OUR
FOUNDERS
NOT ALL SUPERHEROES ARE ALIKE.
GALINA NEMIROVSKY
Executive Director, Co-Founder
ANDREW HAMMER
AKA Looney Lenny, Co-Founder
Galina oversees the overall administration, strategic growth, and daily processes at Laughter Happens, Inc. Prior to launching Laughter Happens with Looney Lenny, she was Chief Clown Officer at Looney Lenny’s Clown-o-rific for more than 12 years where she managed the hospital clown program and witnessed the transformative and healing impact of laughter on pediatric patients. Before clown management, Galina worked in advertising and marketing for over a decade, where she managed multi-million dollar campaigns, directed an interdisciplinary agency team, conducted new business presentations, negotiated media contracts, and participated in the development of first-generation career websites for F500 clients. When she’s not ensuring laughter is happening, Galina is a creative writer, teacher, and mother of two children and three cats. Fun Fact: Galina is the inspiration for the Marvel Superhero, Crimson Dynamo (Tony Stark’s /Ironman’s nemesis). She holds an MFA from Columbia University and a BA from New York University.
Andrew, the heart and humor of Laughter Happens, is responsible for the organization’s vision and mission. As Looney Lenny, the funny magic clown, he and his cast of cohorts made over 20,000 visits to NYC-area hospitals weekly for the last 27 years. There, he discovered the magic medicine of laughter and the gift of distraction for hospitalized children. Andrew also worked as a Program Director and later Executive Director for Foundation for the Creative Community, a 501(c)3 dedicated to bringing arts and education to underserved youth (16 years). He was awarded Lower Manhattan Cultural Council grants three years running for his work teaching acting, clowning, and visual arts workshops at a family homeless shelter in Harlem (12 years). Andrew has a BFA in Acting, Directing, and Playwriting from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and has staged several live theatrical shows including Looney Lucky Lenny Land, (Off-Broadway). When not working for a laugh, Andrew is also a fine-art photographer and artist.