certificate in Urban Education. He earned a doctorate from The University of Memphis with a focus on the historical construct of race and its impact on school equity.

Adam is best known for playing Mr. Shapiro on Netflix’s Never Have I Ever and Joel on Showtime’s The Affair. He was recently seen in David Fincher’s Mank for Netflix and Universal Pictures’ She Said opposite Carrie Mulligan and Zoe Kazan. You can watch him soon in the new Peacock John Wick prequel series, The Continental. Other recent TV/Film appearance include: The Bear, Central Park, Room 104, Grace and Frankie, Steve Jobs, It Happened in LA, Ode to Joy, Short Term 12, Sense 8, Now You See Me, A Single Man, Scandal, Grey’s Anatomy, Why Women Kill, and Kingdom. He has also portrayed Ogie in Waitress on Broadway. Other stage credits include: Jonathan Caren’s The Recommendation, Rent, the world premieres of Leslye Headland’s Bachelorette and Assistance, and Paul Grellong’s Manuscript.

Adam is the co-founder of Los Angeles’s IAMA Theatre Company. He is also the founder of Shappy Pretzel Co., an LA-based Philly soft pretzel company. Adam lives in LA with wife Katie Lowes and his children, Albee and Vera.

Kristin Botello has more than 30 years of teaching and school leadership experience. She is currently the principal of Ánimo Jackie Robinson Charter High School, which she founded as a Facing History Partner School with Dr. Lori Pawinski, and has served as a school leader in Los Angeles for the last 15 years.

David Gomez is a recent graduate of Georgetown University and an alum of Ánimo Jackie Robinson Charter High School. While in high school, David received an award to develop portable shower systems to support the unhoused community in Los Angeles. He is currently a proud union representative with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.