Kelli O’Hara, star of stage and screen, has established herself as one of Broadway’s greatest leading ladies. The Tony Award winner, Emmy and Grammy-nominated actress has appeared in twelve Broadway shows for which she has garnered eight Tony Award Nominations.
She won the 2015 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, along with Grammy, Drama League and Outer Critics nominations for her portrayal of Anna Leonowens in “The King and I”. She then reprised the role while making her West End debut garnering a prestigious Olivier Nomination for her performance. O’Hara was awarded the Drama League’s Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre Award in 2019.
O’Hara received an Emmy Award nomination for her portrayal of Katie Bonner in Topic’s hit web series, “The Accidental Wolf”, and can currently be seen as Aurora Fane on HBO’s critically acclaimed series, “The Gilded Age”. Her extensive Broadway credits include “Kiss Me Kate” (Tony, Drama League, OCC nominations), “The Bridges of Madison County” (Tony, Drama Desk, Drama League, OCC nominations), “Nice Work If You Can Get It” (Tony, Drama Desk, Drama League, OCC nominations), “South Pacific” (Tony, Drama Desk, OCC nominations), “The Pajama Game” (Tony, Drama Desk, OCC nominations), “The Light in the Piazza” (Tony & Drama Desk nominations), “Sweet Smell of Success”, “Follies”, “Dracula”, and “Jekyll & Hyde”.
In 2024, O’Hara returned to Broadway in The New York Times ‘Critics Pick’, new musical, “Days Of Wine And Roses”. This production, which garnered rave reviews during its Off-Broadway run at The Atlantic Theatre Company last summer, has been a labor of love for O’Hara and composer Adam Guettel.
I have been inspired for 20 years by the work SAY has been doing. As a parent and a person who has benefited from using my voice to express myself all my life, I want to do everything I can to support an organization for kids that honors their self-expression and helps them find their voices.
Over the last 23+ years, Shachar has helped to build and scale global brands, including Meta Reality Labs, Bumble, Snapchat, and Apple.
After graduating from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Shachar turned to women’s politics, and helped to legalize emergency contraception through Planned Parenthood with John F. Kerry. That led her to develop the brand for the century-old women’s organization, NCJW, the group responsible for Head Start, Meals on Wheels and Benchmark – preserving our Pro-Choice Bench. From there she went to Columbia University in New York, where she led marketing and communication for student services while getting her Master of Science
in Strategic Communications. She spent six years leading digital and marketing strategy at several media and creative companies in New York, including Digitas, Deep Focus, and StrawberryFrog.
In 2011, Shachar was recruited by Apple Inc. to lead market development strategy for Apple’s digital advertising platform. She left Apple in 2014 to become a Managing Director at a venture and creative capital firm, West, where she ran the company’s portfolio in New York before joining Snap Inc. in 2017 to lead Global Brand Marketing. During her time at Snap, she defined the role that marketing plays in driving growth and revenue for the company. At the end of 2020, she joined Bumble as Vice President of Global Marketing, overseeing brand
marketing, product marketing, community marketing, brand partnerships, and their expansion into 150 markets. At the end of 2021, she joined Meta’s Reality Labs. Today, as Vice President, Global Marketing she leads brand and integrated marketing team across VR/MR (Meta Quest), Content (Oculus Studios, Beat Saber), Wearables (Ray Ban Meta AI glasses), and the Metaverse (Horizon Worlds, Horizon OS, Avatars).
In addition to her professional marketing leadership, she serves on the Board of Directors for SAY.org and as an Independent Board Director at TouchTunes. She lives in Venice, California with her husband, Jason, and is the proud mom of Morgan + Riley, her 13-year old twins. She is originally from Israel and immigrated to America in 1985.
Being honored with the SAY Hero Award is a deeply humbling moment for me. It’s not just a personal achievement, but a reflection of the strength, resilience, and power of the stuttering community. his recognition is a reminder that our stories matter, and our journey is one of courage, determination, and unwavering belief in our potential.
Richard Kind is an actor who has been acting in a lot of stuff for 40 years. He appeared in
the Academy Award-winning Best Picture, ARGO, voiced ‘Bing Bong’ in the Pixar Film,
INSIDE OUT, and was ‘Uncle Arthur,’ brother to Michael Stuhlbarg in the critically acclaimed
A SERIOUS MAN, written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Most recently, he appeared
in the fourth season of ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING for Hulu, winning a SAG Award
for Best Ensemble.
He was a series regular playing ‘Stan Yenko’ in the highly rated CBS drama EAST NEW YORK. Richard recently accompanied John Mulaney on his live talk show for Netflix, JOHN MULANEY PRESENTS: EVERYBODY’S IN LA, as the show’s co-host and graduated to EVERYBODY’S LIVE. Richard was creepy in Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series THE WATCHER
and can be seen in the Netflix feature THE OUT-LAWS, opposite Pierce Brosnan and Ellen
Barkin. Additional film credits include a two-time collaboration with Tom McCarthy in THE
VISITOR and THE STATION AGENT as well as roles in several other films including TICK,
TICK…BOOM, OBVIOUS CHILD, AUGGIE, ANDOVER, ALL WE HAD, and THE LENNON
REPORT. He has voiced characters in A BUG’S LIFE, CARS, TOY STORY 3, and the television
series, SUMMER CAMP ISLAND, BIG MOUTH, and AMERICAN DAD! Along with kids’ shows that are probably driving you nuts, Richard’s long-running roles on SPIN CITY and MAD ABOUT YOU garnered him some early attention. He was also a series regular on HBO’s
LUCK, and Amazon’s RED OAKS. His recurring roles include EVERYTHING’S GONNA BE
OKAY, GOTHAM, I’M DYING UP HERE, YOUNG SHELDON, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, THE GOLDBERGS, LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT, and BROCKMIRE.
His proudest work has been on stage. A Drama Desk Award Winner and Tony Nominee for
“The Big Knife,” he has also starred in “Guys and Dolls” in London, the smash hit Broadway
and Hollywood Bowl “The Producers,” “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife,” “Candide,” at the
New York City Opera, “Bounce,” written by Stephen Sondheim and directed by Harold
Prince, and most recently “All In: Comedy About Love” on Broadway.
Richard started his career in Chicago with the Practical Theatre Company and Second City.
Having seen this organization grow from “Our Time” to “SAY” has been to observe a small band of members into a large and thriving organization. It is my honor to know these people and to be honored by them.
Tom Kitt is a two-time Tony, two-time Emmy, two-time Grammy, and Pulitzer Prize Award winner. As a musical theater composer, he has written the music for six Broadway shows: Next to Normal (Tony Award, Olivier Nomination), If/Then (Tony Nomination), Almost Famous (Tony Nomination), Flying Over Sunset (Tony Nomination), High Fidelity, and Bring it On, The Musical. His work for the stage has also been seen Off Broadway at Second Stage (Next to Normal, Superhero), The Public Theater (The Visitor, Shakespeare in the Park) and he has worked at some of the most prestigious regional theaters including The Old Globe, Arena Stage, Berkeley Rep, The Signature Theater, and ART.
In addition, Tom’s Broadway credits as an orchestrator, arranger, and music supervisor include: Next to Normal (Tony Award), Hell’s Kitchen (Tony Nomination, Grammy Award), The SpongeBob Musical (Tony Nomination), Jagged Little Pill (Tony Nomination, Grammy Award), Almost Famous, Head Over Heels, Everyday Rapture, American Idiot, and Redwood. Tom has also been active in the world of film and TV. As one of the vocal arrangers working on the Pitch Perfect films, Tom most notably helped create the classic “Riff-off.” Tom also served as music supervisor/arranger/orchestrator for Grease Live, and contributed songs for Royal Pains, Penny Dreadful, and Sesame Street. He also provided music supervision for the NBC series, Rise and served as a Supervising Music Producer on the Bobby Lopez/Kristen Anderson-Lopez/Steven Levenson/Thomas Kail musical television series Up Here. And he is known for his three original opening numbers for The Tony Awards, “This Party’s for You” in 2024, written with Amanda Green for Ariana Debose, “Live” in 2019, written with David Javerbaum for James Corden, and the Emmy Award winning “Bigger” in 2013, written with Lin-Manuel Miranda for Neil Patrick Harris.
Tom is also proud that his musical adaptation of Freaky Friday, co-written with Bridget Carpenter and Brian Yorkey was turned into an original movie musical for Disney Channel and will be making its UK debut in the fall of 2025. Tom is a Sony Masterworks artist, with whom he recorded his debut album, Reflect in 2021.
Being recognized by SAY is an immense honor for which I could not be more proud. Over the years, I have had the great privilege of meeting so many incredible SAY kids, witnessing firsthand, the lives that have been impacted and changed by this extraordinary organization. Thank you to SAY for making me part of their beautiful family.