Meet the Team
An organization started by four unlikely friends in hopes of creating a space we all wish we had.
A place to dream and explore unapologetically .
Jourdana Phillips
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Jourdana was raised in Houston, Texas and has lived in New York City for the past 11 years.
She is a fashion model who has walked some of the most major runways around the world, most notably, she has graced the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show runway for the last three years. Before becoming a model, Jourdana graduated magna cum laude from New York University with a degree in Childhood Education. Her passion for working with our youth was sparked at an early age. She has had 3 years of experience working in varying classroom environments and with nonprofit organizations dedicated to uplifting our children such as Jumpstart and Big Brothers Big Sisters of NYC. Her passion is to inspire our youth to believe in themselves and that dreams can come true with hard work and dedication!
Mark Luxama
Co-Founder and Programs Director
Mark grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He did his Undergrad at Georgetown, University and majored in English with a focus on Shakespearean Literature. After University, he worked at
the Ivy Key, tutoring the SAT’s and SHSATS. He then took an associate teaching position at Success Academy and was quickly promoted to a lead teacher, after 6 months. During his time at Success Academy he earned his dual masters in Early Education and Special Education from Touro College. After 2 years at Success, he was hired to teach 1st grade at the prestigious Saint Ann’s School in Downtown Brooklyn. There, he created and taught his own curriculum that focused on God’s and Goddesses of the African Diaspora. He is also the founding course leader for the Sotheby’s and Prep for Prep Summer Arts Program. He helped design and execute the curriculum over the past 2 years.
Mark is very excited for the opportunity to use his passion as well as educational expertise at OneWonder to support students on their journey following middle school.
Carlina Conrad
Co-Founder and Research & Development Director
Carlina grew up in Duesseldorf, Germany and moved to New York City 4 years ago.
She has a B.Sc and Masters specializing in Social Neuroscience. Since completing her Masters, she worked at Chanel in the Strategy and Analytics department to study consumer behavior and at SuperPhone to raise awareness round the importance of connectedness. Now she is the Director of Neuroanalytics at SPARK Neuro where she implements neuroanalytic research to help companies better understand the human subconscious. She is also on the board of mentors at Consilium, where she counsels students in Pakistan to actualize their dreams in education. Carlina is thrilled to have the opportunity at OneWonder to combine her passion for mentorship, academic expertise and research skills!
Marvin Walker
Co-Founder and Operations Director
Marvin is a Brooklyn native who has been working in NYC’s schools his entire career. Before teaching he enjoyed his time outside Boston at Tufts University where he studied Sociology and Economics; then Brooklyn College and most recently Columbia University for his Masters Degree where he studied New School Design and Adult Development. He had the pleasure of running track and field and playing football, two of his favorite passions. When Marvin is not supporting our youth, families and their educators grow into the best versions of themselves he enjoys reading, biking, calisthenics, cooking and spending time with those close to him. Professionally, Marvin has accomplished quite a bit in his young career; he was a founding teacher of a great school in East New York Brooklyn, he has mentored youth and teachers new to the profession and he now has been tabbed to lead the vision of Bedford Stuyvesant New Beginnings STEM program and afterschool program. Ultimately, Marvin’s passion as an educator is exemplified in his relentless commitment to improving our city’s most vulnerable but most promising communities. As part of his leadership with One Wonder, he sees an enormous need for experiences that ignite the ethos of doing the impossible in our next generation of leaders; he enjoys designing programming that provides safe spaces for collaborating, questioning the status quo and of course dreaming! He truly believes that only our craziest dreams will ultimately be ones that continue to change our world!