Our Crew
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.
Jacqueline Valdez
Programming Director
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.
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.
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.
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 and overall multidisciplinary artist. Their work focuses around sex work, trauma and queerness which they bring to light through their sculptures. As a survivor, nothing brings them more joy and fulfillment than teaching healing art workshops with the hopes of making a difference. They grew up internationally and call Scotland their home. When they're not teaching, they're running their jewelry business, metal smithing, dancing burlesque or hanging out with their two kitties and making art at home.
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.
Leah Zeiger
Teaching Artist
Leah Zeiger is a choreographer, dancer, and activist based in Los Angeles. As a survivor of a teenage abusive relationship, Leah's work is largely derived from her lived experience as well as embodied research in the survivor community. Leah’s methodology - Body Memory - invokes somatic principles, improvisational scores, and body-based research to explore the ways in which our bodies hold memory and how those memories shape our life experience. She has been commissioned to choreograph and present her work by entities such as the National Domestic Violence Hotline, the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company Choreographer’s Lab, and more. Her latest evening-length work, “You Live In My Spine”, enjoyed a three night sold out premiere in Los Angeles in early 2023. Leah is the founder of The Sunflower Project - a nonprofit organization that educates young people on sexual violence and relationship abuse and empowers survivors to tell their story through artmaking.
Board of Directors
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 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.
Founder
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.
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.