Meet our newest full-time staff member and summer interns

Thea Munchel starts this month as our Real Estate Development Officer, bringing over five years of experience working on real estate development projects for community development corporations. Most recently, Thea has worked on the development and financing for two historic renovations in Over-the-Rhine, Elm Street Senior Housing and Beasley Place. Elm Street Senior Housing is on track to begin construction in June 2013 and once completed will be the first senior housing opportunity in Over-the-Rhine. Additionally, Thea managed the construction budget and schedule for the City Home development in Over-the-Rhine, working with local real estate agents and buyers to pre-sell and customize several homes during the construction period. The project was highlighted in local and national journals.

Kate Esarey started working for WHRF in May. She is currently a Master of Community Planning student at the University of Cincinnati. She graduated from the University of Illinois in 2008 with a BA in International Studies and Human Rights. Her community development experience includes two years in the Peace Corps in Moldova, Eastern Europe directing a nation-wide women’s empowerment initiative and serving as a community development advisor in her host village. For the past year, Kate has been working in the non-profit sector in the Greater Cincinnati area and loving every minute of it.

Jaren Abedania is a second-year graduate student in Community Planning at the University of Cincinnati, with a Bachelors degree in Architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology.  Prior to arriving in the Queen City, Jaren has worked in a fine arts studio, an environmental non-profit, and a popular food truck in his hometown, San Francisco. His impending thesis will explore the means by which food is distributed and accessed in urban environments with the intent to propose a new “foodway” for the city.  Walnut Hills will serve as a venue for said project and he appreciates the opportunity to work with the community.