East Cohort Participants
Amanda Strauss
Amanda Strauss has spent the last two decades building community activism in North Dakota region and creating opportunities for growth using grass roots campaigns. Her work mainly focuses on Reproductive Health and Native American rights. She is based in Fargo, working as an Educator and Outreach Specialist with Planned Parenthood. She is on Fargo-Moorhead Native American City Commission and an executive board member for North Dakota Human Rights Coalition. She is a passionate community organizer and speaker for Murder and Missing Indigenous Women's Task Force, which she spoke about at the 2019 Fargo-Moorhead Women's march. Amanda is an auntie, sister, daughter and contributing member of her community.
Amir Najam
Amir is a neurodiverse crafter, musician, guide, and educator based out of Duluth, Minnesota. His craft is all about the metal - from blacksmithing to folk metal music - and is currently working on resurrecting a few favorite craft tools from the past. His education work is focused on developing inclusive and accessible learning environments that mix craft and trades with geographic literacy and applied mathematics. He spends any free time trying to impress is most perceptive teacher - his 5 month old baby!
Andi Cheney
Andi Cheney (they/them) is a nonprofit finance director, social justice advocate, and queer performance artist in south Minneapolis. They are currently the Interim Operations Manager with Creative Catalysts, Director of Finance & Operations at HECUA, and the Board Treasurer for the zAmya Theater Project. Andi enjoys working with emerging arts and cultural organizations with a passion for best practices, financial transparency, and racial equity. They have been honored to collaborate with Relationships Evolving Possibilities (REPforMN), Patrick's Cabaret, Bedlam Theatre, the Minnesota Theatre Alliance, Mixed Blood Theatre, The Playwrights Center, Sandbox Theatre, New Native Theatre, Raw Sugar, and many more.
Dawn Tevis
Dawn Tevis is a public librarian and paper marbling artist whose passion for the natural world and community engagement is deeply rooted in the Appalachian foothills. She now resides among the Driftless bluffs of Winona, MN. She is passionate about creative placemaking and explores through her programming and visual and literary art the dynamic reciprocity of inner and outer landscapes. She seeks to listen to, learn from, and amplify the voice of the land and others who are vulnerable, including youth, to help further the vitality and diversity of the evolving and collective narrative of place.
Diana Oestreich
Diana Oestreich is a combat medic who found the posture of peace on the battlefield of the Iraq war. Now she wages peace by activating Justice + Instigating Joy. She’s an Activist + Author who is raising her beautiful Black son to know his worth and her white son to work for justice to make this world a more freaking awesome place to live for everyone under the son. Because joy is our birthright.
They live on unceded Ojibwa territory along the shores of Lake Superior and share a love for close up magic, curling and competitive card games
Falcon Gott
Falcon Gott, a member of the Sapotaweyak Cree Nation, is a Native American Filmmaker. Native people's have always been portrayed wrongly in mainstream media, and so Falcon uses filmmaking as a tool for people to learn about contemporary Native peoples and cultures.
Hillary Lor
Hillary Lor is a Hmong American woman, born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota. She has played the flute for over 15 years and has performed for numerous community events! The flute is her voice to express her deepest thoughts and emotions to touch the heart of others. Hillary enjoys exploring flutes from around the world such as the Hulusi, and works as an associate at The Saint Paul Conservatory of Music. She also enjoys acting and modeling, and has recently appeared on page 14 of the 2022 Ramsey County Recycling Guide.
Katey DeCelle
Katey DeCelle is a storyteller. Whether it is through writing, photography, film or audio production, she likes to tell stories of those who are often unheard and seeks out stories that put a spotlight on the unseen or marginalized. Her work celebrates our differences while illustrating our many similarities. She is an audio and video producer for Sounds Powerful Productions, a company she founded in 2017. She is the co-founder and co-director for the non-profit Frogtown Tuned-In, which houses the low-power radio station WFNU Frogtown Community Radio 94.1 FM in Saint Paul. Katey is also a mom, writer, filmmaker, radio host, music DJ and PCA for disabled adults. She was born and raised and lives in her favorite city, Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Lisa Poje Angelos
Lisa Poje Angelos has a multi-passionate personality marked by the influence of nature in all that she does. She has a masters degree in Environmental Science and Applied Ecology but is equally drawn to and informed by the liberal arts. She works as a park manager and is a poet who enjoys collaborative opportunities to pair her writing with visual artists' work. She is a student of pottery and is happy dabbling in other creative outlets as well including drawing, stained glass and cooking. She and her husband of 30 years have a deep love for animals and currently share their home with two cats and a dog. Her hope is that anything she pursues helps to cultivate a deeper appreciation of our shared humanity and integral part in the natural world. She recently became a certified Forest Bathing Guide.
Luke Viscusi
Luke Viscusi is a meeting aficionado, spreadsheet strategist, and architectural designer with a passion to pursue community-centric design initiatives. He's spent his last few years working in the community development field at place-based nonprofits in both rural and urban settings. Luke's goal is to one day be a licensed architect and be able to blend the soft skills, refined through honest, vulnerable conversations with community members, with the technical expertise necessary to be a licensed architect. As an ice hockey fanatic, he embraces the cold Midwest winters and the many hockey games that come with it.
Marcia Ratliff
Marcia Ratliff is a poet, writer, creative thinker, and human in progress based in Winona/Keoxa, Minnesota. Her creative work explores community and a sense of place, and weaves mindfulness and witness into the cultivation of wonder. With a background in communications, community engagement, and youth development, Marcia is also the Executive Director of Engage Winona, a nonprofit that drives equitable civic action and social change. She is passionate about facilitating vibrant conversations, centering marginalized voices, and strengthening rural communities. Marcia is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer and worked in South Africa from 2016-2018.
Mary Taris
Mary Taris, she/her/hers, is the founder of Strive Publishing and the Strive Bookstore. Strive is a social enterprise that centers, values, and empowers Black narratives in literature for equity and social justice. Mary's lived experiences and background in education influence her perspective on the power of books to bridge cultures and help shape society. She maintains connections to publishing, education, and librarian organizations from across Minnesota as a voice for Black literature and literary equity.
Michelle de Leon
Michelle is a storyteller passionate about community resilience and conservation. You know when life throws curve balls and you don't know that next best step? She helps high achievers leverage storytelling to level up their resilience and transform with nature. She has a background in environment sciences and yoga, as well as working for the federal government, community development non-profits, and in academia. After supporting hundreds of people across the US create community and influence policy, Michelle is crystal clear on her vision: a world where each person's resilience contributes to the well-being of their community and nature. She uplifts voices to not only share her privilege, but also amplify the voices of people not (yet) offered a seat at the table. Fun fact: If you can't reach me, I'm probably playing outside or cooking in my kitchen! :)
Moira (Miri) Villiard
Through public art collaborations across Minnesota, Moira Villiard is a multidisciplinary artist with a mixed Indigenous and settler heritage who uses art to uplift underrepresented narratives, explore the nuance of society's historical community intersections, and promote community healing spaces. Moira (pronounced "Miri") is a dynamic visual artist, proficient in a variety of artistic genres, including portraiture, illustration, graphic and digital design and as a muralist. She is also a community organizer, curator and passionate arts educator concentrating her efforts around issues of equity and justice including: arts access (creating platforms for underrepresented communities within the arts), creative placemaking, environmental sustainability, youth empowerment, and acknowledgement of Indigenous land, culture, and history.
Narate Keys
Narate Keys is a Khmer/Cambodian Poet, Author, Playwright and Medical Manual Therapist from Saint Paul, Minnesota. As an experienced Massage Therapist, she also has a passion for writing poetry. She specializes in Trigger Point Therapy and Myofascial Release. With over 15 years of massage experience, she has helped over hundred community members achieve their health goals. She is also the self-published author of a collection of songs and poetry The Good Life, poetry book The Changes... Immigration Footprints of Our Journey, and co-author of Planting SEADs. Keys' family lived through the atrocious Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia; she was born in a Thai refugee camp. Keys writes to express the true meaning of her voices. It is through poetry that Keys have found love, appreciation, and encouragement. Keys has performed her poems in Washington D.C., Minnesota's The Loft Literary, Springboard For The Arts, Center, and Saint Cloud State University, Dragon Boat Festival, MayDay Festival, Feature artist for MN8's fundraising and amongst others. Keys was selected as a storytelling recipient through Twin Cities Media Alliance (TCMA). Keys' painting called The Sun's Reflector was featured in the Saint Paul Almanac. Key's poem Water from Motherland was featured on https://lyricality.org and is framed and hanging on the wall of the new building for the Springboard for the Arts in St. Paul. Learn more about Narate at www.NarateKeys.com
O. Robinson / Mixologist
Opal's impact in the Twin Cities has been multi-level; The proud owner/ mixologist at Inner Peace Fragrance LLC, also employed as a Bookkeeping contractor with a small woman owned business in Minneapolis. She currently coaches three millennials in all things entrepreneurial, sharing her expertise as they teach her new innovative tools.
Opal has a variety of professional experiences including a background in health and wellness as a certified fitness instructor with the YWCA Women's Wellness community coach initiative. Opal has a firm love and passion for all of God's children and is deeply connected to a spiritual foundation that has been a catalyst for the actions she takes in her life to grow personally, professionally, and to serve her community.
Fun facts: Opal is a tennis frantic, loves to dance and count her parents as heroes who taught their family the value of community building.
Priscilla Mayowa
Priscilla is a proud native of Lagos, Nigeria. She is an avid consumer and creator of stories, real and imagined. She enjoys ruminating on the meaning of life, how our experiences are shaped, and all the ways we can tell our stories. Her budding collection includes a creative writing portfolio of poetry and nonfiction flash essays. When she's not writing, she's thinking through ways to build community with young black, indigenous, people of color especially those with other intersecting identities. Her ideal world is one that makes sense for everyone. Priscilla enjoys anime, cooking/baking, music, trying new experiences and her personal space.
Purpose Madison
Purpose Madison is a photographer, content creator and curator. She is 24 years old, a sister to two brothers, daughter to Terry Wylie, and Wardell Madison. She's from all over but primarily the Twin Cities. She's been shooting photography 4 years and hopes to own a studio one day. Currently she's working on herself as a brand, and as a creator. She wants to expand her network around the world and eventually make creating art her full time job. She loves watching Korean Dramas, listening to K-pop, eating new foods, traveling and learning new languages.
Sharon Mansur
Sharon Mansur (she/her) is an Arab/SWANA American dance and interdisciplinary experimental artist, educator, curator, and community mover and shaker based in Keoxa/Winona, Mni Sota Makoce, Dakota land. Her creative practice offers immersive experiences rooted in body, imagination and environment. Sharon directs The Cedar Tree Project, amplifying creative voices from the Arab/SWANA diaspora to increase understanding and empathy through artistic exchange. She also curates SHIFT~ performance salons to support local, collaborative art happenings and conversations. Sharon also teaches dance at St. Mary's University and is a therapeutic bodyworker.
Wisdom Young
Wisdom Young resides in North Minneapolis and is an artist, educator, activist and mother of three divine children ranging in age from 7-23. She has a B. A. in Sociology, LCD and has a minor in African American studies from the University of MN. In June of 2020, she co-founded and currently directs Black, Bold and Brilliant, a north Minneapolis-based nonprofit organization that invests in community development by engaging, inspiring and empowering Black youth and families to tap into their purpose. Wisdom is inspired by God, the ancestors, her people and the power of words. Popular themes in her work are: Black feminine resilience, cultural affirmation, love, memory, and commentary on justice or social issues.