Renovare Team

Nicole comes to Renovare from Florida by way of Chicago. She and her husband moved to Cleveland to plant a church where she currently serves as the Guest Experience Director. Through her diverse experiences in industries ranging from luxury travel to human resources to medical office administration she has developed a variety of skills that serve her well as Renovare’s Development and Marketing Associate. Church planting has also given her unique insight in both fundraising and development, as has the process of completing a certification in digital marketing and e-commerce. Nicole loves dreaming big and helping organizations thrive. She is excited to help others become champions of Renovare as we bring hope and healing through music. Nicole and her husband Ray have five beautiful children. In her free time Nicole loves to read, learn new things, visit Florida, and spend time with family and friends.

One of 11 siblings, Lalia has been surrounded by chaos and competition her whole life. At a young age, Lalia turned to music as a way to find peace and order in between arm wrestling with her brothers (and winning) and trying to get a word in edgewise with her sisters (not winning). Although the chaos of a big family is joyful and fulfilling, she finds individuality and solace in music—a creative outlet full of beauty, order, and passion.

Born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Lalia’s music making has taken her across the United States and as far away as Italy, Russia, and Lithuania. She has been concerto soloist with orchestras playing works by Lalo and Sibelius, and holds solo performance awards from the Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation and the Music Teachers National Association. As an orchestral musician, Lalia has been a member of the Winston-Salem Symphony, Greensboro Opera, Gate City Camerata, and the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, amongst others.

Lalia has taught private lessons through music schools and her own private studio for over a decade. While in California Lalia was also the Strings Teacher for the Waldorf School of Santa Barbara and taught through the Santa Barbara Symphony’s education programs iCAN and BRAVO!. Lalia is also a Documentary Songwriters Teaching Artist.

Lalia attended summer festivals including Meadowmount, Credo Music, and the Eastern Music Festival, where she was awarded a fellowship, performed with the faculty orchestra under the baton of Maestro Gerry Schwarz, and played in a chamber ensemble with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg. Lalia holds a Master of Music in Violin Performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she studied under Marjorie Bagley and held a graduate assistantship as a member of the Graduate String Quartet. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Violin Performance from Westmont College in California.

Although music holds a key place in her heart, Lalia’s first joy is her faith in Jesus which is what ignited the desire to share her gift of music with others and drives her passion for life. Fueled by Jesus (and coffee), when she’s not making music you can find Lalia working a puzzle with a fuzzy blanket at home, riding her motorcycle, or visiting her many family members across the country. Lalia is excited to be ministering with her musical gifts here in Cleveland, and seeking God in all that she does. Lalia’s life mantra is from Psalm 94:18-19, which says, “I cried out, ‘I am slipping!’ But your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me. When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.” (NLT)

Praised for the “maturity and sensitivity” of her playing (Casa Magazine), Cleveland-based cellist Rebecca Shasberger is passionate about loving people and pursuing justice through music. To this end she founded Renovare Music in 2018, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that brings together Rebecca’s extensive experience as a performer, worship leader, and teacher. Rebecca gained nonprofit experience working at the Ojai Music Festival and Credo Music prior to founding Renovare, and has received nonprofit leadership training from Praxis Academy and Mission Increase.

Rebecca has presented solo performances and concerti with orchestras from California to New York, in Canada, China, and across Europe. Her chamber music performances have taken her across the United States and Canada and have been broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Particularly memorable chamber music collaborators include James Ehnes, Jonathan Crow, Martin Beaver, Antonio Lysy, Keith and Kristyn Getty, and Fernando Ortega. In the orchestral realm she has appeared with the Akron Symphony, Canton Symphony, West Coast Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, the Lancaster Festival Orchestra, and as principal cellist with Cleveland’s Heights and Suburban Symphonies. Rebecca spent summers at festivals including Aspen, Banff, Credo, Toronto Summer Music, and the McGill International String Quartet Academy. While her formal training is in classical music, Rebecca also performs music from genres including jazz, pop, fiddle, and hip hop.

Rebecca previously served as the worship leader of Bethany Covenant Church, and has a lifetime of involvement in planning and leading worship in various schools and churches. She first planned a worship service in 8th grade, a role she reprised on a weekly basis in high school, and has been part of church choirs and/or bands since she was four.

Rebecca has served as Visiting Instructor at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. In this role she taught undergraduate string students pedagogical approaches and introduced them to realities of the prison system. Rebecca maintained a private studio of cellist students for many years, and taught at the Cleveland School of the Arts, Thrive Arts Center, the Aurora School of Music, and the Westmont Academy for Young Artists, amongst other programs and schools. Rebecca is also a Documentary Songwriters Teaching Artist.

Rebecca completed her Masters in Cello Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy at the Cleveland Institute of Music in the studio of Sharon Robinson and her Bachelors in Music with a minor in Religious Studies at Westmont College. Additional cello teachers include Trevor Handy, John Sant’Ambrogio, and Dr. Nona Pyron. Rebecca also earned an Executive Graduate Certificate in Social Entrepreneurship, Cultural Agency, Community Development, Organization Management, Design Thinking & Education Leadership from the Ivy league-curated Global Leaders Institute.

Rebecca loves exploring Cleveland, drinking tea, reading, hiking, and is obsessed with Lindy Hop (swing dancing).

…our many partner organizations

…our wonderful volunteers

….our talented guest artists

Kathe is a Staff scientist at the Cleveland Clinic where she serves as Vice Chairman of the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Musculoskeletal Research Center. She has held numerous leadership roles in professional scientific societies and also serves on the Leadership Team at her local church. Kathe loves mentoring and encouraging young adults to become all they were created to be and brings her passion and leadership experience to the service of Renovare.

“I just love the verbs of Renovare—loving, affirming, cultivating, bridging, reconciling, restoring—they are the ingredients of wholeness for individuals and communities. Indeed, the music, stories, and conversations that Renovare’s artists curate are making me whole, and it’s a privilege to steward this mission to the benefit of many others.”

Chaplain Eric Harmon is both an Anglican priest and serves as a corrections chaplain for the state prison system. This is where he first engaged with the work of Renovare and was witness to the exciting work God is doing through Rebecca and Lalia. Chaplain Harmon recently joined the board of Renovare where he hopes to utilize his experience as a formerly incarcerated person and time working in non-profit ministry to help strengthen what Renovare is currently doing. While Chaplain Harmon enjoys rugged outdoor experiences you may be surprised to find out he also enjoys cooking Julia Child's French recipes with his daughter while listening to the works of Rachmaninoff. He received a Masters Degree of Theology from Walsh University and was ordained in 2016. Chaplain Harmon and his wife live in Akron with their three daughters.

“Most reasons people reject God are for reasons that are untrue to begin with. Often, this comes from experiences in a world believed to be much too small. The experience of Renovare in broken places breaks the boundaries of a world too small and opens wounded hearts to a God big enough to bear their pain.”

Dave has lived and worked on the east side of Cleveland throughout his adult life and is thrilled to get onboard with what God is doing here in Northeast Ohio. Dave enjoys being a husband, father and grandfather and works as a mechanical engineer specialist at STERIS Corporation developing new medical devices. Dave has volunteered as a youth soccer coach, tutored high school students in math and science, and teaches classes and oversees ministries in his local church. Dave enjoys carpentry projects to express his creativity and hone his problem solving skills.

“Through Renovare, I see God transforming people, and indeed all of his creation, so all may flourish within the Kingdom of God. Through music, we offer and receive beauty, hope and healing. I love that Renovare sees music as the language of the soul, connecting us with ourselves, with each other and with God - all for his glory. He makes all things new - again.”

Melissa was born and raised in the snow belt of Chardon and has loved music from a young age. She started learning the piano at four years old and spent her high school and college years accompanying show choirs and musical theater, then moved on to join the worship team at church as an adult. Melissa is a Project Manager for the Center for Employment Opportunities, focusing on creating employment pathways for folks with prior criminal convictions. She also works with the Chopping 4 Change culinary program, teaching Career Readiness to men and women currently incarcerated in Northeast Ohio. Previously justice impacted herself, she considers herself fortunate to be able to create change because of what she's been through, rather than in spite of it. Melissa, her husband, and their two dogs love to spend time enjoying their life out in the country.

“The ladies of Renovare came into my life and instantly became like family. They truly share the Gospel in a way that reassures "the least of us" that God has a hope, a plan, a future, and immense love for each and every one of us.”

From a young age, and in the midst of her relatively privileged upbringing, Rebecca has had a concern for that which is not right in our world. Her favorite book series in elementary school explored the struggles of African Americans in 1930s Mississippi, and at age nine Rebecca wrote her first grant to send a cow and training to a family in a developing country. Eventually the tension between the brokenness of our world and the affluence and privilege that surrounded Rebecca as she pursued a career as a professional cellist reached a boiling point, and Renovare Music was birthed in response.

“When I was maybe seven years old I wrote about wanting to take my “chelo” to Africa as a missionary. In the years since, God has continued to shape my understanding of the world’s deep needs and how my deep gladness in making music can meet them (not to mention how to spell “cello”). It’s a gift to be able to pursue this calling in the context of Renovare.”