Our Crew green feather

Laura Kinter

Executive Director


Laura Kinter serves as the Executive Director of Awakenings. She holds a B.A. in Film and English from Vassar College and moved to Chicago from Philadelphia. Her passion for education through storytelling, grassroots community building, and the arts has helped Laura guide Awakenings through exponential growth over the last several years.

Laura is active in the Ravenswood community as both a business leader and a resident, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Greater Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce. Laura has gone through 40 hour sexual assault crisis intervention training.

Jeri Frederickson

Creative Director


Jeri began at Awakenings as a volunteer and has gone through the 40hour sexual assault crisis intervention certification.

She comes from nonprofit and commercial organizations on the administration and production end of theatre and writing. She studied Theater, English, and Spanish at Hope College and holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles. Her book You Are Not Lost is published with Finishing Line Press. She has two monsters, deemed to be cats, and an affinity for people, coffee, and motorcycles.

Jackie

Jacqueline Valdez

Programming Coordinator


Jacqueline first encountered Awakenings as a programming intern, and later joined the Art Committee before becoming Programming Coordinator. She is a visual artist who engages with repetitive block printing and paper-making practices in order to meditate on familial memory and connect with her Mexican heritage. Jacqueline holds a BA from the University of Illinois at Chicago in Art History with a focus in Latin American Colonial and Contemporary Art. She has completed a 40hr Crisis Intervention Training.

A man with a red button up shirt, short blonde hair and facial piercings smiles warmly at the camera

Wes Kendall

Studio Assistant


Wes is a textile artist and printmaker with a professional background in community-based art spaces and an interest in mutual aid organizing. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Wes earned his BA in interdisciplinary art from the Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA before coming to Chicago in 2020. When not working or making art, Wes likes cooking for his friends and riding his bike around the city. Wes has completed a 40-hour Crisis Intervention Training.


Annalise Castro

Teaching Artist


Annalise is a visual artist working in painting, ceramics, fibers, and mixed media to explore expressive modalities of storytelling. She creates text-based artwork, vessels, and assemblages that explore themes of memory, lived experience, disclosure, gaze, protection, caretaking, holding, and containment.

Annalise is passionate about the creative process, mental health and wellness, regulatory art practices, and advocacy. She currently works as an Art and Trauma Therapist in Chicago, IL. Annalise has experience from a variety of art-based, advocacy, and clinical sites including community-based art groups, group art therapy, individual counseling, and art-based curriculum development. In addition to art and counseling services, Annalise is also passionate about community event planning to promote awareness on social issues and is involved with training other professionals and the public on issues pertaining to sexual violence, suicidality, harm reduction, and art-based intervention. Her current art practice explores the complexities of interpersonal change with drama, humor, and self-disclosure. Her text-based paintings allow for discussion surrounding the themes of bodily autonomy, catharsis, place-making, identity, and inquiry of the past. Annalise is self-represented and takes commissions on a limited basis. Inquiries for Annalise Castro may be directed to her personal website.

Gillian Marwood

Teaching Artist


Gillian is a queer sculptor, jewelry designer, business owner, and stop motion animator. Their work focuses on sex work, trauma, and queerness which they bring to light through their stop motion films and sculptures. Their Sculptures have been featured in Woman Made Gallery, Locus Gallery, Elgin fringe festival, The Robin, Cherry Knot, Awakenings and Siren.

Bryana Bibbs

Teaching Artist


Bryana Bibbs is a Chicago-based artist who works at the intersection of textiles, painting, and community-based practices. Bibbs earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in Fiber and Material Studies at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is the founder of “The We Were Never Alone Project - A Weaving Workshop for Victims and Survivors of Domestic Violence” and serves on the Surface Design Association’s Education Committee. Bibbs has exhibited at galleries such as Chicago Artists Coalition, Praxis Fiber Workshop, Purple Window Gallery, and Tiger Strikes Asteroid. Recent awards and residencies include The Lunder Institute for American Art Summer Residential Fellowship, Surf Point Foundation Artist Residency, and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts.

Leah Huskey

Teaching Artist


Leah is a multi-disciplinary artist with a background in performing arts. She has served on Awakenings’ Art Committee and Volunteer Committee, and has twice been a resident in Awakenings’ artist cohort program. She is excited to lead her first visual art workshop as a Teaching Artist at Awakenings!br>

Raeleen Kao

Teaching Artist


Raeleen Kao’s work uses garmentry to carry the weight of her own medical history, a rejection of antiquated gender ideals centered around female reproductive health, and the reclamation of her Taiwanese heritage through the lens of anti-colonization and gender-based intergenerational violence. She is a recipient of the Luminarts Cultural Foundation Fellowship, Illinois Arts Council Agency Grant, and DCASE Individual Artist Program Grant. Her work is in permanent collections of the Kohler Art Museum, Smith College Museum of Art, University of Richmond Rare Books & Special Collections, and the North Carolina State University Libraries Special Collections.

Board of Directors

Christina Bourne

Christina Bourné

Board President


Christina Bourné is an accomplished arts administrator, educator, and performing artist based in Chicago, IL. She began her career as a public speaker and guest soloist for women’s and youth enrichment conferences across the Midwest before becoming a teaching artist and arts administrator.

During her career she has helped to create in-school and after school programs, facilitated workshops and lectures and even a concert series to discuss social and cultural issues such as race, gender equality, and collective non-violence through the lens of the arts.

Her past leadership roles in arts administration have been Director of Creative Engagement at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University where she grew the department’s program reach to 20,000+ participants per year, Interim Executive Director of Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago, and founding member and Program Manager for Enrich Chicago—an arts led movement aimed at undoing racism and building racial equity within the sector.

When not enhancing lives through arts advocacy or arts and enrichment program development, she can be found performing with her family of nine—comprised of her seven siblings and her mother—The Bournés. Christina is an independent non-profit consultant working with individuals and organizations throughout Chicago and nationally with a focus on fundraising, board development, strategic planning, and organizational leadership.

Eli Rupp Ugolino

Board Treasurer


I graduated with my bachelor’s degree in History from Ohio State University in 2010. After graduation, I joined Dominican Volunteers USA (DVUSA) as a full-time volunteer working with Heartland Alliance as an English Language Training (ELT) Instructor for refugee and immigrant families. Following my volunteer year, I was hired by Heartland to continue as an ELT instructor where I worked, in various positions within Heartland, for the next five years.

In 2017, I was asked to return to DVUSA and have the privilege of serving as the Executive Director today. Dominican Volunteers work for eleven months in full-time positions as educators, healthcare workers, companions for isolated seniors and individuals who are incarcerated, case managers, and advocates for survivors of domestic violence and ecological justice. Our mission is to create lifelong allies and advocates for justice and liberation through accompaniment, kinship, simple-living, and community.

I enjoy engaging my hands through cooking, baking, woodworking, gardening, and knitting. My preferred escapes are reading, playing guitar, traveling, riding my motorcycle, and Harry Potter movie marathons with my wife, Cara, and our grumpy rescue pup, Oscar.

Sarah Wisemen

Board Secretary


Sarah graduated from Purdue University with a BS in Management and a BA in Foreign Language and Literature in 1996. She obtained her MBA (with focus on Strategy and Organizational Development) in 2011 from the University of Chicago. Sarah has spent the bulk of her career in the Corporate Real Estate Services industry holding a wide variety of roles from Human Resources to Business Development.

She currently holds a Global Leadership role and is responsible for a team of 400+ professionals across the world. Sarah grew up in a household where Art of all types but most particularly visual arts, were held in high esteem. She brings to the board a passion for art and artists, strong business acumen and a love for managing and collaborating with teams.

Chase Yeung

Chase Yeung


Chase Yeung is the founder and CEO of 7QUBES, an On-Demand/Software-as-a-Service company that brings accessible technology to underserved communities. Chase has a proven strategic and management track record with over 20 years of experience driving innovation and growth in the finance and technology industry. Prior to 7QUBES, Chase was CIO of Basepoint Capital, a private equity firm specialized in capital investments in consumer and small business lending products. Before joining Basepoint, Chase was the Head of Data and Technology at Argon Credit. Chase holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and an MS in Computer Science from Northwestern University.

Mallory Margaret

Mallory Margaret


Mallory is an artist and ecological educator most concerned with creating caring spaces that center a return to land and a return to body. Her support of social-emotional learning stems from the belief that personal growth opens portals to new possibilities in collective liberation. Mallory is working towards her certification in horticultural therapy as well as being on her way to be a Department of Health Certified Sexual Assault Crisis Counselor through NYC Anti-Violence Project. She partners these healing modalities and trauma-informed lenses with a healing justice framework.

Mallory has co-created programming centered around regenerative, nature-based artmaking with Queens Botanical Garden, Grow NYC, NYC Department of Civic Engagement, Wave Hill Public Gardens and Cultural Center, Chicago Parks District, Chicago Public Schools. Jane Adams Hull House, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Teachers for Social Justice, Depaul University, among others. Mallory currently runs the Children’s Garden and youth programs at Queens Botanical Garden. Her work has been funded by Crossroads Fund, Terra Arts Foundation, Night Out in the Parks, and the Dorr Foundation. Her curriculum and facilitation work has been featured in Transform the Harm, New York Times, Teaching Artist Podcast, All of It WNYC, and BronxNews. You can find a portfolio of her work at www.MalloryMuya.com

Kelly Powers

Kelly Powers


A passionate education advocate, Kelly Powers has dedicated her career to leading innovative work to positively impact young children and families. An accomplished entrepreneur and organizational leader, Kelly currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer at the Carole Robertson Center for Learning, one of Chicago’s largest non-profit providers of early childhood education programs. As COO, Kelly oversees Finance, Facilities, IT, Marketing & Communications, and People & Culture. Kelly is a member of the executive team at the Center and is responsible for the internal operations to ensure the Center continues to thrive after transformational growth in 2021. Prior to Carole Robertson Center, Kelly served as the Executive Director of VOCEL, an early childhood education non-profit she co-founded in 2013. Under Kelly’s leadership, VOCEL grew from an early-stage start-up working with 18 children to a well-established organization in the early learning sector deploying programs in 17 community areas across Chicago impacting over 300 children and families annually. Prior to founding VOCEL, Kelly’s career included teaching 1st & 2nd grade in St. Louis, Missouri; coaching teachers in CBOs and elementary schools across Chicago; and managing a team of educational coaches at Teach For America.

Early in her career, Kelly realized the tremendous impact quality early learning experiences provide to children and has she has remained committed to leading in organizations that focus on delivering exemplary programming to children, youth and families. A native of the Chicago suburbs, with a deep commitment to equity and justice, Kelly believes in the potential of each child and works daily to ensure that a child’s zip code is not the determinant of their educational opportunity or trajectory. Kelly is a graduate of University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business where she earned her MBA with concentrations in Strategic Management, Entrepreneurship, Managerial & Organizational Behavior and Operations Management. She was a member of the inaugural cohort of Neubauer Civic Scholars at Booth. During her undergraduate career, Kelly was a Hunt Leadership Scholar at SMU where she earned her BA in Communications & English. Outside of her professional commitments, Kelly is an avid reader, an aspiring (at home) chef and a dedicated cyclist.

Stephanie Taiber

Stephanie Taiber


Stephanie Taiber is a Chicago based artist, teaching artist, arts administrator, and yoga instructor. Stephanie’s art practice uses photography and installation to reify emotional states and explore the impact of relationship dynamics on identity. In her studio, Stephanie works with still life and collage, incorporating her own rephotographed and repurposed images of the natural world with domestic objects to address inner tensions with broader societal resonance. Her creative use of personal history to make work that extends beyond the biographical self transforms moments of upheaval into narratives about the fragile process of healing.

Stephanie’s 2020 solo exhibition at Filter Space in Chicago is the subject of her forthcoming photobook, Bearing His Flowers, published by Yoffy Press and supported by a Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs Individual Artist Grant. In 2020 Stephanie received 3rd place in Center Santa Fe Curator’s Choice Award and Honorable Mention in the Julia Margaret Cameron Fine Art Awards. She has been featured by PH Museum, Lenscratch, Float Magazine, and Fraction Magazine, among others.

Marthe Leach

Marthe Leach


Marthe Leach has dedicated her career to advancing equity. She graduated from Indiana University with a BA in English and Communications & Culture. After a brief stint interning for Chicago magazine, Marthe pivoted by joining Teach For America. Her work teaching in high-needs public schools lasted beyond the two-year TFA commitment and after seven years as a teacher and case manager in Chicago Public Schools, Marthe joined Braven as the founding program manager in Chicago where she launched the Braven Career & Leadership Accelerator at National Louis University. She thrives in ambiguous environments and finds joy in innovation and building programs. She scaled enrollment for the Braven Accelerator at National Louis University to recruit and serve over 55% of the eligible population, managed the development of Braven’s COVID-19 response product, and led program execution for Braven’s local innovation product, BravenX. She is now the director of Braven Online, an innovative national career development pilot serving promising underrepresented college students from across the country, and is launching Braven's sixth university partnership with Northern Illinois University. Marthe has served on the Illinois for Education Equity regional strategy team and as the executive chair of Awakenings’ Associate Board. She joined the Awakenings Board of Directors in 2022. She lives in Chicago with her partner and big red hound dog, Ruby.

Founder

Stephanie Taiber

Jean Cozier


Jean W. Cozier is a writer, musician, sexual abuse survivor, and author of “Dear Judith,” the story of her relationship with Judith Dawn Hickey, and “Heavy Metal: A Song of Healing,” an illustrated cycle of poetry about her growth in healing her relationship with her mother. She has also worked in corporate communications as an independent scriptwriter and filmmaker. She holds a B.S. in Radio/TV/Film Production from Northwestern University. In 2015, Jean received the Community Impact Award from the Zacharias Sexual Abuse Center for her years of work supporting survivors of sexual violence. She currently lives in Chicago with her husband and two cats.

In 1998, Jean lost her cousin, artist, and sexual abuse survivor Judith Dawn Hickey, to cancer. Before Judith died, Jean made a promise to her that she would work to help other survivors find healing and empowerment through the arts. Jean founded the Judith Dawn Memorial Fund for the Arts in 1998 and administered it in partnership with the Zacharias Sexual Abuse Center in Gurnee, Illinois, until 2012.

Stephanie Taiber

Jean Cozier

Founder


Jean W. Cozier is a writer, musician, sexual abuse survivor, and author of “Dear Judith,” the story of her relationship with Judith Dawn Hickey, and “Heavy Metal: A Song of Healing,” an illustrated cycle of poetry about her growth in healing her relationship with her mother. She has also worked in corporate communications as an independent scriptwriter and filmmaker. She holds a B.S. in Radio/TV/Film Production from Northwestern University. In 2015, Jean received the Community Impact Award from the Zacharias Sexual Abuse Center for her years of work supporting survivors of sexual violence. She currently lives in Chicago with her husband and two cats.

In 1998, Jean lost her cousin, artist, and sexual abuse survivor Judith Dawn Hickey, to cancer. Before Judith died, Jean made a promise to her that she would work to help other survivors find healing and empowerment through the arts. Jean founded the Judith Dawn Memorial Fund for the Arts in 1998 and administered it in partnership with the Zacharias Sexual Abuse Center in Gurnee, Illinois, until 2012.

Clinical Advisory Committee

Awakenings’ Clinical Advisory Committee (CAC) is a volunteer group of therapists, social workers, trauma-specialists, and other professionals that review and evaluate Awakenings’ trauma-informed practices and healing arts curriculum, as well as advise Awakenings’ staff on individual survivor cases that require advanced care.

Survivor Advisory Committee

Awakenings’ Survivor Advisory Committee (SAC) is a volunteer group of self-identified survivors that provide Awakenings’ staff with feedback and ideas on programs, communications, and strategy. This committee will further Awakenings’ commitment to being a survivor-led organization that values, includes, and celebrates survivor participation in collaborative decision-making processes.