Oral Historian, Educator, Founder

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I spent the first 20 years of my life in 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 apart 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-based learning coordinator at high schools in Albuquerque, NM and Portland, OR; a development director in arts and social service nonprofits in the South Sound; and an adjunct faculty teaching in the Evening and Weekend Studies and Masters in Public Administration programs 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 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.

I've called Olympia home since 2008. I live here with my two children and two kitties.

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 a writer, storyteller, strategist, relationship builder, and advocate for equity and justice. I’ve worked in economic development in the public sector, been an investor and entrepreneur in the private sector, directed philanthropic programs in the nonprofit sector, and spent over sixteen years learning from and contributing to many grassroots and community-based organizations. I currently support economic justice and strong local communities as the founder and principal consultant at Salmonberry Community Strategies.

Originally from the San Luis Valley, a high desert farming community in southern Colorado, I have early lived experience in poverty and rural life. From there, I went on to live in various places around the Western United States and globally as my family migrated for work. I returned to Colorado to start a family, earning a B.A. in psychology from the University of Colorado and a graduate degree in management from Regis University while we were there. We relocated to Olympia in 2016 and have loved connecting with this place and the people who live here.

I joined the Window Seat Media board because sharing stories across differences is how communities build the trust and connections needed for a more just and humane world. It’s important to hold each other and our unique stories with thoughtfulness and care, and I love how Window Seat weaves that into every part of the organization and process.

When I’m not fiddling with a system map, investing in local sauerkraut companies, or plotting a mutiny, you’ll find me teaching my three teen boys how to cook; wandering a rainforest, mountain, or beach on the lands of the Coast Salish people with my husband; writing science fiction; or around the fire with friends.

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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 was raised in Wenatchee, Washington after migrating to the United States with my family at the age of six. My capability to learn to read, write, and speak English, adapt to new environments, and become an advocate for my family and community was the birth of the strength, resiliency and revolutionary mindset I carry today. Throughout my teenage years, I played sports and have always been musically inclined. The teamwork dynamic, trust, and courage needed in soccer were fundamental to how I have evolved as a team member; I played trumpet in mariachi groups for over ten years. The passion for making rhythm and culture part of my resistance to systematic oppression and the individualistic mentality has been one of the visions in bridging cultural competence amongst communities and administrators as well as empowering youth to develop awareness and pride of their roots and be the inspired action of tomorrow.

I currently work as a Co-Executive Director for TOGETHER!, a nonprofit organization focused on youth, community, and equity. For seven years I have focused on youth, family, and TOGETHER! staff cultural, emotional, identity, language, mental, and social awareness and development. My passion for increasing skill sets and awareness on courage-building, self-awareness, brave leadership, equity & inclusion, and language justice, has poured into transformative and creative work; impactful to the organization, youth, and community I serve. With interests in daring leadership, and self and collective awareness I create and hold spaces for whole-hearted engagement that leads to impactful work and contribution. I Identify as Mexican, Queer, First-generation, Themtor, Guide and Educator.

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I am an education faculty at The Evergreen State College where I arrived as a psychologist with a particular interest in learning and motivation fifteen years ago. I am excited to join the Window Seat Board to support the organization's efforts to develop educational curriculum from its oral history archive.

For the last fifteen years, I have been teaching in the Masters in Teaching program, a two-year coordinated studies learning community and K-12 teacher certification program that integrates themes of democracy, multicultural and equity-minded perspectives, and developmentally appropriate teaching practices. I have also developed and taught in a range of undergraduate interdisciplinary programs, including What is Education for at This Moment in Time and Place?, for undergrads thinking about being educators or K-12 teachers.I teach and refine my teaching practice using the principles of learning to support motivation and learning, structure group work and dialogue, promote inquiry and interdependence, and engage inquiry-oriented critical reflection.

I also plays in the local band Choro Tomorrow, a group of musicians who play Brazilian music and focus on the beautiful and complex music that is Choro. As an amateur singer and flautist, I seek out music as a way to connect with communities and larger soundscapes. Beyond its beauty, Choro challenges me to listen and be in dialogue, to look up from simple musical lines on a page, and to engage with ideas offered by others - be it through melody, harmony, or rhythm. I also sing and play with the Makedonians, playing traditional music of the Balkans and Near East.