Janae O'Shields

Janae O’Shields is proud to serve as the Director of the Lawson Academy of the Arts, Converse’s community arts school. Through this program, Janae’s twin passions of arts and education combine to help the Lawson Academy’s students (preschoolers through senior adults) expand their creative opportunities and gain new skills each day through studies in the arts.

Originally from Easley, SC, Janae has always pursued the arts, participating in music, writing, theatre, and visual art throughout her own pre-college years. Janae came to Converse in 2003 and graduated in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and music, and in 2009 with a Master of Arts degree in teaching. She joined the Lawson Academy family in 2005 when, as an undergraduate student, she began teaching at the Fine Arts Day Camp presented by the Lawson Academy each summer. Having worked with FADC every summer since, Janae began working full time in the Lawson Academy office in 2015 after spending several years as a classroom teacher. In 2019, she was thrilled to assume the role of Director, and to follow in the footsteps of the amazing women who have held this post before her