Greta Johnson Mandell was born in Brooklyn Borough, New York, New York, and moved to California with her family in 1954, where she attended public schools in Compton. She enrolled at Occidental College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts, and soon after, earned a Medical Doctorate from the USC School of Medicine. She undertook her Residency in Child and Adult Psychiatry, LAC-USC and Augustus F. Hawkins psychiatric hospitals between 1979 and 1985, thus starting her long career in inpatient and outpatient psychiatric evaluation, as well as holistic and alternative general medical care and pain management. Greta retired in 2019.
With a tandem passion for art and fashion, Greta earned a Certification in Fashion Merchandising and Marketing, Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in 1987. She recognized that fashion was a natural fit with her psychiatric background and her professional research in artistic expression and meaning, noting that fashion art is a form of communication and visual presentation. Clothing helps tell a person’s story, and Greta relished the practice of applying observational technique to examine the cultural production of humans’ everyday lives; she is proud of her unique skills as a “cultural code reader.”
Greta’s philanthropic leadership in Pasadena is impressive. She has served on the Advisory Board for Pasadena Symphony, POPS, and Youth Orchestras, 2014-present; she was a Founding Member of the Theatrical Diversity Project, Pasadena Playhouse, where she also was on the Advisory Committee to the Board, and currently serves as a member of the Diversity Committee. From 2007-2010, she was a Board member at Theatre at Boston Court, and is a Trustee at Occidental College since 2015. Greta is also the Founder and Director of the Compton Arts Council, a nonprofit arts support organization. She credits her early years in the church and the practice of tithing for shaping her passion for philanthropy and her sense of abundance. “I learned very early that I always had enough to give to someone somewhere and somehow.”
After losing her home in the Eaton Fire, Greta joined the founding board of the Altadena Builds Back Foundation, a supporting organization of PCF, in March 2025.