Daryll Lynne Evans (she/her), Executive Director, began her writing career as a playwright with the Performing Arts Conservatory in Colorado but has since turned to fiction and screenwriting.
She has an MFA in fiction from Purdue University, where she taught creative writing and worked with Sycamore Review. She has presented workshops for the Willamette Writers Conference, The South Coast Writers Conference, and Wordcrafters Conference. She teaches writing workshops for adults and teens.
Jorah LaFleur (she/her), WITS Coordinator & Teaching Artist, is a writer/performer who enjoys wearing many different hats. She finds herself on stage as a spoken word poet, event emcee, and actor. For over a decade (2006 to 2019), she ran the Eugene Poetry Slam. Jorah believes that spoken word poetry can be an inestimably powerful tool for young people as they explore their evolving identities and linguistic skills.
Jorah obtained her B.A. from the Evergreen State College in Olympia WA, where she worked for several years with the nonprofit Gateways For Incarcerated Youth. She also worked as a paraeducator at Avanti Alternative High School in Olympia, before returning to Oregon in 2006. Jorah has been serving as the lead teaching artist and WITS coordinator for Wordcrafters in Eugene since 2017.
Leah Velez (they/she), Content & Curriculum Coordinator/StoryHelix Coordinator is an interdisciplinary teaching artist and writer from Chicago, who loves using improv, and elements from RPGs for immersive learning experiences.
A former high school teacher, and graduate of the University of Oregon’s MFA program in fiction, Leah is the coordinator of Wordcrafters in Eugene’s StoryHelix, the founder of TeachWriteNow, and when they’re not involved in some kind of storytelling shenanigans, they can be found dancing around the country on their bus with two cats and an amazing partner in crime.
Jo Bartlett (they/them), Giving & Connection Catalyst, started their writing career as a journalist in a teeny Western North Carolina town at the turn of the millennium. Since then, they’ve honed their award-winning writing skills–while journeying around the country to Eugene, Oregon–as a public relations specialist, blogger, marketing communications maven, editor, fundraising communicator and author.
No longer the youngest person in the office, Jo’s the author of several books and creator of online classes focused on personal growth, and is published in a range of newspapers and magazines. Jo graduated from State University of New York with a bachelor’s in Cultural Studies in 2011, as a non-traditional student, is a certified grief recovery specialist, Reiki Master, and a mindfulness practitioner.
Drea Lee (she/her), Programming & Fiction Fantastic Coordinator, is a literary and performing arts educator as well as a young adult fiction writer. She has a B.A. in writing and literature, an M.A. in educational technology, and took part in ASU’s Your Novel Year program in 2016.
She’s been working with youth since 2009 in public and private schools, after-school programs, and most recently teaching on Outschool. Drea’s passion project is the Fiction Fantastic Young Writer’s Contest which she has been managing for Wordcrafters since 2018.
Audrey Quinn (they/them), Marketing Wordsmith, is a renegade scientist turned marketing assistant and content coordinator for Wordcrafters.
Audrey joined our team in 2022 while they were studying Physics and Mathematics at University of Oregon. After obtaining their B.S. in Physics (and minor in Mathematics), they decided to continue at Wordcrafters because they enjoyed writing press releases, blog posts, and event write-ups so much…and because they were disappointed they never figured out how to build a lightsaber.
In addition to writing, Audrey enjoys crocheting, drawing, taking care of their pet cats and fish, being outdoors, learning about mathematics, and helping others learn about math and science.
