Meet the Team
DAWN
Dawn is our Shipping Manager and is responsible for the worldwide shipping and logistics of our Tasks. She’s back in the saddle after staying home to raise her two daughters. She loves to travel and dreams of packaging herself up and shipping off to one of the far-flung nations where we send our ShoeboxTask®.
SARAH
Sarah is our Accounts Manager and brings the sparkle to COC - both in her personality and choice of accessories! She is the first point of contact and lends charm to our customer service. Sarah is in charge of processing all orders and keeping our customers happy. Her main passions include travel, hanging out with her three kids, and eating donuts and Southern-comfort food.
LUCY
Lucy has re-located back to the UK after spending three years in North Carolina and is now working remotely for us as a Business Consultant. Lucy is thrilled to remain part of the company and is proud to be an ambassador for ShoeboxTask® across the UK and Europe.
B (MANUCHAI)
B (left) is the younger brother of A (right), who worked at Centering on Children® before him. B is adept at running the shopbot machine that cuts our custom Shoebox lids every week. B is deep into music, especially hip-hop and experimental varieties, and can be found playing here in Asheville regularly. Get a sample of his music here: www.soundcloud.com/manukaru.
NICK
Nick Larsen grew up in a household where talk of autism and TEACCH social group meetings were the norm. He worked at Centering on Children® during the early years of the company, programming the CNC machine that enabled us to cut the ShoeboxTask® lids in-house and contributing to the design and creation of several new activities.
After living in Indiana for the last ten years we are now delighted that Nick has returned to Asheville and is stepping back into Centering on Children® as General Manager. His energy and creativity know no bounds! This is fortuitous for Ron and Linda who will be taking a backseat from day-to-day operations.
RON
Founder of Centering on Children®, Ron serves as eagle-eye over the business, making sure all the parts are in place to keep our workshop running smoothly. Along with Linda, he is the heart of the business, and acts by the mission of bettering the lives of all touched by ShoeboxTask® - central to COC's founding principles. Otherwise, Ron enjoys keeping up with what’s happening with his two sons and grandson, hiking, gardening, art appreciation, traveling, reading, listening to tree frogs' nightly songs, writing when the spirit moves him, and getting together with friends over food and drink.
LINDA
Linda acts very much as the creative force behind the business and, along with many of her other life endeavors, it has motivated her in three of her overarching goals and interests: finding a way to champion the underdog; remaining curious and idealistic; and earning a living while approaching it all as art. She is grateful to be a steward of the company while being of service to the greater community and showing appreciation for the individuals involved. Apart from helping to craft this business, she creates visual works of art--primarily oil paintings, and has shown her work at galleries across the United States.
BUCKY
Bucky has been at COC for almost ten years, and has got to be the most enthusiastic and energetic employee we’ve ever had! He puts his attention to detail to work in assembling the bagged parts of the Tasks, and when he's done at COC he goes down the hall to sew koozies at Oowee Products. In his free time, Bucky expresses his creativity through painting at Open Hearts Art Space here in Asheville, enjoys hiking and being in nature, and getting some much-needed rest in his recliner.
JEFFREY
Jeffrey has been a task assembly master since 2015, and regularly lends his talent for photography and videography to various projects at COC. He also frequents a wide variety of local arts, cultural and activist events to document them with his camera, and his work has been featured in the Mountain Xpress, Hola Carolina magazine, and at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. Jeffrey's other interests include films, Japanese culture and history, the natural world, hiking, acting, and poetry.