Michele Bernhardt, Communications Director

When Michele moved to Asheville from San Francisco in 2018, she expected to continue her work as a Healing Touch Practitioner and Reiki Master, but it turned out the mountains already had plenty of energy healers. So she decided to return to her previous career -- marketing and public relations -- with the caveat that her new job would make her heart sing and serve the community. Which is exactly what she has found as Jubilee!’s communications director. Now she is using her 30+ years of experience working at leading agencies, corporations and non-profits in New York City, San Francisco and Silicon Valley to spread Jubilee!’s joy-filled messages through our website, newsletter, social media and more. You can email her at michele@jubileecommunity.org

Susie Davis, Community Life Coordinator

Susie moved to Asheville right after graduating from the University of Cincinnati, got married and raised her family on their farm in Fairview.  She discovered Jubilee! the year after it was founded and never looked back.  An interior designer by day and Jubilee! enthusiast by night, Susie got involved in everything that sparked her - Jubilee! Singers, Jubilee! Players, children's nurture program.  She co-founded the Arts Team and helped organize a music cafe series and an art space.  As Jubilee's Community Life Coordinator, she coordinates community activities and teams, manages the Jubilee! Breeze database, welcomes and encourages Jubilants, oversees the Sunday morning coffee hours, and does lots of other good stuff that helps our community thrive.  Email Susie with your ideas or questions about how to get involved: susie@jubileecommunity.org.

Stephanie Escher, Jubilee! Onward's Minister of Sacred Learning and Compassionate Care

As Jubilee! Onward's Minister of Sacred Learning and Compassionate Care, Stephanie provides leadership and guidance for this important two-year project. She is an ordained minister with many years of experience in compassionate care, including providing leadership for 30 chaplains at seven hospitals across the greater Milwaukee region. She has a strong background in creation-centered spirituality programs, including working with John Philip Newell’s Heartbeat Pilgrimage Ministry, developing and leading interfaith and intercultural pilgrimages along the Oregon Coast rooted in the indigenous sacred wisdom of Native American and Celtic traditions. And importantly, Stephanie previously served as Jubilee!’s lead minister, providing her with a deep understanding and love of our Jubilee! community.

Bob Lantis, Tech & Talent Support Guy

A long-ago college music major, musician and audio guy, Bob left that scene, went back to school for electro-optics engineering, and a career in products R&D, engineering, management, environmental technologies IP development, and co-founded or founded (and foundered and floundered) a few companies. Eventually his old love for music and audio turned his head (and his heart). Bob one day found himself performing at a local folk music club, exploring ambisonics recording techniques, digital recording and audio technologies, and acoustics engineering, and an occasional audio freelancer job. He served several years as the video producer and audio recordist for the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival, and in 2016 accepted an offer to become Jubilee!’s sound guy. Now responsible for the Audio, Visual, Lighting, and Network tech stuff at Jubilee! Community, Bob is excited about contributing to upcoming changes as we together embrace, enjoy, and create new horizons.

Ryan is bandleadeer of Jubilee!'s World Beat Band, and is also their bass player.  Raised by musicians, Ryan began playing in his middle school band at the age of ten as a clarinetist. After switching to bass in high school, he began exploring other musical genres and soon fell in love with the instrument. By the time he was 18, he started working as a professional musician in his hometown of Chattanooga, TN, then went on to earn his Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Continuing to work as a full-time musician post-graduation, he moved to North Carolina with his wife Kelsey in December 2016. Since settling into the Asheville music scene, Ryan has performed with a multitude of artists across all venues and festivals in the southeast region. In his spare time, he continues to write, record, produce and teach his son Jasper to play guitar. You can read more about Ryan here and check out some of his music here.

Paula Hanke, Lead Singer

Paula Hanke has been singing with the Jubilee! World Beat Band since 2007 and has been the accompanist for the Jubilee! Singers since 2022. Music began for Paula in her tiny hometown of Kiel Wisconsin. At the age of 10, she started taking classical piano lessons and playing the alto sax in the 5th grade band. Always having had a knack for singing and harmonizing in school and church, she started getting lead roles in her high school musicals and was selected to be in the illustrious Kids from Wisconsin at age 17. Two years later, Walt Disney World hired her as one of the Kids of the Kingdom, followed by a role in Fiddler on the Roof at Burt Reynolds Dinner theater. Soon thereafter, Paula found herself touring the US with a show-band called Coast to Coast, and with Greg Thompson Productions debuting in Atlantic City and Las Vegas, Tokyo, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the high seas, including a brief stint on TV's Star Search. Many shows, collaborations and life events later, Paula currently keeps her performance skills at the top of her game singing in multiple ensembles including the Dirty Logic Band, Love Is A Rose - Celebrating the Music of Linda Ronstadt, the Love Bubble trio, and recording sessions.