Our Board

Nicole works as director of knowledge management at Casey Family Programs, identifying and disseminating best practices related to improving and ultimately preventing foster care. She has worked in a variety of other roles in the education and youth development fields locally and nationally, most recently at the Community Center for Education Results where she focused on reconnecting 16- to 24-year-olds to education and career pathways. At the Forum for Youth Investment her work centered on youth engagement, research-practice partnerships, building expanded learning systems and improving youth program quality.

Nicole is inspired by efforts to increase equitable access to informal learning environments and sees SOWA as a critical system builder.

Gina has 20 years of experience in organizational development, strategy, program design, complex partnerships, network building, and grantmaking. She brings the values of equity and community voice to her work. A utility player for Foundations and nonprofits, Gina employs her generalist content expertise and cross-cutting knowledge to organizations and collaborations to achieve results.

Luis (he/they) is a multidisciplinary storyteller, educator, narrative strategist, and the founder and director at Storytellers for Change.

Over the last 16 years, Luis has worked with youth, educators, and cross-sector leaders to harness the power of narrative to co-imagine, craft, and share stories to build an equitable world. Luis has a BA in Political Science from the University of Washington and a Master’s in Education Leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Luis was born and raised in Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) and now lives in the unceded and ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Coast Salish people (Seattle).