Jessica Hentoff has been teaching and performing circus arts for over 40 years. She’s been using circus arts to motivate social change since founding the St. Louis Arches in 1989. She created Circus Harmony in 2001 to expand circus opportunities for St. Louis youth. Ms. Hentoff is the only person to be a founding member of both the Big Apple Circus in NYC and Circus Flora in St. Louis. She serves as youth circus advisor to the Circus Fans Association of America and the World Circus Federation. In 2014, she was honored to be the first person to receive the American Youth Circus Organization/American Circus Educators’ Excellence in Education Award. Jessica is the artistic/executive director of Circus Harmony where she uses her remarkable vision and knowledge of circus arts to build character and community and to help children "defy gravity, soar with confidence and leap over social barriers, all at the same time!”