Meet Our Team

Rachel L.
Founder and Executive President 

 Rachel was born into a family of musicians and started playing the violin at the age of five. As she traveled around the world due to her parents' careers, she met many musicians and developed her love for music and the violin. She has been a part of her schools' orchestras for more than nine years and was the concertmaster at her middle school. She was concertmaster her senior year at  her award-winning high school orchestra in California. Rachel has passed the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (A.B.R.S.M.) exams and Certificate of Merit. She has performed in Hong Kong, Beijing, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. In her spare time, Rachel also enjoys playing the piano and the guitar.

Rachel founded  Measures of Joy in 2011 after performing at a nursing home in her local area. She witnessed the joy that the music brought to the lives of the elderly, and decided to form an international organization to spread the love of music. 

Ashley C. 
Co-Founder and Head of Texas Branch

 Also a high school student, Ashley has been blessed and inspired by wonderful music teachers and friends across the nation. At six years old, she began taking piano lessons, and has continued to study music since then. She also played the viola in the school orchestra from 4th grade through 9th grade, and was privileged to be the viola section leader during middle school. However, her main instrument is the piano, and Ashley has performed at recitals, festivals, and at her church. With many years of accomplishments at the Dorothy Sutton Festival, the Junior Festival, Triple A Festival, and Certificate of Merit, she has recently received the Piano Guild Paderewski Medal.

Aside from music, Ashley is a runner, debater, and avid reader. She enjoys volunteering and reaching out to others with God's love.  Being a part of Measures of Joy allows Ashley to combine her musical experience and enjoyment of volunteer work into an international project that is uniquely rewarding.

Abigail C.
Head of Illinois Branch

Abigail has lived in Hong Kong for the majority of her life, but recently moved to Chicago, where she currently attends high school. She began playing the piano at age five, and began performing at her school and entering competitions, and has passed Grade 5 of A.B.R.S.M.'s piano and theory test. Along the way, Abigail also learned the flute, recorder, violin, and drum, but after eighth grade, chose to focus on the piano.

Besides being a musician, Abigail is also an artist and active badminton player. Her strong faith in God, and her love of volunteering and caring for the elderly has provided her with an enthusiastic attitude towards starting and leading the Chicago branch, and reaching out to others with music.

Lara N.
Head of Spain Branch

Lara, an International Baccalaureate honor student formerly residing in California, has enjoyed music form the early age of five. She received piano lessons from Julliard School graduate Mrs. Roberts and violin lessons from Asako, a talented and awarded South Bay musician at the South Bay Conservatory in Los Angeles. 

After moving back to Spain two years ago, she continued formal music education and is now beginning the third year of the second cycle in professional music training.  Besides her passion for music, Lara is a skilled basketball player and fervent reader. She enjoys participating in volunteer projects in favor of those in need and is an advocate of a tolerant, respectful and cruelty-free society.

Organizing the Spain branch of Measures of Joy is proving a rewarding challenge that Lara is more than willing to take, and she is determined to bring the joy of music to local communities in Murcia, Spain.