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 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.

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, and The Robin.

Leah is an actor, director, and theatrical intimacy designer who believes performance can be a powerful healing tool for survivors of sexual violence. As a founding ensemble member of Connective Theatre Company, Leah directed Me Too Monologues in collaboration with Awakenings in 2019, and returned to direct a revival for Awakenings’ A Dozen Creations event in 2022. She is excited to be leading her first workshop with Awakenings!

Bryana Bibbs (b. 1991) 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.

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.

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.

Bronwyn Pearce is originally from South Africa where she spent over fifteen years leading and implementing large social impact programs. Bronwyn earned a Master’s in Management Degree in the field of Public and Development Management from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and describes herself as a champion for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

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.

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

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.

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.