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Staff

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Jennifer Knight Zelkind

Executive Director

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Kaytlyn Eggerding

Communications & Development Director 

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Jane Pugliano

Registrations Manager

Board

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Amanda Surratt
President

Holly Schnapf

Vice President

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Jamie Fehring
Secretary

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April Resnick
Treasurer

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Carly Becker

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Nadia Bayyari

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Patricia Methe

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Melissa Watt

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Michael Georgilis

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Diana Wallace

Facilitators

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Ally Bonhaus

Ally Bonhaus

Allyson (Ally) Bonhaus (she/her) began attending YWWf(a)C classes before she entered high school and she hasn’t left since! She has become a teen assistant and completed the Young Women’s Feminist Leadership Academy program (YFLA) in 2018. She currently is attending George Washington University where she pursues a history major, as well as English and Women’s Gender Studies courses. At GW, she continues to foster young women’s voices on the directors team of Women and Youth Supporting Each Other in the D.C. area.

She is honored to be a part of the Women Writing team and is excited to continue writing with everyone!

Bio
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Janie Baer

Janie Baer

Janie grew up in Canfield Ohio, a village of 3,000, and graduated with a BA in English from Millsaps College which is located in Jackson, Mississippi. The ensuing culture clash has been the fodder for most of her writing. Janie's professional career was spent at Procter & Gamble in Purchases (24 years) followed by 3 years at JM Smucker. She lives with her wife, Judy, in New Richmond, Ohio with their three cats and lots of sunny windows where they all watch hawks and a flock of wild turkey.  After serving on the WWf(a)C board for two years as Treasurer, Janie joined the staff as Assistant to the Executive Director of Women Writing for (a) Change.  Janie is a graduate of the Conscious Feminine Leadership Academy 2015.

Janie's Bio
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Shana Brodnax

Shana Broadnax

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Diane Debevec

Diane Debevec

Diane Debevec (she/her) is a visual artist who loves to write. Several years ago she left a corporate career to explore her love of painting and drawing, relocating to Cincinnati in 1998. She attended her first class at Women Writing for (a) Change in 1999, and was hooked. Several semesters of classes led her to the Feminist Leadership Academy. She credits the core writing classes at Women Writing, and the FLA, with helping her to create a more authentic life. “Women Writing for (a) Change taught me to be increasingly conscious in every part of my life. What I learned here, and my daily writing practice, brings clarity and courage to every decision and relationship.”

Diane has facilitated & co-facilitated several writing and multi-arts circles, in a variety of settings from living rooms to a local prison. Her re-created life includes an urban community known as Artful Habitats, where she provides unique apartments to creative city dwellers. She resides there with her husband, Jeff Smith, dogs Sydney & Mandy, and the inimitable Audrey the Cat. Diane shares studio space with painter Polly Hart at the Essex Studios.

Her Bio
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Jaye Elizabeth Elijah

Jaye Elizabeth Elijah

Jaye Elizabeth Elijah (they/them) has been a member of the WWf(a)C community since attending summer class at the age of ten. They are a graduate of the Young Feminist Leadership Academy class of 2013 and have grown from teen assistant to facilitator. When not in Cincinnati, Jaye Elizabeth, who holds a BA from The New School in New York City, works with justice organizers, wellness practitioners, and genius young people from Bed Stuy brownstones to the New Mexican desert.

Their Bio
Ashley Ferguson

Ashley Ferguson

Ashley Ferguson

Ashley Aya Ferguson is a writer most inspired by real life. In her poetry, children’s literature and creative nonfiction work, she invites readers to live inside a feeling, creating access for connection and understanding. 

When she is not writing, she is working to maintain her position as an advocate for literacy through frequent classroom visits and artistic collaborations with local community arts organizations. Her work, Boy You Are Brilliant, was selected by the Cincinnati Boychoir to be used in a public concert experience. In 2022, Artswave of Cincinnati awarded her a Truth and Inspiration Grant to produce her third book, I Am Not Afraid of Spiders. Additionally, the Revolution Dance Theater of Cincinnati chose Ferguson to write the story concept for one of its newest pieces, I Dream of Me. She is also a sought-after speaker and guest of local and regional events, including the African-American Read-In, promoted by the Cincinnati Library and Cincinnati Public Schools; the Books By The Banks book fair; the Buckeye Book Fair of Wooster; and Ohio University’s Alvin Addams Symposium. Additionally, as a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Ashley has been featured twice in the Delta Authors Directory, extending her reach and influence to the far-reaching international member community.

Ferguson’s continued commitment to honing her craft outside of the demands of single motherhood landed her in the 2021 Hurston Wright Writer’s Weekend cohort under the instruction of the incomparable Imani Perry. She has also attended recent workshops with celebrated writers including Crystal Wilkinson, Maggie Smith and Hanif Abdurraqib.  

As an active community servant, she also shares her time, talent and treasure with the Ohio University Alumni Association as a Board Trustee; and Cincinnati’s Women Writing for a Change organization, where she serves as a facilitator and board vice president. This work enables her to lead writing circles while also working to expand writing workshops to members of underrepresented communities.

Ferguson currently resides in Cincinnati with her daughter, Nia.

Bio
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Hannah Simon Goldman

Hannah Simon Goldman

Hannah Simon Goldman (she/her) began attending YWWf(a)C circles as a young teen, and no one’s been able to get rid of her since! In the interim, she has become a facilitator of youth programs, and even works with adults in the all-gender Let's Be Perfectly Queer circle with Janie Baer. Hannah has a degree in Women’s and Gender Studies and English (no surprises there!), and loves holding space for identity exploration of all sorts.

Her Bio
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Laurie Lambert

Laurie Lambert

Laurie (she/her) began classes at WWf(a)C in 2011 as a Wednesday night writer in the women’s Core Class. She completed studies at the Conscious Feminine Leadership Academy in 2013. She holds outreach writing circles in the community and has facilitated the All Gender Core Class since 2015. Laurie also organized WWf(a)C’s first V-Day event in 2013 and continues to coordinate our annual V-Day presentations. Laurie’s poetry has been included in several journals and anthologies. Finishing Line Press published her chapbook What I Can Carry (2016), and her first full-length collection of poems What We Are Made Of (2019). Laurie holds a B.A. in Chemistry and a PhD in Immunology. She and her husband Chris Kelling are the parents of adult triplets. Their home is near Morrow, Ohio. 

Her Bio
Mary Ruth Kamp

Mary Ruth Kamp

Mary Ruth Kamp

Mary Ruth Kamp is an artist and poet who works at her local public library driving the bookmobile around the county. She facilitates writing circles, retreats and wilderness exploration and is currently the NEO Poetry Out Loud Coordinator with the Massillon Museum. She also loves reading fantasy and science fiction and has 6 kitty furkins who live with her and her partner Mark.

Her Bio
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Liv Linn

Liv Linn

Liv Linn (she/her) has been taking classes, facilitating camps and the Young Feminist Leadership Academy, and making trouble at WWf(a)C since she was eight years old. She is a graduate of the 2013 class of YFLA. Liv's passions have always been at the intersection of feminism and storytelling in many mediums, including podcasting, zines, and oral history, although poetry will always be her first love. She is currently making her home in Durham, NC, where she hikes, eats biscuits, and spends hours at Zoom city council meetings.

Liv's Bio
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Elizabeth Mannion

Elizabeth Mannion

Elizabeth has a B.A. from Wellesley College and a J.D. from Fordham University. Writing has always been an integral part of her life whether writing briefs as a lawyer, stories to share with her children, or poetry for peace of mind. Discovering the Core classes at Women Writing for (a) Change was like coming home. From 2017-2018 Elizabeth was Board President at Women Writing for (a) Change. Elizabeth graduated from the organization's Conscious Feminine Leadership Academy in 2017.

Elizabeth has also served in several other volunteer capacities including as a Board Member for AMAC (Academy of Medicine Alliance of Cincinnati), Gala Co-Chair for the New Year’s Eve Ball at the Symphony, Silent Auction Chair for charity fundraisers and Blue Ash PTA President.

She formerly owned the Montgomery Book Company. Elizabeth and her husband have three grown children and one granddaughter.

Her Bio
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Karen Novak

Karen Novak

Karen (she/her) has lived in Mason, Ohio for nearly 30 years. She is a writer by trade, having published four novels--three of which were reviewed in the New York Times. In 2008, while recovering from chemo, she discovered Women Writing for (a) Change, and there she found her real work in life, nurturing the voices of others. She graduated from the Conscious Feminine Leadership Academy (CFLA) in 2013 and has been facilitating circles since. WWf(a)C is both her spiritual home and a never-ending source of growth. Her sustaining belief is that the way we learn who we really are is through putting our words into the world.

Her Bio
Maya Martinez

Maya Martinez

Maya Martinez

Maya Martinez (she/they) started making a home in the WWf(a)C community before high school and never left! After attending summer and winter/spring sessions whenever possible, they completed the Young Feminist Leadership Academy program (YFLA) in 2021 with the Cartographer’s cohort. They are currently attending Smith College, majoring in the Study of Women and Gender and concentrating in Community Engagement and Social Change. She enjoys writing poetry, reading copious amounts of sapphic fantasy/YA novels, and taking her girlfriend on dates to pop-up queer markets. 

Maya is looking forward to working and growing alongside WWf(a)C and can’t wait to participate in the summer camps, writing, and fun that this community has to offer.

Her Bio
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Lisa Prantl

Lisa Prantl

A life in words. From childhood rhymes to ideas and feelings translated on paper; from block letters and manual typewriters to keyboards, writing has been an ebb and flow in how to understand and live life for Lisa. Her Cincinnati writing roots run deep with elementary school poetry published in the Seven Hills Review, a public library creative publication, and more recently her poetry appeared in the local publication, For A Better World (2017, 2018). Prior to graduating with a BA in English from the University of Cincinnati, Lisa was winner of that university’s Elsie B. Westheimer Short Story Prize for her story, Changers and Billers.

Decades later, attending a Women Writing for (a) Change sampler, Lisa found both a place to write and the encouragement that comes from being heard. Lisa is a graduate of the organization’s Conscious Feminine Leadership Academy (CFLA, 2017). For her CFLA practicum, Lisa facilitated writing circles focusing on aging and end of life transitions. After retiring from a corporate career, Lisa completed training as a Death Midwife and is a member of the Cincinnati End of Life Collaborative. 

Joining both the faculty and board at Women Writing is a coming home and giving back for Lisa, making it easy to follow her lifelong passion for words and service.

Her Bio
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Keegan Sullivan

Keegan Sullivan

Keegan (she/her) first attended classes as a nine year old, at her favorite summer camp. She ended up returning to the teen fall camp after getting her heart broken at 16 (as so many do). She fell in love all over again with the community and space. She has attended countless classes since then, assisted as a teen assistant for many years, and is a 2018 YFLA grad. She is passionate about intersectional feminism, poetry, cats, books, and her friendships (particularly the ones she made at Women Writing). She currently attends Salem College as an English and History double major.

Keegan's Bio
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Kelly Richey

Kelly Richey

Kelly Richey is an award-winning blues musician, poet/songwriter, guitar teacher, life coach, spiritual director, and inspirational speaker. She has made her mark through the power of her voice – figuratively and literally. Kelly is a 2015 graduate of the WWf(a)C Conscious Feminine Leadership Academy and weaves writing practices into her coaching and teaching practice. Kelly founded Women Writing for (a) Change + Mobile, an affiliate school that takes the WWf(a)C circle practices on the road.

Her Bio
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Lisa Rocklin

Lisa Rocklin

 

Lisa Rocklin (she/her) found her way to a Sampler in 2006. From that first circle, it was wonderfully obvious that her writing voice had found a home. She is a 2015 graduate of the Conscious Feminine Leadership Academy and became a SoulCollage® facilitator in 2020. Lisa joined the administrative team of WWf(a)C in 2018 and served as Executive Director from 2020-2023, successfully steering the organization through the Pandemic. Prior to her service at WWf(a)C, Lisa taught high school English for 21 years. She has a BA in English and a MA in Secondary Education from Northern Kentucky University. Lisa credits her sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Patsy Cash Cole, with recognizing and encouraging her poetic tendencies. 

Her Bio
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Sally Schneider

Sally Schneider

Sally (she/her) is a passionate teacher of the practices of Women Writing for (a) Change, a role she has relished since 2006. She has the privilege of facilitating the “Marvelous Monday Nighters” and the “Terrific Tuesday Writers,” and has led sampler and outreach classes for the Campbell County Library, Wise Temple Sisterhood, and The Women’s Connection. Sally discovered the magic of Women Writing for (a) Change in 2002, and has been a proud member of the community ever since. Her transformative journey, which began as a Saturday Sampler participant, led her through seven semester classes to the Feminist Leadership Academy, from which she graduated in 2006. She continues to hone her leadership skills by participating in WWf(a)C sponsored workshops and retreats, and by exchanging ideas with other “sister” facilitators around the country.

Sally credits, with gratitude, her teachers and mentors in the Women Writing for (a) Change community (Kathy Wade, Mary Pierce Brosmer, and Mary Ann Jansen), for her growth as a woman, a writer, and a conscious leader. Sally continues to draw on their wisdom as she facilitates her own circles, and finds great joy in spreading the magic of Women Writing for (a) Change to others.

Her Bio
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Amy Sullivan

Amy Sullivan

Amy (she/hers) took her first WWf(a)C class in 2007 following the death of her mom. She needed a place to express herself and be held. She found that deep caring and community in the circles and also got in touch with her true voice. After several years of circles, Amy stepped aside as her daughter became involved at WWf(a)C. Inspired by watching her daughter attend and graduate from YFLA, Amy attended CFLA in 2019 and is a Sister Tree.

Following a mid-life revolution, she went back to school to get her Master's in Mental Health Counseling leaving her years as a massage therapist behind. As a SoulCollage© facilitator, she loves to facilitate writing/SoulCollage© circles.

Her Bio
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Rowe Schnure

Rowe Schnure

Rowe Schnure (they/them) is a weaver, writer and facilitator, living and working in Cincinnati, OH. They are anchored in a fascination of the weaving process as a metaphor for understanding the relationship of one's internal and external environments. In Rowe's 10 years of weaving, they have exhibited their sculptural artwork in multiple states, led community weaving workshops for children to seniors and facilitated their own workshop curriculum known as Contemplative Weaving. Rowe is a 2022 graduate of the Conscious Feminine Leadership Academy.

Their Bio
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Carol Walkner

Carol Walkner

Carol Walkner has been a sales and marketing executive, writer and teacher for over 40 years. She is a trained and accomplished public speaker, workshop leader and group facilitator. As a right brained entrepreneur, reiki master and clairvoyant medium, Carol maintains a busy and successful holistic healing practice.

Her business articles have appeared regularly in trade journals since the 1980’s. She is an award winning poet and her poetry and stories have appeared in magazines, journals and online publications.

Walkner has a journalism degree, a master’s degree in Expressive Arts Therapy and is certified by Women Writing for a Change to conduct writing circles. For the past 10 years, she has been facilitating grief writing circles, write to heal circles for hospice nurses and legacy circles for our wise elders to record their stories for their families.

Carol is one of the authors in Empowering Transformations for Women and Women Living Consciously. Her book of collected poems and essays of love, life & loss – The Glass Is Already Broken – was published December 2018.

Walkner’s book, Getting There…From Here, came out in August 2015. Using the experiential exercises within the book, she leads workshops and private guidance sessions for individuals, entrepreneurs and business people seeking growth and transformation. Her new life guidance program of RADICAL SELF CARE will begin spring of 2020.

Her Bio
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Annette Januzzi Wick

Annette Januzzi Wick

Annette Januzzi Wick (she/ her) is a writer, teacher, community connector and author of I’ll Be in the Car. For Women Writing for (a) Change, she facilitates writing workshops and hosts the monthly Women Poets in the Courtyard. In the community, she works with City Gospel Mission and Alzheimer’s related organizations to use writing as a tool for healing. She is a panel host and member of the Books by the Banks Writing committee. Annette maintains two blogs, Find You in the Sun, a journey of a daughter through her mother’s dementia, and Gettin’ My City On, for which she was nominated a Best Local Author in 2015 & 2016.  Annette also works as a freelance writer for Movers and Makers magazine and is an Impact 100 member.

She currently is a selection committee member of Impact 100, a board member of Memorial Hall and a Findlay Market supporter through the Art and Poetry event. She and her husband are active supporters of the many arts and social service organizations in Over-the-Rhine including Ensemble Theatre, Know Theatre, Future Leaders, OTRCH, and OTR Community Council. Her previous board affiliations include Women Writing for (a) Change Foundation.

In the past, Annette has won awards from Writers Digest, Ohio Poetry Day, and the GWCL, while also acting as a speaker for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society events, cancer and support groups, women’s and church groups, and book clubs.

Her work has been published on many online dementia-related sites, as well as Spillwords.com, MidlifeBoulevard.com, and HumorWriters.org. For more information on her work, appearances, essays and poetry can be found at www.annettejanuzziwick.com.

Her Bio
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Felix Marisa Head

Felix Marisa Head

Felix Marisa Head (CFLA 2015) is a communications artist, designer, and creative coach, doing business as Futures by Felix. In addition to facilitating classes, she works one-on-one with creatives to help them visualize a path to achieving their dreams. She has a starter homestead in Amelia, Ohio and travels the region speaking, teaching, and advocating for ecological lifestyles and landscapes. FuturesbyFelix.com / [email protected] 

Her Bio
Elena

Elena Estella Green

Elena Estella Green

 Elena Estella Green is a poet and native New Yorker who moved to Cincinnati about eight years ago. She studied creative writing at NYU Gallatin School. A BA from The College of New Rochelle. Recipient of a co-fellowship with The Well last year. Her work was included in several anthologies such as Anthropocene, For a Better World 2021, 2022 & 2024, Inside Out, Mindful Poetry Moments 2021-2024, Haiku N.A. 2023 and Hamilton Public Library 2020 Poetry of the Month - January & November. Elena is a graduate of Women Writing for (a) Change’s Conscious Feminine Leadership Academy. 

Her Bio