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I am a local community member, public servant, and theatre artist deeply invested in the South Sound and building dialogue that sparks equitable social change. I'm a queer non-binary white half-Jewish person, youngest of two, PNW outdoor enthusiast, and pet-lover. My passion is for people and finding the connections between us through our stories. I studied theatre and interdisciplinary arts throughout middle and high school (Vancouver School of Arts and Academics), Theatre Arts, Anthropology/Sociology, and French in undergraduate (BA, Kalamazoo College ‘13), and a Masters of Public & Nonprofit Administration (MPA, The Evergreen State College ‘18). My professional work has focused on public and nonprofit organizational development, education policy, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. I practice Playback Theatre with the local improvisational troupe the Heartsparkle Players and have launched Brave Practice Playback Theatre Collective as a community engagement program of Window Seat! I'm so blessed to live with my life partner, Chaney, and be building this life, here, and now.

Meg's CV

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I spent the first 20 years of my life in a a small town about an hour outside of New York City. I grew up in a working class family among very affluent white families, many of whom came from generations of wealth and privilege. My experience growing up feeling both a part of and a part from my community led to a deep interest in understanding the nuances and complexities of human experience. When I moved west in 1998 to attend the Evergreen State College, I began to grow my interest into a vocation as an oral historian, multimedia storyteller, and community-based educator. I have since carried out my work in a variety of ways: as a community-baed learning coordinator at high schools in Albuquerque and Portland; a development director in arts and social service nonprofits in the South Sound; and a member of the faculty at the Evergreen State College. In 2016, I founded Window Seat with a group of supportive community members who believed in its vision.

I am an introvert who is fed by conversation and human connection. I feel most at home as an interviewer, editor, and curator, and I love facilitating learning communities. Window Seat offers me an opportunity to connect deeply with people in my community.  It is an honor and a gift to be have the opportunity to sit with others, to listen deeply to their stories, and create opportunities for community members to come together to learn from each other.

To read more about my professional and educational background, you can download my CV.

Elaine's CV

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I am a Chicano advocate who was raised by two strong women who have contributed to my advocacy, my mother Miriam, and my grandmother Maria. While growing up in a Mexican community in Southern California, there were stories of my family overcoming issues and barriers when they first moved to the United States. Overcoming those experiences have not only fueled my passion to listen to others but to help provide a platform for our community to be heard.

As a Community Navigator and Education Advocate at CIELO, I have been able to help community members access resources. With that outreach, I’ve built many relationships and with those connections come stories of peoples past. Stories that tell me of an experience and path they took to be where they are today. I believe it is important to have places such as Window Seat Media in our community to document our diverse stories that inspire others.  

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I am the oldest daughter of two Salvadoran immigrants, a first generation college graduate and a community-based worker. Growing up in Thurston County, my family and I utilized many of the resources I now collaborate with. It is an honor to repay and continue the efforts of those resources that provide connection, stability and equitable opportunities so that our community continues to thrive.

I am a Community Schools Manager at TOGETHER! who works closely with the Tumwater students and families. Through this position, I have been able to connect and support folks with their individual needs. As relationships and trust grow, we learn that our needs are much more common and with communication and storytelling, we are able to connect and support one another at a micro and macro level. Window Seat Media is unique in their way of connection and support, and I am grateful to be a part of their efforts to create social change through community storytelling.

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I’ve been retired for the past five years.  For the twenty-five years before that, I was very fortunate to lead the Dispute Resolution Center of Thurston County. I currently do activities that help me be mindful in the moment, that keep my body strong and flexible, that promote peace and justice in the wider world, and that feed my soul with all the beauty and pleasure of being alive.

I want to promote any activity that encourages human connection and empathy.  Telling and listening to each others' stories is such a powerful way to promote connection. Window Seat Media offers so many creative and varied ways to connect with each other.  If our species is going to survive, we have to transcend our fears and hatreds of the ‘other’.    

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In this my 75th year, I realized that I wasalways attracted to problem solving in collaboration with others. It may havestarted in 2nd grade when I noticed that some classmates werestruggling with the lessons while others had no issues. I asked my teacher ifwe could organize in groups to assist each other. That same pattern of engagingled me to creating: activities for neighborhood youth; car pools; peacemarches; conferences for women; safe spaces for those struggling to escapeviolence and persecution; and welcoming environments for helping to developfriendships in the community. All came to be in between marriages, motherhood, college,careers in legal and social service.  Learningnew things and being enhanced by collaborating with others came with everyendeavor.

It seems this is the path that I will always be on. Itbrings me peace, joy, and fulfilment and confirms a quote from my faith thatstates “work done in the spirit of service is the highest form of worship” –Bahai.  

Participation with Window Seat Media fits with my life path.

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I recently retired after 24 years of teaching labor studies at The Evergreen State College in the Evening and Weekend program. Before my teaching career, I ran printing presses and sorted mail, delivered it, and did customer service for the post office. I was a steward and newspaper editor for the American Postal Workers Union and consider myself a lifelong labor and social justice worker. I’m fortunate to share my home in Olympia with my wonderful husband and sweet dog. You might see me running local streets or flailing away out on tennis courts.

It was the power of ordinary people’s stories that sparked my interest in labor history and helped me understand that history is something that we do to make meaning, not a litany of dates and names. Documentary films, oral histories, and student projects have always been at the center of the learning communities I have tried to create as a college or union-based educator.

I’m excited to join Window Seat Media’s board because I have been so impressed with the work that Elaine and others have done in building community and telling unheard truths.