Staff & Board
Our Staff
Lilly Do, Program & Events Coordinator
Lilly Do (she/her) joined the Write Around Portland staff in May 2022 after volunteering as a writing group facilitator for over 2 years. She brings over 7 years of administrative experience and 8 years teaching English Composition in higher education. When she isn’t facilitating writing groups and circles, Lilly spends her time engaging in the BIPOC, AAPI, and queer and trans communities around Portland as well as co-organizing QTAPI spaces through the writing project Liminal Bodies. A sci-fi nerd through and through, you can find Lilly quoting Octavia Butler or recounting all the philosophical lessons one can learn through Star Trek. Lilly earned her Master of Arts in English from Eastern New Mexico University.
Contact Lilly to learn more about Resonate, Prompt, Freewrite, Raise Your Pen, or our Readings
Elisabeth Geier, Volunteer Coordinator
Elisabeth Geier (she/her) joined the Write Around Portland staff in April 2022 after being a volunteer writing group facilitator since 2014. She brings a decade of experience in program and development support for Portland-area nonprofits, and many years of teaching writing in public high schools and community colleges. She’s also been a marketing manager, magazine editor, visiting artist, cat shelter employee, doggy daycare wrangler, improv comedian, and forever a writer. Elisabeth has four dogs, two cats, one spouse, and an MFA in Fiction from the University of Montana.
Contact Elisabeth to learn more about volunteering and facilitation
Chris McDonald, Executive Director
Chris (he/him) has been Executive Director of Write Around Portland since 2022. Prior to joining Write Around, Chris worked at DoveLewis, Our House of Portland, the Oregon Zoo, and Ronald McDonald House Charities. He holds a Bachelors degree in English and Creative Writing from UC Davis and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Oregon State University, where he also taught English composition and creative writing. He has also taught composition courses at Chemeketa Community College. Before joining the staff, he had been a Write Around facilitator since 2014. He writes under the name Chris Yamashita and his fiction has been published in Weave, Your Impossible Voice, and Compose Journal.
Contact Chris to learn more about ways to give, Inkwell, estate giving, sponsorships, our board of directors, workplace roundtables, making a donation, buying a book, or donating journals
Sarah Weller, Program Director
Sarah (she/her) joined the staff at Write Around in March 2015 after eight years as an agency partner and donor. She earned her BS in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Arizona and then spent ten years working directly with people experiencing homelessness and living in low-income housing in the Portland Metro area. She finds joy in walks with her pup, gluten-free goodies, parenting a young person, poems, and noticing the beauty in the everyday. Writing continues to be a way she can connect back to herself and those around her.
Contact Sarah to learn more about writing at your nonprofit/other agency
Our Board of Directors
Contact our Board of Directors
Board Leadership
Chenoa Philabaum, Co-Chair
City of Portland
Chenoa Philabaum (she/her) serves as our Co-Board Chair where her love for words, writing, community, and reading thrives. Professionally, Chenoa serves as the Community Partnerships Division Manager at the City of Portland’s Environmental Services bureau where she focuses on building relationships and supporting diverse communities through land stewardship and investment, encouraging folks to learn about and participate in nature and infrastructure systems. With a blend of professional experience and a heartfelt commitment to community storytelling, Chenoa says the thing that resonates with her the most at Write Around Portland is that it provides an inclusive and inspiring space for all writers, allowing every story to find its voice and every writer to be valued.
Reggie Wideman, Co-Chair
Live Ramp
Reggie Wideman (he/him) is an extroverted introvert. He loves building relationships just as much as he loves the quiet after a job well done. He’ll often gleefully get his hands dirty, if only so that he can clean up and do it over again. He’s had a lot of different roles, but mostly in tech and marketing for CPG brands. He focuses on the value he can bring into the lives of the people around him and the world at large. He is a leader and an advocate. He’s a problem solver and friendly dissenter. He’s great counsel and a quite good friend. Throughout his 23 year career he has worked with iconic brands and industry leaders including Activision, adidas, American Express, Caesars Entertainment, Caterpillar, Coca-Cola, Marvel Comics, Michelin, Nike, Proctor & Gamble and Toyota to achieve success through digital innovation. His professional tenure includes various agencies and start up’s as well as stints at WellsFargo and Cisco. The past 11 years have been dedicated to driving digital transformation in martech and adtech spaces in data driven roles at Janrain, Salesforce, Lytics and now LiveRamp. He also serves as a co-board chair for the not for profit Write Around Portland, Co-Chair of the Technology Association of Oregon’s Tech in Color community, and advocates for mental health through an annual video series during Mental Health Awareness Month (#MHAM) called One Minute for Mental Health. Reggie holds a BA in Philosophy from Goucher College, is an avid writer, and the best Dad in the world (according to his daughters).
Sara Guest, Secretary
Multnomah County
Sara Guest is a longtime facilitator and former Write Around Portland staffer who has taught and facilitated workshops with Literary Arts, Soapstone, PNCA and the Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative. She has lived in Portland since 2004 and is an avid reader, poet, editor, creative and community-builder who is a Senior Fellow with American Leadership Forum of Oregon, sits on the Write Around board and the Development Council for Literary Arts and works as Communications Advisor to Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson.
Michael Montoya, Treasurer
Skeo Solutions
Michael Montoya (he/him) has over 30 years of experience in management, community engagement and technical assistance with diverse professionals and communities. He has worked in the areas of housing, education, health and food security. He has worked in an array of community based organizations, in city government and as a tenured professor in higher education. During his academic career, Michael provided campus and community intellectual leadership, service, teaching and scholarly productivity in the areas of community engagement, participatory and collaborative research, strategic policy development, equity, health, science, and technology innovation. Michael holds a PhD from Stanford, a BA from Lewis & Clark College, and began his first generation academic journey at Portland Community College. Michael currently works for Skeo Solutions, Inc. to advance Environmental Justice with communities and government agencies across the US.
Board Members
Kelsey Allen
Meals on Wheels People
Kelsey Allen (she/her) has over 13 years of experience writing for magazines, marketing agencies, and mission-driven organizations. She’s put her words to work for MIZZOU magazine, Icing Smiles, University of Oregon, Recovery Campus magazine, and more. As the communications specialist at Meals on Wheels People, she is responsible for creating, organizing, editing, proofing, and publishing internal and external communications. She is also currently enrolled in the 800-hour trauma-focused somatic breathwork certification program through Breathwork for Recovery. She became a creative writing workshop facilitator with Write Around Portland in 2017 and joined the board in 2023.
Precious Bugarin
Mercy Corps
Precious Bugarin (she/her)is a creative director and educator. For over 25 years she’s used design as a language for equity to connect nonprofits to supporters, students to creative aspirations, entrepreneurs to audiences and diverse voices through events. Her experience as a first-generation Filipino American, small business owner, teacher and mother has highly informed her work. She’s collaborated with numerous organizations and businesses including Arts for Learning, the City of Portland, Instrument, PBOT, and Write Around Portland, among others. She’s currently Mercy Corps’s art director — where she helps guide the organization’s visual brand. In addition, she was adjunct faculty at Portland State in the School of Art + Design where she taught from 2003-2023. Her unique journey has shaped her body of work and the value she places on working with clients, teaching students and connecting people through design.
Alex Larralde
Black & Bramble
Alex Larralde (she/her/hers) is a mom, Pilates enthusiast, aspiring novelist, and seasoned marketing leader who specializes in guiding high-growth technology companies through strategic go-to-market transformations. As a consultant, she works closely with business executives to reimagine their approach to brand and product storytelling for both internal employee audiences and customers alike. Alex is passionate about fostering a human-first approach to business, believing that the true purpose of any enterprise should be to enrich the lives of the people it touches. Holding a B.S. in Marketing and Creative Writing from Florida State University and an M.S. in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University, Alex has called the Portland area home since 2010. During her career, she’s had the opportunity to work for homegrown companies like Regence, Cambia Health Solutions, and Jive Software, and is committed to supporting and investing in the local community. In addition to her consulting business, Alex is co-owner of Black & Bramble, a Portland-based tattoo studio, along with her husband, Joe. She began her involvement with Write Around Portland nearly 15 years ago as a volunteer, then as a workshop facilitator, and now as a member of the board of directors.
Hana Layson
Portland Art Museum
Hana Layson (she/her) is Head of Youth and Educator Programs at the Portland Art Museum. She leads the college guide and school tour programs, teacher professional development, and education partnerships and works to make the museum an inclusive, community-centered place. Hana has taught at the Newberry Library, Northern Illinois University, and the Illinois Humanities Council’s Odyssey Project. She earned a PhD in English at the University of Chicago and a BA at Kenyon College. Hana became a Write Around Portland facilitator in 2014 and has been an avid supporter and community partner ever since. She’s thrilled to join the Write Around Portland Board. Hana also serves on Portland’s Arts Education and Access Fund (aka Arts Tax) Oversight Committee. When not working or volunteering, she’s gardening, hiking, doing yoga, traveling, sometimes cooking with her family (Adam, Jacob, Sasha), or more likely lying on the sofa with a book and our dog Monk.
Johanna Magaña
Nike
Johanna (she/her) is a marketing operations expert with more than ten years of valuable experience. She has a remarkable talent for bringing people together to inspire positive change, and she is deeply committed to streamlining processes and achieving objectives. In addition to her professional achievements, she is a dedicated mentor who actively advocates for diversity within her industry. Johanna has a passion for creating a supportive community and placing a strong emphasis on mental health. Her involvement in Writing Around Portland reflects her commitment to meaningful engagement and contributing to a nurturing environment.
Amanda Walsh
PagerDuty
Amanda Walsh has been a longtime Write Around Portland supporter and volunteer since moving to Oregon in 2012. In her day job, she plans large-scale events at the tech company where she works remotely, and in her evenings she’s either hiking, reading, puzzling, or working to obtain her Associate Degree in Library and Information Services.