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 Coordinator
Abigail Salo
Librarian and cello/viola teacher
Kylie Cordero
Community Coordinator
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 Squamish 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 is one of the founders of Kids in Concert. She grew up in Kingston, Washington. She is a classically trained pianist, seasoned accompanist, music teacher, and a skilled choral director. Throughout her life, music was an avenue to possibility, confidence, and community. She fell in love with the piano at a young age, but not all of her memories of studying music were happy. She found the classical tradition to be stifling and rigid, too often motivating students through shame and intimidation. It was in the company of other musicians, while accompanying choirs, that she experienced the joy of playing music as a group and realized that she could use her talents to have a positive impact on her community. In 2010, she founded KIC with the idea of creating a music program that valued every student, emphasized the joy of playing in a group, and was radically accessible. For Laura, this meant a free program, open to anyone who wanted to be there. At KIC, she ensures a quality musical experience, trains the students, assigns parts, and is involved in all aspects of the creative process.
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 Coordinator she works to increase the visibility of KIC within the wider community while helping to build financial support for KIC programs.
Abigail joined KIC in 2022 as a cello and viola teacher. She has played music from a young age; studying piano, cello, percussion, and viola with various groups and teachers. She has found working at KIC to be so delightful and fun watching these kids grow in themselves and their instruments.
Kylie Cordero is the Community Coordinator 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 and leader. 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