our team
Kim Wiggin, Co-Founder
With degrees in music and special education, Kim has had an exciting career as a teacher and administrator for over 35 years. She is also an avid traveler, and has visited exotic locations all over the world. Kim and her husband John are the directors of the Snow Pond Center for the Arts in Sidney, Maine, home of the prestigious New England Music Camp, and Snow Pond Arts Academy, the first public charter arts school in Maine. Since 2013, Kim has been traveling to Ghana, where she has volunteered at orphanages and schools in the greater Accra region. Following her retirement from teaching in May 2018, she built a home in Pram Pram, and lives in Ghana for part of the year.
Joe Oko Adokwei, Co-Founder + CEO
Joe is the co-founder and CEO of Lilies of the Field academy. He was born in Osu, in the same neighborhood where Lilies is now located, the fourth of ten children. A dancer and choreographer, he started his career with the Ghana Dance Ensemble at the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana in Legon. He also taught many levels of dance to African and foreign students at the university. Joe participated in dance film projects with the department of theater and dance, and performed in dance, choreography, and acting workshops. In 2014, he led a dance group to win the second position of Samsung cultural icon in Ghana and was signed as a dance instructor.
Joe has taught traditional African dance throughout many schools in the greater Accra region. In 2015, he began offering basic skills education to many of the children in his dance program in Osu, recognizing that they were not attending school due to lack of money for fees. That was the start of the Lilies of the Field Academy. In early 2017, he trained and led the Lilies Dance Crew to win the title of cultural Ambassadors on season 8 of Ghana Talented Kids. He is committed to helping the less privileged children of Osu have access to the education that will help them rise out of the poverty they are facing.
Luigia Adjei, Head Teacher
Luigia is our head teacher at Lilies of the Field Academy, and is responsible for planning and overseeing all of the academic and enrichment programs. She is from La, a sub city in the Greater Accra Region. After attending primary and junior high school is Osu, she started Senior High School at Albert Academy where she pursued studies in the Business Secretarial field. She continued her education at the Ambassador Secretarial Institute and obtained her typist certificate and stenographer credentials. She has worked with Business Interactive Consulting group (BIG) as an interviewer and a researcher, as well as at Synovate Research Company.
In 2015, Luigia started working on her own, teaching children who are less privileged in the Osu community. When she started teaching at Lilies, there were ten children, and now there are over 140. It is her dream that she will help them to pass their exams and move on to the next class. Luigia believes in the potential of all the children at Lilies, and is constantly encouraging them to become the best they can be.
our board members
Rachel Johnson
RACHEL JOHNSON is an award winning menswear styling expert with 20+ years experience consulting some of the most influential athletes, musicians and luxury brands in the world. Ms. Johnson is credited with redefining style in the NBA and transforming the league into one of the most fashionable platforms today. She transforms celebrity images, stretching them broader. She engineers culture. The statuesque style savant is credited for imbuing high fashion into the sphere of professional sports. Through tireless study and exceptional vision, she has increased the wattage of icons like Lebron James, Serena Williams and Colin Kaepernick. Outside of sports she has given everyone from Diddy to Jamie Foxx to Pharrell to Jay-Z her Midas touch. Her work has been featured in Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, ESPN the Magazine and The New York Times Styles section, to name a few. She has adorned clients for the Oscars, Grammy's, ESPYs and MET Gala.
In the spirit of transformation, Rachel co-founded The Butterfly Effect in 2020 with an eye on connecting the global African diaspora to its homeland in holistic evolutionary ways. Satiating her desire to give back, Rachel sits on the of board of the Academy and is wholly invested in seeing our future headquarters fully realized. The new Lilies of the Field Academy headquarters will be a state-of-the art, technologically advanced, 4 story nerve center for 125+ students, faculty, staff and the community of Osu.
Matthew Wiggin
Matthew Wiggin is a graduate of College of Santa Fe with a BFA in Musical Theater. Matthew is Camp Director of the New England Music Camp and works primarily with the summer programs and is the coordinator of the summer music series. During the year, Matthew teaches Theater and Dance at Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child in Summit, New Jersey. A member of Actors’ Equity, Matthew brings a career in theater and education to Lillies. Credits include the National Tour of Legally Blonde, as well as regional productions of Oklahoma!, Grease, Happy Days, Spamalot, The Wedding Singer, Pal Joey, A Chorus Line, A Christmas Carol, Anything Goes, Mame, and Hair. Choreography and Direction credits include productions of Spring Awakening, Sister Act, Legally Blonde, A Chorus Line, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, The Miracle Worker, and A Piece of My Heart. He currently lives in Bloomfield, NJ with his husband, Stephen, and their Basset Hound, Norman.
Marian Murphy Powell
Marian Murphy Powell is an accomplished singer and theatrical artist who brings a versatile background to her work on stage, into the teaching studio and to her directing. With various roles and credits in both classical music and the Broadway, her career has taken her to many stages and symphony halls around the world. As the daughter of an educator, she has made a focus on the arts and education a priority in her decades of work on the stage and in the classroom. She is a teaching artist and clinician, who holds workshops and assemblies in educational institutions ranging from elementary schools to universities and has been on the faculty at the New England Music Camp for twenty-five years. Marian and has taught hundreds of voice students throughout the years and is honored to share her passion for the creative arts with the students at The Lilies of the Field Academy.
Elaina Watley
From a very early age, Elaina Watley knew that her future was going to be inspired by her passion for helping people. After working at Creative Artists Agency for several years, Elaina launched Brand Infinite in 2009 a personal brand management company for professional athletes. Watley developed a unique approach to athlete brand management which includes encouraging her clients to engage in commercial endorsements and philanthropy to build a pathway for a second career. Inspired by small businesses from her involvement in Rising Tide Capital with JP Morgan Chase and her love of eyelash extensions, Elaina took a leap of faith and opened her first franchise Amazing Lash Studio in Montclair, NJ in 2016. Fast-forward to today, Watley is the successful owner of seven Amazing Lash Studios in New Jersey, Florida and California. Her commitment to her vision has helped her build career opportunities for over 250 employees and a space to help other female entrepreneurs grow. She has received accolades such as the Trailblazer Award, the Million Dollar Club, Amazing Service Award, and the Amazing Upgrade Award.
Elaina’s latest endeavor is the development of The Butterfly Effect. The Butterfly Effect reintroduces the African diaspora to their homeland through cultivated travel experiences and creative cultural and educational exchange. Education + community is at the core of her philanthropic endeavors and Elaina is focused on building the new headquarters for our beloved Lilies of the Field Academy.
Elaina is a native of New Jersey and Mom to a vibrant 11 year old named Kennedy.
Fiona Bryan
Fiona Bryan fell in love with Lilies of the Field Academy and the people of Osu during her first visit to Ghana in 2016, she has since fertilized that love by joining the board and helping to actualize the goals of the school.
Fiona's passion for the arts and education fueled a twenty-five year career in non-profit marketing and outreach for arts education. In 2019, through a series of life adventures, she transitioned into private residential mortgage lending and now uses her relationships with financial planners and high net worth individuals to leverage grants and down payment assistance loans for buyers with specific lending needs. As a direct private lender, Fiona is able to finance loans for buyers who may otherwise have very limited access to borrowing capital.
Fiona remains an active violinist as a member of the Beach Cities Symphony, enjoys running, hiking, and biking with her three children in Los Angeles, California.
Donna Phillips
BS State University Buffalo, NY, MS and certification of advanced studies at State University of Brockport, NY 1978. Taught Nutrition and Health Sciences at Brockport College and a 34 year career as a teacher and administrator for Rochester City Schools. I participated in developing National and State legislation for Education. Directed adult and Family Literacy programs for 8,000 students in Rochester and a national presenter on topics of literacy and School to Work transition . Today retired and an Organic Vegetable farmer.