KIC Staff
Meet Our Team
Rebecca Marchand
Executive Director
Laura Milleson
Founder and Artistic Director
Kirsten Branson-Meyer
Program Director
Any Torres
Education Director
Deborah Hobden
Development Officer
Gail Salo
Librarian and teacher
Kylie Cordero
Cello Teacher
Kim Goerlitz
Healthy and Whole Coordinator
Naomi Nichols
Healthy and Whole Instructor
Barbara Deppe
Cello Teacher
Christine Edwards
Cello Teacher
Rebecca joined Kids In Concert in July 2025. She brings 15 years of leadership experience with Starbucks, where she focused on building strong teams, coaching and developing leaders, and managing the financial success of her district. Her volunteer service includes roles as a Navy Ombudsman, school board member, King County Search and Rescue volunteer, and teaching assistant.
A lifelong musician, Rebecca began playing piano in elementary school, sang with the Seattle Girls Choir, and even had one of her compositions performed by the Seattle Symphony as a teen. She maintains her Wilderness First Responder certification and loves sharing outdoor adventures with others. Rebecca’s three children are proud KIC musicians, playing viola, violin, and bass.
Kirsten joined the KIC board in 2011 and started volunteering with Laura and the kids at the Early Learning Center in Suquamish in 2012. She was hired as the Executive Director in 2015 and became Program Director in 2020. She picked up the violin in 5th grade and has played in various ensembles ever since, but the KIC Orchestra is by far her favorite. In addition, she was a Suzuki parent for nine years. From teenage babysitter to camp counselor to Spanish teacher to children’s librarian, kids have always been an important part of Kirsten’s life. She loves spending her days with her students, making music and providing for them a space to feel brave and feel strong. She has had a great deal of ACES training and was in the first Kitsap Strong Collaborative Learning Academy to continue that training. She is also a FAFSA Navigator, helping her high school students with whatever they need to manage the admissions process. She was a Bainbridge Island Youth Orchestra board member for five years and is currently the Treasurer for the nonprofit SaltFire, an Indigenous women-led organization that helps bring indigenous values and worldview into mental health.
Laura Milleson has been performing in the North Kitsap area for most of her life. Often found behind a piano or leading a choir or orchestra, she has also been known to step on stage to sing and dance. In 2011, Laura co-founded Kids in Concert, where she continues to serve as Artistic Director.
Collaboration, play, and community are at the heart of Laura’s teaching. She believes that musical excellence grows from helping others find joy in the process — that practice is how we discover our own voice, and performance is how a community learns its collective strength.
Through Kids in Concert, Laura and the entire KIC team strive to create a space where every student, mentor, teacher, and volunteer can thrive — and where every voice has the chance to be heard.
Any is a cellist who grew up in the Venezuela El Sistema program. She played in the Venezuela National Youth Orchestra and traveled throughout Venezuela teaching. She was also a part of the Academia Latino Americana de Violoncello. She has nearly 30 years of teaching and playing experience. She moved to Seattle in 2019 to work with Seattle Music Partners, moved across the water to Suquamish in 2020, and began working with Kids in Concert in September 2020. She is so happy to be a part of KIC because it feels like she has come home.
Deborah joined KIC as lead violin teacher in 2018, served briefly on the KIC board, and became Communications Director in 2023. She began studying piano at five and violin at seven, and has been part of numerous ensembles and community orchestras. She has worked as an educator since 2009- as a middle school social studies teacher, a college instructor, and a music teacher at KIC. She has a PhD in Sociology and loves putting her academic experience to practical use, working with others to build strong communities and empower young people. In her current role as Development Officer she works to increase the visibility of KIC within the wider community while helping to build financial support for KIC programs.
Gail joined KIC in 2022 as a cello and viola teacher. They have played music from a young age; studying piano, cello, percussion, and viola with various groups and teachers. They have found working at KIC to be so delightful and fun watching these kids grow in themselves and their instruments.
Kylie Cordero is a cello teacher at Kids in Concert (KIC), where her journey began as a cello student in 2014. A KIC alum and passionate educator, Kylie has returned to the organization as a teacher. She is a versatile performer, having shared her instrumental talents with KIC and her vocal artistry with the University Chorale at Pacific Lutheran University, as well as through her own private voice studio. Kylie holds a BA in Communications with a minor in Music from Pacific Lutheran University and is excited to give back to the program that helped shape her. She brings a deep love for the performing arts and a strong commitment to building community through music
Kim Goerlitz, a KIC co-founder and volunteer, facilitates KIC’s “Healthy & Whole” program, where students learn social-emotional regulation skills. The program was inspired by a long-running program originally developed for adults at the Suquamish Wellness Center. Its roots are deep in the community, making this a meaningful cross-generational bond. Kim’s path to KIC brought together two defining threads of her life. In a previous life, she worked for her father’s opera concert production company. Though not a musician herself, being part of this space — where artists and those who support them come together to create something beautiful — was a formative experience. It provided a sense of belonging to something wonderful, if not a little bit magical. Currently, Kim works as a licensed marriage and family therapist in private practice, supporting individuals, families, and couples of all ages. At the heart of her work is a deep belief in positive human connection. She sees KIC as a place that bridges her therapeutic interests and her cultural heritage, where the healing power of collaborative music is made accessible to all — where belonging to something wonderful is indeed magical.
Naomi is a mom to 4 kids (2 are KIC grads). She is a teacher who is passionate about teaching kids how to get along and to use social emotional skills in everyday life! She started volunteering with Healthy and Whole at KIC in 2022 and loves that she gets to keep working with the amazing KIC family even after her kids moved on. KIC is truly a kind inclusive community and she feels so lucky to be a part of it! When not at KIC, you can find her reading, spending time outdoors or spending time with her family!