Staff & Facilitators
Brandy Bell, Administrative Specialist
Brandy Bell (she/her) joined the Write Around Portland staff in August 2025 after volunteering as a selection committee member and starting her second year as a workshop facilitator. She brings over 10 years of administrative support and office management experience to her role as Administrative Specialist. In 2015, Brandy took her first Write Around Portland Prompt workshop and she’s been writing with the same group ever since, discovering how the organization’s model elevates writing to a community experience capable of fostering long-time relationships. Brandy earned a Bachelor’s in English from Northern Arizona University and has a myriad of other certificates due to her life-long love of learning. She loves to read, write, illustrate, cook, beta read, research historical fiction novels, and enjoy time with her cats and husband beneath their favorite white maple tree.
Contact Brandy to make a donation, buy a book, or update your Inkwell sustaining gift
Lilly Do, Program Manager
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 writing at your nonprofit/other agency
Maya Friedman, Volunteer Coordinator
Maya Friedman (she/they) joined Write Around staff in September 2025 after volunteering as a writing group facilitator since fall 2024. Prior to joining Write Around, Maya tutored at the writing center at Portland State University and worked as a freelance editor. They received an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2023. Maya loves reading essay collections and making up stories with her friends while playing Dungeons and Dragons.
Contact Maya 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, or donating journals
Tia-Theo Thompson, Program & Events Coordinator
Tia-Theo (they/she/he) joined the Write Around Portland staff in 2025 after becoming a volunteer in 2024 and completing their facilitator training. Theo has taught (or co-taught) more than 40 credits at Portland State University where they graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, a Master of Arts in Book Publishing, and a Certificate in College Teaching. While attending Portland State, they assisted in the revival of the Filament Reading Series, co-founded a BIPOC Affinity Group, and served on the Queer Resource Center Advisory Board. Theo is currently on the Library Advisory Board (LAB) and Community Budget Advisory Committee (CBAC) in Multnomah County. They’ve had many amazing mentors like Janice Lee, Gabriel Urza, and Kathi Berens. They enjoy writing about geese, sewing, and attending comic & anime conventions. You can find their writing in Kithe Journal vol. 3, PDX Scholar, and under The Master’s Review 2024 Novel Excerpt Contest longlist.
Contact Tia-Theo to learn more about Resonate, Prompt, Freewrite, or our special events.
Our Facilitators
Our facilitators are volunteers who are certified through our training program after undergoing an application and interview process. Facilitators provide direct program service to our participants; we have over 65 active facilitators in our pool! Below are just a few of these amazing humans.
