Meet The Team
Four women with very different backgrounds and interests created a non-profit organization, Dot Dot Dot…Connect, with a mission to connect people of diverse communities.
Collectively, we bring to the table both experience and education in the fields of arts, community involvement, independent small business experience, and a desire to create cultural connections and partnerships across physical and societal borders.
JOANNA GUTT-LEHR
Executive Director
Co-founder
Joanna is delighted by the beauty all around: in nature, in art, in people.
For over a decade, she has been involved in producing the Austin Polish Film Festival, has curated numerous Polish poster art exhibits in town, helped bring major graphic artists, filmmakers, and musicians to ATX. Within her volunteer work as a board member of local non-profit organizations, she has been cultivating partnerships with local universities and other non-profits.
She is a lecturer of mathematics at the Texas State University in San Marcos where she has initiated and runs an annual series devoted to interdisciplinary connections of mathematics.
ANNA ZIELENIEWSKA
Vice Director
Co-founder
Anna is passionate about bringing communities together.
During the day, she is a global mobility consultant, relocating people around the world and ensuring they settle in smoothly. At night, she coordinates projects with a cause.
In 2020 and in 2021, she led productions of GOCC in Austin (largest non-governmental organization in Poland) that raised over $10,000 on each occasion.
She graduated from Ibero & Iberoamerican Studies, because “Carmen” by Carlos Saura made such an impact on her!
AGNIESZKA MCDOWELL
Treasurer and Secretary
Co-founder
Agnieszka has graduated from Dentistry (2006) and multiple post-grad studies in Business and Healthcare, both in Poland and abroad. She is a former university faculty and holds a Ph.D. in medical sciences from Medical University of Silesia. She has successfully managed her small business in Poland, before relocating to Austin in 2017.
Agnieszka is a literature and film lover. She created social media presence for a library of donated Polish books for Austin Polish Society in Austin. She has an eagle eye for typos, and we are pretty sure you can’t find one on our website!
BEATA KRUPA
Board member
Beata is a university faculty, coach, and consultant in business communication. She holds a Ph.D. in Communication and Culture (Media Ecology program) from New York University (NYU). She recently retired and can finally volunteer for causes close to her heart. Connecting people from different cultures is one of these causes.
Currently, Beata divides her time between Austin and Warsaw, where she enjoys a vibrant art scene – exhibits, performances, and concerts. She is happy to be able to bring some of them to Austin.
MARCELINA GRAY
Co-founder and former board member
Marcelina brought experience as a communication officer and journalist with a culture theme TV channel in Poland, as well as an arthouse cinema manager. She graduated from Film & TV Production at Lodz Film School; DOK PRO Documentary Program at Wajda School and International Culture Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Poland.
Since coming to Austin, Marcelina has been working as a sound post-production assistant, and currently is on staff of the Yellow Bike Project, a local nonprofit. If you ever see a chic girl with red lipstick gracefully zooming through Austin – that’s her!
Advisory Board
CHALE NAFUS
For 25 years, Chale enjoyed a career as a full-time professor at the Austin Community College, where he founded the Radio-TV-Film Department. He is a founding board member of the Austin Film Society since 1985. He took the position of AFS Director of Programming and enjoyed 12 years of programming a wide array of films at various AFS venues and working with many Austin film organizations. Chale has been a mentor, a speaker, and a friend of several local film festivals in Austin, including Cine Las Americas, Austin Polish Film Festival, Austin Jewish Film Festival, and more.
YOUNNIE WALL
Younnie is a dreamer who believes that arts enrich the human spirit. Younnie established Classical Music For the World (CMFW) in 2010 and has served as the organization’s executive director since that founding date. She majored in violin performance at Chugye University of the Arts in South Korea. She enjoys playing violin in CMFW’s programs that she organizes. She also enjoys her real estate career and volunteering in Austin’s Korean community. Austin has become her second home since 2001.
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