POPs Staff

Julia has enjoyed co-creating with so many wonderful artists on creative projects during her professional career as a dancer and actress but her true passion has and will always be teaching children the craft she loves. She created Puttin’ On Productions, POPs, in 2007 and seven years later opened The Academy of Dramatic Arts, or TADA Stages. She has directed, choreographed, and/or produced over fifty youth productions.  

She is a proud mom of Jonah and Jett and grateful she has her husband Mark to share the joys of creating this sacred space for children to learn and grow.

 Mark spent more than 20 years in executive management for multi-billion dollar organizations.  After leaving his most recent position of Director of Sales at Oracle in 2015 , Mark returned to POPs to work full time for the company he helped found with his wife Julia.    Mark has a passion for helping others create change and growth and continues to use his talents to help POPs have a greater impact on our community.   

 Robin Garfield is Vice President, Marketing for POPs. She is President of Garfield Consultants and brings over 20+ years of experience in fundraising, marketing, strategy and management to both nonprofit and for-profit clients. Robin clients have included: United Way of Greater Los Angeles, Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership, Create Now!, Beverly Hills Estate Planning Council, Palos Verdes Chamber of Commerce, Torrance Police Foundation and others. Robin and her husband Eric live in Redondo Beach and are the proud parents of Morgan and Kylee, who cannot imagine their life without being in a POPs show - its their second family. 

 Ashley is proud to be the POPs Producer and Director of Tech Artisans. A child of humble beginnings, Ashley grew up doing shows at school and in community theater. After receiving her BA in Drama, Honors in Stage Management – Ashley freelanced as a stage manager; working with such companies as Dallas Theater Center and The Geffen Playhouse. Eventually Ashley landed at POPs where she found her home. Ashley recognizes the empowering and healing properties of theater and the family and community it creates. It is a dream come true to pass that gift along to the future generation of theater-makers both on AND offstage! 

Madison is humbled and excited to be part of the POPs team! She is a graduate of Chapman University and has stage managed all over LA, Orange County, and the Inland Empire. She recently worked with the Miss California local competitions, Industry Dance Awards, and Alien-Con with Mischief Management. When Madison is not inside a theatre, she can be found at working at Disneyland, storytelling with characters where she has been for the past five years. 

Susan has returned to be Business Manager for Puttin' on Productions.  She was previously Business Manager from 2013 - 2017. Susan has a BA, JD and MBA from the University of Southern California. She spent her legal career at ARCO and then BP until she retired as Associate General Counsel – Worldwide Refining and Marketing in 2010.  She has been a POPs family since our first production in 2007, and her children participated in every show until they graduated high school. She believes POPs is valuable to the children who participate because they learn teamwork, leadership, collaboration and self-esteem.