Meet Our Staff

Rebecca Johnson

Executive Director

Rebecca was born and raised in the Lansing area. She grew up in a tennis family and most of her time was spent either watching her brothers play or playing competitively herself. She graduated from Northwestern University in 2011 and moved to St. Louis where she taught middle school special education for two years.

In 2013, she moved back to Michigan to work for Todd Martin Youth Leadership as the high school program coordinator and data consultant. After getting married in 2014, she moved to Milwaukee with her husband, Ronnie, where she completed her masters in social work at the University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin. Rebecca was a school social worker at a high school on the south side of Milwaukee for the 2016-2017 school year.

Rebecca and Ronnie moved back to the Lansing area in June 2017 and were excited to welcome their first baby, Elizabeth, in September. Since then, Rebecca and Ronnie welcomed another child, Isaiah, in April 2021.

Christina Burke

Tutoring Program Director

Christina was born and raised in the Lansing area. She developed a love for tennis at a young age and enjoyed competitive tennis for many years. She was a Lansing Catholic graduate and then went on and earned a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and a master’s degree in Teaching and Curriculum at Michigan State University. She has over 20 years of teaching experience working with students in grades K-8. She spent time teaching in Grand Rapids, Grand Ledge and Okemos.

One of the highlights of her career was coaching the girls’ varsity tennis team in Wyoming, Michigan. She loved watching her players’ growth and their passion for tennis. Christina and her husband, Bill, live in Okemos with their two children, Blake and Brooklyn. Her interests include watching tennis, playing pickleball and cheering on the Spartans. She is devoted to supporting youth and is thrilled to be able to do this through TMYL.

Jared Guy

Assistant Tennis Program Director

Jared grew up in Portland and went to Portland High School. Afterwards, he continued his tennis career at Alma College where he got his degree in psychology and graduated in 2016. He has been teaching tennis professionally since then and now coaches both the Men's and Women's teams at Alma College. As someone who picked up tennis kind of late and couldn't afford to do lessons and tournaments, he said he would have loved to have all the opportunities Todd Martin can offer. So working for TMYL and being able to spread tennis and hopefully get more kids into tennis is something he says he is truly grateful for. 

Soluna Fuentes

Tutoring Coordinator

Soluna attends East Lansing High School. She was and still is a TMYL participant. Soluna’s favorite program is the summer program because she loves being outside in the sun playing tennis and being around all of her friends. Her favorite part of working is interacting with the kids and the coaches.

Tennis & Leadership Instructors

Stella Alfredson

Stella is a current student East Lansing High School. She has been a participant of TMYL for 6 years. Stella’s hobbies include tennis, volleyball, painting, drawing, and hiking. She currently plays doubles on her high schools girls varsity tennis team. Stella’s favorite part of TMYL is the summer program because of her love of the welcoming environment and the friends she gets to meet every summer. 

Jamy Brooks

Jamy has been playing tennis since she was young and played varsity all four years at St Clair High School. She is now a rising third year at Michigan State obtaining her Bachelor of Science in Mathematics Secondary-Education. She is the Travel Vice President on the Michigan State Club Tennis team where she meets and plays with many players from other schools across the country. She is excited to work at TMYL for the first time this summer. 

Berni Garibay

Berni is a recent graduate of Alma College. She majored in Chemistry with a Pre-Medicine emphasis. Berni was a TMYL Participant for two years before she graduated high school. Her favorite program is the summer program. She loved the summer sessions as a participant and they are definitely her favorite program to coach. When she became a participant it was during the summer session and so, it has been her favorite program ever since. Berni’s favorite part of working with TMYL is seeing the participants grow up throughout the years. There are some participants that she helped coach as a Junior Coach when she was only a participant in the program and now can see how much their skills have grown and developed, what an amazing experience.   

Gerrit Garcia

Gerrit is a rising senior that attends East Lansing High School. Some of his hobbies are Tennis, Baseball, and hanging out with friends. He is looking forward to his senior year at ELHS and the Fall 2024 High School Tennis season.

Jonny Kalt

Jonny is a rising senior at East Lansing High School. His favorite hobbies are playing tennis, video games, and hanging out with friends. He is on the tennis team at East Lansing and is looking forward to his senior season!

Brigitta Kessler

Brigitta is currently in her sophomore year at Grand Valley State University, earning a bachelor's degree of science in psychology. She has been playing tennis since she was 9 years old, as a part of the TMYL program and then going on to play varsity in high school. “Starting as a student in the program brought out the love I have for the game, and through coaching and connections I hope to bring out that love in the kids as well,” she says. In her downtime Brigitta enjoys drawing, playing tennis, and travelling. 

Soussana Kimbouris

Soussana is currently a senior at East Lansing High School. She has been a TMYL Participant for over six years now! Her favorite program TYML does is the summer program because that's where she first started tennis and it's always a fun environment. Her favorite part of TMYL is meeting all the kids and getting to know them.

Ian Opel

Ian lives in Haslett where he attended Haslett High School and played on their varsity tennis team for four years. He is currently a rising freshman at Duke University, studying Public Policy and hopefully playing on the club tennis team. While not busy with school or other involvements, Ian tries to stay as active as he can by playing tennis, pickleball, basketball, or other sports with his friends. 

Gene Orlando

Gene is a retired MSU Men’s Tennis Coach (1991-2022). He was introduced to the game of tennis through the NJTL program in Cincinnati; a similar program to TMYL. The program changed his life. His coaches, mentors and program friends were such a positive influence on him. Gene is forever grateful for their investment and time. His goal at TMYL is to provide the same experience and provide our youth the opportunity to grow, learn and dream. Anything is possible with a support group behind you. TMYL provides that opportunity!

emily paul

Emily grew up in Bloomfield Hills and has been playing tennis since she was eight years old. During her childhood, she played competitively in USTA tournaments and went on to play for the varsity team at Bloomfield Hills High School. Currently, she is a junior earning her bachelor’s degree in Human Biology at Michigan State University. She started with TMYL as a volunteer tutor and is now happy to join the team to help kids find the same love for tennis that she did.

lucas preston

Lucas is a senior at Mason High School, where he plays on the boys varsity tennis team. He also plays a lot of tennis as a hobby, and plans to continue his pursuit of the game in college next year. In his down time, he loves listening to music and reading.

caleb schuring

Caleb is a rising Junior and studies Integrative Physiology/ Health Science and History at Alma College. He also plays on the tennis team at Alma. Caleb started volunteering with TMYL in November 2021 and has since been working with Friday Night Tennis. Caleb is extremely excited to coach summer camps with TMYL. His favorite part about working with TMYL is making connections with his students and facilitating fun drills. He loves to see their skills advance each time they come to practice.

Alex Stamm-Cross

Alex grew up in Grand Blanc and started playing tennis on whim in high school. Tennis was just a hobby through high school and while attending Albion College, but it became a passion when Alex started teaching and coaching at Portland High School in 2010. Since then, Alex has been coaching high school teams and teaching professionally. Currently, Alex is a doctoral student in the College of Education at Michigan State University. 

William Taylor

William is currently a junior at East Lansing High School. Some of his hobbies are tennis, among other sports, and hanging out with his friends. He is very excited to continue his last season of High School tennis in the upcoming fall 2024.

Other Staff

erin nevitt

executive assistant

Erin was born and raised in the Lansing area. She graduated from Cornerstone University in 2011 with a degree in Media Studies and Film Production, emphasizing in writing and producing. After living in Los Angeles and interning at Paramount Studies, it became clear the Hollywood life was not for her. In the summer of 2021, Erin joined the TMYL team as the executive assistant. She is excited to give back to the community she grew up in and watch the students of Lansing thrive with TMYL’s support!

Brooke Quisenberry

Data & Evaluation Specialist

Brooke grew up in the Lansing area. She graduated from Hope College in 2010, worked for the Michigan House of Representatives and did graduate work at Michigan State University in the College of Education in Measurement and Quantitative Methods, while also doing research consulting.

In 2017, she started working for Todd Martin Youth Leadership, performing various administrative tasks (including using her data skills!) for the other staff members. She is so thankful to have the opportunity to work with such a fantastic organization and with remarkable people, including staff, volunteers, and board members!