Our Team

To create work that incites knowledge, empathy, dialogue and action it takes a diverse community of changemakers.

TO CREATE, PROMOTE AND SUSTAIN INNOVATIVE, DYNAMIC AND ENGAGING WORK IT TRULY TAKES A VILLAGE

Meet our team of incredibly talented, intelligent,and passionate individuals and community organizations committed to art that sparks conversations and incites change.

STAFF

Darlene Jackson- She/Her

Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director

Darlene Jackson, aka DJ Lady D, is hailed as "Chicago's House Music Queen" by Chicago Magazine. She has toured North America, Europe, Asia, and Russia as an international DJ, producer, and remixer, and in 2004, she became a music publisher when she launched her independent record label and marketing brand, D'lectable. Well known for her charismatic sets of house, techno, and disco, her appearances at ARC, SXSW, Lollapalooza, Burning Man, and Chosen Few, and for fan-filled, influencer, charity, and celebrity events such as for Dave Chapelle, Queen Latifah and more, have solidified her trailblazing career. A member of the Screen Actors Guild and a Chicago Chapter Governor for the Recording Academy (The Grammy's), Jackson first acted professionally in "The Marva Collins Story" (with Cicely Tyson and Morgan Freeman) and as a renowned DJ has been a featured subject in numerous print, television, and film media including the music documentaries, The War on Disco, Girl, The Godfather of Disco, and Slipcue. The books Do You Remember House by Micah Salkind, How To DJ Right by Frank Broughton, and Disco Demolition: The Night Disco Died by Dave Hoekstra have captured her dynamic story. As a host, producer, writer, and researcher, Jackson has worked with various media outlets, including the Chicago Tribune, URB, Discoid, Chicago Public Media, Vocalo, NPR, WBEZ, and BBC radio. Amazingly, she has been featured in Forbes, Mixmag, Billboard, and an exhaustive list of other magazines since she began her career. You can hear Jackson on the radio on the fourth Friday of every month on Vocalo. 91.1 FM-Chicago. With a Master's Degree from Northwestern University (2016), Jackson advised and provided instruction to students in Communication (Voice Over, Radio, Social Media), Business & Entrepreneurship, Music/Music Business, and Fashion, on branding and portfolio development, and designs and curates diversity and career/industry programs for The Career Center at Columbia College Chicago.

Beverly Dines- She/Her

Chief Operating Officer & Managing Director

Beverly Dines has established herself as a formidable force in operational leadership, with a career spanning over a decade in Higher Education, Healthcare, and most recently, Financial Technology. Recently serving as the Senior Director of Business Operations and People at Aeropay, Beverly has consistently driven growth and innovation across diverse industries.

Her expertise has earned her recognition on prominent platforms, including her role as a featured panelist at 1871's Future of Canna Tech Summit in Chicago in 2022. In 2023, she was a featured speaker at the NACHA Smarter Faster Payments Conference in Miami and a presenter at the Financial Data Exchange (FDX) Global Summit in Dallas. She has also been honored as a Women in Payments Innovation Award Nominee.

Beverly believes in the profound necessity for professional collaboration to advance innovation. In 2024, she curated the first Payments Pulse event in collaboration with the Chicago Payments Forum with featured panelists from GoFundme, Walgreens, NACHA, and Aeropay. She also served as the executive sponsor for Fintech Flight Deck, a podcast dedicated to showcasing innovative leadership in the fintech space.

Beyond her professional achievements, Beverly is deeply committed to service and community engagement. A proud member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Incorporated, she made history as the youngest appointed member of her alumnae chapter's executive board in 2024.

Beverly's skills extend beyond the boardroom. She specializes in project development, research and analytics supervision, organizational advising for scale, and budget management, always emphasizing the transformative power of collaboration. Her passion for storytelling through art and theater has led to her recognition as an accomplished artist. She is a two-time Daytony award winner, a two-time nominee for the Irene Ryan Undergraduate Scholarship for Acting Excellence, and the first actor in University of Dayton Studio Theater history to win the prestigious Kitty Matt Award twice. This award, given by peers, celebrates her as a valued performer, collaborator, and innovator.

Beverly Dines embodies the blend of operational acumen and creative passion, making her a leader and artist dedicated to driving change and inspiring others.

Anthony Moseley- He/Him

Chief Programming Officer & Artistic Director

Producer, director and actor Anthony Moseley believes in the power of live experiences to transform our lives and our world.

Serving as Executive and Artistic Director of groundbreaking Chicago-based theatrical and experience group Collaboraction, he has led the company through a period of remarkable growth and innovative output. Since 1999 he’s established the company’s headquarters and theater facilities in the Flat Iron Arts Building, presided over more than 100 productions and events, built Experience Design – an acclaimed event creative division, co-created and served as Director of the annual Sketchbook Festival, and worked with thousands of collaborators to further explore and celebrate the human condition through the live moment.

Using art to plant seeds of hope and promote peace, he led the development of Crime Scene: a Chicago Anthology, a critically acclaimed play about violent crime in Chicago created from hundreds of interviews, transcribed television news reports, social media posts and dramatized actual crimes that featured a post-show town hall discussion. Collaboraction will tour free performances of its sequel – Crime Scene: Let Hope Rise – to Chicago parks as part of the Chicago Park District’s 2013 Nights Out in the Parks.

Jay Kelly- He/Him

Press Relations Representative

Jay is a Chicago PR specialist with more than 30 years of experience representing non-profit performing arts organizations including theaters, dance companies, music organizations and festivals. He has proudly represented Collaboraction since 2011. Other clients include Chicago Children’s Theatre, Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, Chicago Latino Theater Alliance (CLATA), Lucky Plush Productions, Manual Cinema, Paramount Theatre, Physical Theater Festival Chicago, Season of Concern, Teatro Vista, Theater Wit and TimeLine Theatre Company. He launched Jay Kelly PR in July 2017 after seven years as Vice President of Arts and Culture at a mid-sized PR firm. He also served three years as an adjunct marketing professor at The Theatre School at DePaul University in the performing arts management program. For more, visit jaykellypr.com.