Kapua Iao (she/her) was born and raised on the beautiful island of O’ahu, Hawai’i, though she felt the travel bug at an early age. She holds an MA in Art History from the University at Buffalo and an MA in Museum Studies from the University of Toronto. Besides working at Yellow Arrow, Kapua also works as an editorial assistant for Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and as an editor for various archaeological books and journals. She spends her summers in Crete, Greece with the Gournia Excavation Project (gournia.org) and has written a few publications herself. Having traveled and lived all around the world, Kapua currently resides in Montréal, Quebec.
Annie Marhefka, Executive Director
Annie Marhefka (she/her) is a writer, publishing professional, and HR consultant in Baltimore, Maryland. Her creative nonfiction and poetry have been published by Lunch Ticket, Literary Mama, Pithead Chapel, Variant Lit, Anti-Heroin Chic, and others. Annie spent the majority of her career as an executive in human resources in the ed-tech industry before switching paths to focus on motherhood and creative writing. She has a BA in creative writing from Washington College and an MBA with a concentration in HR management. When she’s not writing, working, or volunteering, she is often drifting aboard a boat on the Chesapeake Bay in search of fish or a good story idea. Annie’s writing has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Annie is working on a memoir about mother/daughter relationships; you can find her writing on Instagram, Twitter, and anniemarhefka.com.
Alexa Laharty, Creative Director
Alexa Laharty (she/her) is a graphic and UX designer living in Berlin, Germany. She grew up in Portland, Oregon (just a few blocks away from Gwen [Van Velsor], Yellow Arrow’s founder!), before moving to Boston, Massachusetts, then the United Kingdom to study archaeology. She spent most of the last decade as an archaeologist, before finally making the switch to a career in design. You can find her on Instagram @alexaelisabeth.
Kyra McDonnell, Community Engagement & Events Manager
Kyra McDonnell (she/her) is a community engagement professional and proud resident of Baltimore City, Maryland. After moving to Baltimore from Rhode Island, Kyra quickly fell in love with the city and works professionally in various neighborhoods with residents to increase civic engagement and transparency with local government. After graduating with degrees in English and communications, she continues to explore her love of stories and is a passionate reader who is excited to connect Yellow Arrow authors with readers everywhere.
Raychelle Heath, Workshop Programming and Curriculum Manager
Raychelle Heath is a poet, artist, teacher, coach, yoga and meditation instructor, podcaster, and traveler. She holds a BA in languages and an MFA in poetry. She uses her writing and podcast to tell the multifaceted stories of black women in the world. She also explores her experiences with the culturally rich communities that she has encountered in her travels. She has been published by Travel Noire, Yellow Arrow Journal, The Brazen Collective, Locked Horn Press, Community Building Art Works, and others. She also holds yoga certifications for Kripalu Yoga, Yoga Nidra, and Mind Body Meditation. She is currently director of curriculum and coaching for the Unicorn Authors Club.
Allyson Waldon, Publication Sales Manager
Allyson (Ally) Waldon’s (she/her) entire world revolves around books. She recently received her MFA in creative writing and publishing arts from the University of Baltimore (UB). While at UB, Ally served as an editor for Welter, a literary magazine. When she isn’t writing, she manages operations at The Book Rack, a woman-run educational book distributor. In her free time, Ally performs with local community theaters and choirs in the Baltimore area. She is currently working on the creation of a new collaborative musical at Fells Point Corner Theater. She is also working on keeping her dog and cat from eating one another. Interior Lives, a self-published collection of short prose, can be found at allywaldon.com.
Melissa Nunez, Interviewer
Melissa Nunez is a Latin@ writer and homeschooling mother of three from the Rio Grande Valley region of south Texas. She enjoys observing, exploring, and photographing the local flora and fauna with her family. These adventures, along with her culture and community, inspire much of her writing. Her work has appeared in Honey Literary, Variant Lit, Susurrus, and others. She is a column contributor at The Daily Drunk and also a staff writer for Alebrijes Review. You can follow her on Twitter @MelissaKNunez.
Marylou Fusco, Author Support Coordinator
Marylou Fusco (she/her) grew up in the wilds of New Jersey and knew she was a writer forever. She holds a BA in Journalism from St. Bonaventure University and an MA in Creative Writing from Temple University. She has worked as a newspaper reporter, GED instructor, and ghost tour guide. Marylou’s writing has appeared in PopMatters, Carve, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Mutha Magazine, and various literary journals. She makes her home in Baltimore, Maryland, with her husband and daughter.
Ann Quinn, Chapbook Poetry Editor
Ann Quinn’s (she/her) poetry was selected by Stanley Plumly as the first-place winner in the 2015 Bethesda Literary Arts Festival poetry contest and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her work is published in Potomac Review, Little Patuxent Review, Broadkill Review, and other journals and is included in the anthology Red Sky: Poetry on the Global Epidemic of Violence Against Women. Ann lives in Catonsville with her family where she teaches reflective and creative writing and music and plays clarinet with the Columbia Orchestra. Her degrees are in music performance; she fell in love with poetry in midlife. Her chapbook, Final Deployment, is published by Finishing Line Press. Please visit online at annquinn.net.
Claire Taylor, Chapbook Prose Editor
Claire Taylor writes for both adult and youth audiences. She is the author of a children’s literature collection, Little Thoughts, as well as multiple chapbooks, including Mother Nature and One Good Thing. Her debut picture book, Benjamin’s Sad Day, is forthcoming from Golden Fleece Press. Claire is the founder and editor-in-chief of Little Thoughts Press, a literary magazine for young readers. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland, with her family and pets in an old stone house where birds love to roost. You can find her online at clairemtaylor.com.
Tonee Mae Moll, Vignette Managing Editor (2024)
Dr. Tonee Mae Moll (she/they) is a queer and trans writer and educator who lives in Baltimore, Maryland. She holds a PhD in English from Morgan State University and an MFA in creative writing & publishing art from the University of Baltimore. Tonee Mae is an assistant professor of English at a community college in Maryland. Her debut memoir, Out of Step, won a 2018 Lambda Literary Award and the 2017 Non/Fiction Prize. It was also featured on the American Library Association’s annual list of notable LGBTQ+ books. Her latest poetry collection, You Cannot Save Here, won the Jean Feldman Poetry Prize from Washington Writers Publishing House. Tonee Mae’s poetry has also received the Adele V. Holden award for creative excellence and the Bill Knott Poetry Prize. It has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, and it is included in anthologies that have been finalists for both the Lammys and the Ignyte awards. She is a Gemini.
Isabelle Anderson, Vignette Assistant (2024)
Isabelle Anderson (she/her) is a poet and fiction writer from Baltimore, Maryland. She recently graduated with a BA in English from Washington College where she was a finalist for the Sophie Kerr Prize and the recipient of The Pfister Poetry Prize through the Academy of American Poets. When she is not reading or writing, she can be found on a nature walk, checking the trees for good spots to hide golf pencils à la Mary Oliver.
Jennifer N. Shannon, Guest Editor YAJ IX/01
Photo by Danese Kenon
Jennifer N. Shannon has self-published three books: Silent Teardrops, for the LOVE, short stories and poems, vol. 1, and for the LOVE, short stories and poems, vol. 2. Her poetry, short stories, photographs, and essays have been in lit magazines such as North Dakota Quarterly, Yellow Arrow Journal, Deep South Magazine, Auburn Avenue, and others. In 2022, she curated the six-month artist exhibition “Black Joy Is My Protest,” which featured 12 artists from across the country and was showcased at Busboys and Poets in Baltimore. Jennifer was also a 2022 Baker Artist Awards finalist, a poetry fellow at The Watering Hole, and in 2023, she was selected as a Maryland State Arts Council Triennial Artist for Literary Arts. Jennifer is a proud South Carolinian and Gamecock who now lives in Maryland with her son and partner. Visit Jennifer’s website jennifernshannon.com or follow her @writerjns on Instagram and Facebook. Jennifer previously served on the Yellow Arrow board as marketing director and her poem “We Smile” was included in Yellow Arrow Journal RENASCENCE (Vol. VI, No. 1).
Sydney Alexander, Editorial Associate
Sydney Alexander is a junior at Middlebury College in Vermont studying English and geography. She grew up in Ellicott City, Maryland, but enjoys the fact that she has lived all over the United States, including states such as North Carolina, California, and Wisconsin. Her favorite genres to read and write are fantasy and literary fiction, and she has a soft spot for short stories. Sydney hopes to pursue a career that combines her dual interests in writing and publications with geography. Her work has been published online in Hunger Mountain Review and Mulberry Literary.
Jill Earl, Editorial Associate
Jill Earl is a writer based in Maryland. As a past member of the Maryland Writers Association, she served as a proofreader then later editor of the membership publication Pen in Hand. She was a contributor and newsletter editor for WOW! Women on Writing, an online magazine for women writers. She was published in Pen in Hand, Topology (formerly catapult magazine), WOW! Women on Writing, and on the website Your Tango.
Angela Firman, editorial associate
Angela Firman (she/her) is a Midwesterner at heart living a Pacific Northwest life with her best friend and their hilarious, sometimes demanding, roommates aged 4 and 8. Angela is an avid reader, a closet-cross-stitcher, and a fervent writer. While she has always enjoyed journaling, writing became a source of healing for Angela after being diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer at the age of 33. She found a place in the literary world in a writing group for breast cancer survivors—women who have grown to be some of her dearest friends—and now at the University of Washington where she is earning a Certificate in Editing. Her nonfiction writing has been published in Wildfire Magazine, Open Minds Quarterly, You Might Need To Hear This, and Press Pause. You can find her on Instagram @angelafirman11.
Meagan Gamble, Editorial Associate
Meagan Gamble (she/her)–or just Meg if you like–is a writer and bookseller living in Boulder, Colorado, for some reason, despite the fact that she is terrified of heights. She graduated from City University of London with an MA in creative writing and publishing in 2016 and now works in academic publishing. She is an editor, writing tutor, and her dad says she’s “Amazing, Beautiful, and Smart.” She hopes to keep working in books in some capacity for the rest of her career, either behind the scenes or as a novelist herself. You can find her on Instagram at @mgnface.
Siobhan McKenna, EDITORIAL ASSOCIATE
Siobhan McKenna (she/her) is a middle child and a lover of bikepacking and practicing yoga. She enjoys writing essays, poetry, and longwinded letters to friends. She earned her bachelor’s degree in creative writing and biology from Loyola University Maryland and a master’s degree in nursing from Johns Hopkins University. In addition to her work at Yellow Arrow, Siobhan is an ICU travel nurse. Her writing can be found on the Yellow Arrow blog, in Intima, and Next Level Nursing. You can follow her on Instagram @sio_han.
Kait Quinn, Editorial Associate
Kait Quinn (she/her) is a poet and professional shower singer born and raised in Texas. She earned her BA in English writing from St. Edward’s University. She is the author of four poetry collections, and her work has appeared in Reed Magazine, Watershed Review, Olney Magazine, Chestnut Review, and elsewhere. She received first place in the League of MN Poets’ 2022 John Calvin Rezmerski Memorial Grand Prize and honorable mention in the 2023 Stephen A. DiBiase Poetry Prize. She enjoys repetition, coffee shops, tattoos, and vegan breakfast foods. Kait currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her partner, their regal cat (Spart), and their very polite Aussie mix (Jesse). Find her at kaitquinn.com and on Instagram @kaitquinnpoetry.
Beck Snyder, editorial associate
Beck Snyder (she/they) is a student on the creative writing track at Towson University and is currently figuring out where they’re going in life. When they’re not knee-deep in homework or their own writing endeavors, you can usually find them playing video games, reading, or making stupid jokes with their friends. When not on Towson’s campus, you can find them in the tiny town of Clear Spring, Maryland, on Instagram @real_possiblyawesome or on Twitter @PossiblyAwesom if you’d like to hear the thoughts that pop into their head at three in the morning. Find out more about Beck at becksnyder.squarespace.com.
Samantha Pomerantz, READER
Samantha Pomerantz (she/her) is a writer and a lover of stories. She is studying English and creative writing at Elon University until mid 2024. And then she will do other things that will likely also involve reading and writing. She is the poetry editor of Colonnades literary and art journal and the second-place recipient of the 2023 Frederick Haartman poetry prize. Samantha has spent most of her life in Germantown, Maryland, hugging trees and learning how to be a person.
Leticia Priebe Rocha, Reader
Leticia Priebe Rocha (she/her) is a poet, visual artist, and editor. She is the author of In Lieu of Heartbreak, This is Like (Bottlecap Press, 2024). Leticia earned her bachelor’s from Tufts University, where she was awarded the 2020 Academy of American Poets University & College Poetry Prize. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, she immigrated to Miami, Florida. at the age of nine and currently resides in the Greater Boston area. Her work has been published in Salamander, Rattle, Pigeon Pages, Protean Magazine, and elsewhere. Leticia also served as guest editor for Yellow Arrow Journal’s EMBLAZON issue.
Lisa Roscoe, Reader
Lisa Roscoe (she/her) is an instructional designer, writer, and voice-over artist based in Raleigh, North Carolina. She has created educational content for global tech companies and international nonprofit Goodwill Industries. Outside of her nine-to-five, Lisa practices creative expression in the form of poetry and black-and-white photography.
Nichola Ruddell, Reader
Nichola Ruddell lives in Nanaimo, British Columbia with her husband and two young children. She attended the University of Victoria receiving her degree in Child and Youth Care. Nichola is also a certified Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapist. She loves writing, is a published poet, recently became an associate member of the League of Canadian poets, and is currently working on a book of poetry.
Andrea Stennett, Volunteer Community Engagement
Andrea Stennett (she/her) was born in Germany and grew up with a wanderlust for travel. She holds a BS in Communication, Art, and Science, and an MEd in Public Health Education from Pennsylvania State University. She moved to Baltimore, Maryland, in 2017 after living in Brussels, Belgium. A storyteller, academic, and avid traveler, Andrea is taking a break from her career in public health to pursue new adventures and opportunities. You can find her on Instagram @leap_of_faith.
Amaya Lambert, Program Management Intern
Amaya Lambert loves a good book, slow music, and tasty food. She is currently a senior at Towson University pursuing a degree in English and creative writing. When she’s not reading, she is writing, wrapped up in her inner world. She tutored for her high school’s writing center and the elementary school across. One of her proudest accomplishments is winning second place in a writing competition.
Mel Silberger, Publications Intern
Amelia (Mel) Silberger is a senior at Loyola University Maryland majoring in psychology and writing and minoring in political science. When she is not working, she enjoys writing and rock climbing. Mel has spent the past two summers living in Orlando, Florida, while participating in the Disney College Program. She has loved creating stories since she was six years old, and hopes to continue to grow and build with other writers in the future.
Board of Directors
If you are interested in joining the board of directors, view our open roles here. Read our bylaws here.
Mickey Revenaugh, Board President
Mickey Revenaugh is an education innovator, mission-driven leader, and recovering journalist/current writer of creative nonfiction and fiction. In addition to cofounding a Maryland-based international network of virtual schools, she serves in Board leadership for a New York City charter school, a national charitable foundation, and a global private school. Her writing has appeared in VICE, Chautauqua, Cleaver, Catapult, Louisiana Literature, Lunch Ticket, and many others. She holds an MFA from Bennington College, an MBA from New York University, and a BA in American Studies from Yale. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, and can be found online at mickeyrevenaugh.com or on Instagram @mickeyrevenaugh.
Sara Palmer, DIRECTOR OF BOARD DEVELOPMENT & Governance
Sara Palmer (she/her) began writing poems in childhood, and poetry has been a vehicle for self-expression, healing, and enjoyment throughout her life. During her career as a psychologist, Sara worked primarily with people living with physical disabilities and chronic illness and with their caregivers. She coauthored three books in the Johns Hopkins Press Health Book series (on spinal cord injury, stroke, and raising kids with physical disabilities), and wrote a fourth book in that series on living with Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia, a genetic vascular disease. After retiring from psychology, Sara focused on imaginative writing through classes offered by Yellow Arrow Publishing, the Writers’ Center, and Everyman Theater. Her poems appear in Yellow Arrow Journal, Pen in Hand, Fractured Hearts: Multi-faith Words of Hope and Healing, and Poetry is Life: Writing with Yellow Arrow.
LaWanda Stone, Director of Diversity & Inclusion
LaWanda Stone (she/her) leads executive communications at Stanley Black & Decker and inner communications as a certified yoga instructor at Life Time Fitness as well as her own platform, Namastone Yoga. Previously, she was a reporter for Fortune magazine, washingtonpost.com, Chicago Tribune, and Dow Jones Newswires. Her passion is to help individuals show up as their authentic selves and be seen through storytelling. Her worldview has been shaped traveling North America, South America, the United Kingdom, Africa, and Australia. She has degrees in journalism from Howard University, management (organizational leadership) from American Public University, and an RYT-200 yoga teaching certification from Life Time Fitness. You can find her on Instagram @Namastone_Yoga.
Patti Ross, Director of Author Support
Patti (Spady) Ross graduated from The Duke Ellington School for the Performing Arts and The American University. She also holds a MS from Keller Graduate School of Management. After a brief career in the arts and freelance work with the Washington Times and the Rural America newspapers. Patti settled on a career in the corporate dot com arena gaining President's Club recognition with multiple entities. Having traveled abroad and throughout the U.S., she chose to raise her two daughters in Columbia, Maryland. Thirty years later she is sharing her voice as local spoken word artist, “little pi.” Her debut chapbook, St. Paul Street Provocations, was published in July 2021 by Yellow Arrow Publishing. Patti also hosts EC Poetry and Prose Open Mic at the Baltimore County Arts Guild’s Catonsville Maryland location. She is the founder of the online series First Fridays under the organizational umbrella of Maryland Writers Association of which she is a former board member. She also actively supports several Baltimore youth nonprofits as both board member and advisor. A lifelong advocate for the disenfranchised and homeless, Patti writes poems about the racially marginalized as well as society’s traumatization of the human spirit. Her poems are published in the Pen In Hand Journal, PoetryXHunger website, and Oyster River Pages: Composite Dreams Issue, Writing the Land: Foodways and Social Justice Anthology (2022), as well as other online zines.
Donna Hutchison, Director of Online Programming
Donna Hutchison’s (she/her) family hails from Baltimore, Maryland and she spent many summers at the Chesapeake Bay and in Ocean City. For the last 30 years though, she has lived in Boise, Idaho, and travels frequently for her job. She loves spending time with her husband, children, and five granddaughters in the Idaho mountains looking for mushrooms, huckleberries, hiking, four-wheeling, and other outdoor activities. She is a lifelong educator serving both in higher education and as a superintendent of a virtual school. She currently serves in a leadership position at a leading educational technology company. Donna has her doctorate in education and has published work in educational journals, such as Teachers College Record, and is currently working on a book on best practices in online education.
Nikita Rimal Sharma, Director of Fundraising
Nikita Rimal Sharma (she/her) currently lives in Baltimore, Maryland, with her husband, Prashant and dog, Stone. She works at B'More Clubhouse, a community-based, mental health nonprofit organization focused on psychosocial recovery. She graduated with a master’s in public administration from Wichita State University, Kansas, which is where she landed when she first moved to the U.S. in 2013. When she is not working, Nikita is busy reading, writing and reflecting, hiking, or spending time with family and friends. She has been involved with Yellow Arrow Publishing through the Poetry is Life workshop, her first poem ever published in Yellow Arrow Journal, and her first chapbook publication, The most beautiful garden. She loves being a part of this amazing women driven creative community. Find her on Instagram @nikita.playwithwords.
Cindy Schuller, Treasurer
Cindy Schuller (she/her) is a CPA and has been working in various accounting and process improvement roles for over 20 years. She was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, and has lived in Baltimore, Maryland since the early 2000s after graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Master of Accounting. She works as a director on the global process transformation team for a leading education company. She currently lives in Millersville, Maryland with her husband, Kevin, and their children, Lauren and Kyle. In her free time, she enjoys reading, baking, and playing board games.
Annie Marhefka, Executive Director
Annie Marhefka (she/her) is a writer, publishing professional, and HR consultant in Baltimore, Maryland. Her creative nonfiction and poetry have been published by Lunch Ticket, Literary Mama, Pithead Chapel, Variant Lit, Anti-Heroin Chic, and others. Annie spent the majority of her career as an executive in human resources in the ed-tech industry before switching paths to focus on motherhood and creative writing. She has a BA in creative writing from Washington College and an MBA with a concentration in HR management. When she’s not writing, working, or volunteering, she is often drifting aboard a boat on the Chesapeake Bay in search of fish or a good story idea. Annie’s writing has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Annie is working on a memoir about mother/daughter relationships; you can find her writing on Instagram, Twitter, and anniemarhefka.com.
GWEN VAN VELSOR, FOUNDER
Gwen Van Velsor (she/her) writes creative nonfiction and pseudo-inspirational prose. She started Yellow Arrow in 2016 as a project that publishes and supports writers who identify as women. Raised in Portland, Oregon, Gwen has moved many times, from sea to shining sea, now calling Bosnia her home. Her major accomplishments include walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Spain, raising a toddler, and being OK with life exactly as it is. She has published two memoirs, Follow That Arrow, in 2016 and Freedom Warrior, in 2020 through Yellow Arrow Publishing (find them here). For other books and musings by Gwen, visit her website gwenvanvelsor.com.
Previous team members
Thank you to everyone who has helped Yellow Arrow grow and thrive. For information about our current and past team members, click here. For our past journal guest editors, click here.