We are creators, storytellers, and community activators.
Team Directors
Olivia Taylor
Volunteer Residency Director + Community Mix Editor
Olivia is a Cincinnati native, U.C. graduate, nature lover, and pasta connoisseur. She believes in the power of storytelling to create a more empathetic community and kinder world. She is happiest with a book in her hand and her cat and dog, Samwise and Lola, by her side.
Email: otaylor17@gmail.com
Chelsie Walter
Volunteer Executive Director
Chelsie is a volunteer executive director and co-founder of Women of Cincy. She’s a Cincinnati transplant, DAAP grad, writer, and graphic designer. Chelsie is also a passionate storyteller and photographer who loves thrifting, gardening, old homes, and porch sitting. She lives with her husband Cody, daughter Nora, Goldendoodle Mötley, six chickens, and way too many plants.
Email: chelsie@womenofcincy.org
Volunteer Team
Kiersten Wones
Original Co-founder
Kiersten is passionate about challenging “the way things have always been done”; investing in young people; music; culture; and all things Cincy. When she’s not at school working towards a master’s in psychology, you can find her chasing her 5-year-old son; behind the bar at the iconic Blind Lemon; and singing at bars and cafes around Cincinnati.
Alice Merryman
Abassador
Alice is a native Hoosier and recent Cincinnati transplant who is passionate about learning other’s stories, wine, and the great outdoors. She graduated from Purdue (Boiler Up!), works in market research, and loves to explore the city in her free time. She and her fiancé live downtown with their fur babies, Butter and Havok.
Gina Regan
Writer
Gina has called Cincinnati home ever since she graduated from Xavier University with a B.A. in history. She is an enthusiastic college basketball fan (Go X!) and loves traveling and learning about other cultures (once upon a time, she even knew how to speak Spanish). She is the development manager for the Corporation for Findlay Market, and lives with her husband and dog in their newly rehabbed historic home in OTR. You can find Gina paying late fees at the library, hunting for the best baked goods in town, or trying to convince herself that she likes running.
Devan Vaughn
Ambassador
Devan is a native Ohioan, but is newer to Cincinnati. She works at UC and has a background in social psychology, which has driven her passion for social justice. She enjoys the outdoors, billiards, and meaningful conversation. She believes in the powerful saying "lift as you climb" and aims to live it every day.
Alex Larrison
Photographer
Alex is a photographer who runs Larrison Photography with her husband, Corey, and their two cats. Alex is passionate about reading, reality cooking shows, and flowers. She is determined to create enduring, authentic, and spirited photography and videography in Cincinnati.
Stacy Wegley
Photographer
Stacy is a change maker focused on healthier, more equitable and sustainable communities. She’s a master campfire starter and marshmallow roaster who loves to use her camera to tell stories.
Angie Lipscomb
Photographer
Angie is a UC DAAP grad and Cincinnati native who decided fixer-uppers, rescue dogs, and hopeless optimism were a solid plan. Her first love was illustration, but she once traded her graphite for cameras and never looked back. She lives in a house-in-progress with her guitar-slinging husband, three busy kids, and two pups.
Judy Zitnik
Board VP + Editor
Judy is a marketing strategist, pharmacist, and recovering Diet Coke addict. She is passionate about empowering and supporting women in business, politics, and the media. As the chauffeur for two teenagers, she is thankful for podcasts and audiobooks.
Courtney Reynolds
Writer
Courtney is a change making, feminist, single mama working for equitable communities in the great Queen City. A traveler since birth, born in the rolling hills of central Kentucky, reared in the Virgin Islands, and settling in the Cincinnati area, place is an important part of her work – both creatively and academically as she pursues her doctorate. She’s an LGBTQ+ advocate and ally, working with The Living with Change Foundation and within her own community. With a reporter’s roots established early on in her career, telling the full story is her passion.
Kelsey Johnson
Original Co-Founder
Kelsey is an Indiana native turned proud Cincinnatian, firm believer in Oxford commas, and lover of Nordic noir crime drama series. When she's not editing stories for Women of Cincy or her agency job, you can find her ogling over the gorgeous 19th-century architecture in her Mount Auburn community, eating cheese, or curled up with a book and her two cats, Minerva and Dahlia.
Cathryn Schehr
Writer
Cathryn is a passionate storyteller with a love for poetry and the written word. She holds an Associate's Degree in English and is continuing her studies at the University of Cincinnati with a focus in Poetry and a minor in Pre Art Therapy. Cathryn believes in the power of storytelling to illuminate the beauty and complexities of the human experience and is dedicated to amplifying women's voices through her work. When she isn't writing you can find her playing with her cats Bear and Momo, dancing around the city, spending time in nature or eating at a new restaurant.
Nicole Mayes
Photographer
Nicole is a local photographer and true "people watcher.” A native Cincinnatian and UC alum, Nicole is the mother of two boys, ages 7 and 8, and cat mom to Ava. She loves helping and supporting women entrepreneurs. Girls rock!
Suzanne Wilder
Writer
Suzanne is a full-time people-manager by day and blogger by night. She lived in Winchester, Virginia, and Chicago before boomeranging back to her hometown of Loveland, Ohio, where she currently raises two boys. She writes about modern adulthood, parenting, and more at The Smart Domestic and on Twitter @thewildertweets.
Kristyn Wyche
Editor + Writer
Kristyn is a Minneapolis native who moved to Cincinnati after receiving her English literature degree from Knox College. She's a mom, an entrepreneur, and owner of Krystal Clear Editing LLC. She has a passion for good food, deep conversation, and anything that feeds the soul.
Abbey Bruce
Writer
Abbey is a recovering HR professional and a recent Cincy transplant. She craves creative stimulation and opportunities to nurture her entrepreneurial spirit and that of others. Abbey, her husband, and her soon-to-be teenage daughter love adventures outdoors and exploring everything their new city has to offer.
Sarah Urmston
Writer
Sarah is a Cincinnati-based writer with an avid desire to learn every human story within arm’s reach. Her experience in empathic research and freelance journalism make in-depth conversations easy and naturally put small talk under the radar. She also enjoys running, her dogs, “Bob’s Burgers,” saving the planet with her reusable coffee cup, and true crime podcasts.
Christina O’Donnell
Writer
Christina is passionate about many things, including running, education, and gardening. Although her days job is running youth enrichment, after school, and summer programs, her favorite hobby is writing poetry. She finds poetry to be the best way to process emotions and share how she feels. She hopes others will connect to her poetry when they can't find the words themselves. She is also an avid runner and support of the organization Girls on the Run.
Chelsea Weaver
Writer
Chelsea is a Cincinnati native who returned after completing her law degree at Ohio State University, where she also attended for undergrad. Chelsea loves a good non-fiction book of short essays, a homemade pasta with pesto, and her doggo Greg. When not doing lawyer-y things, Chelsea is an advocate of intersectional body respect through anti-diet/intuitive eating.
Sandra Okot-Kotber
Ambassador
Sandra is a University of Central Florida human communication graduate. After a decade in Florida, she relocated to the Queen City to explore the realm of life’s possibilities. She is a creative at heart with a passion to help those around her and generations to come.
Shamekko Early-Coleman
Ambassador
Lifelong Cincinnati native Shamekko is a self-proclaimed marketing geek and a two-time graduate of UC. During the day, she utilizes her degrees as a project manager, and by night she’s a superhero of sorts, supporting fellow entrepreneurs through her two companies SNE, LLC and DVRS Stock. When she’s not volunteering or working, she loves spending quality time with her husband and exploring local coffee shops.
Michaela Rawsthorn
Writer
Michaela is a ravenous reader, never met a dog she didn’t like, and uses her talents as a writer and researcher for social change whenever she can. Her specialties include: transforming complicated topics into highly readable content that motivates, moves, and entertains; and digging into data to deliver useable insights. Michaela lives on the Westside with her three kids, three dogs, guinea pig, lizard, and tortoise.
Sophia Epitropoulos
Writer
Sophia is an ever-evolving tender soul with a passion for art, raw human connection, and the color black. Running outside, oil painting, and listening to (a wide range of) music are the top activities that make her feel alive. As a writer by therapeutic necessity, Sophia discovered that the art of transforming feeling and experience into words is a powerful gift — she hopes to lend readers a peek inside her mind through her work and that they develop a new perspective on interpersonal communication while doing so.
Heather Colley
Photographer
Heather is a Cincinnati transplant, fine arts grad, and T.V. newscast director. She is currently pursuing her dream of starting her own photography business. She loves capturing intimate moments and the special quirks of those she photographs. She’s passionate about saving animals and photographs rescues to help them find their new homes. Heather is a lover of traveling and exploring the unknown. She lives with her daughter, Emma; her labradoodle, Luna; and a lot of half-dead houseplants.
Blaire Bartish
Writer
Blaire M. H. Bartish has only lived in major metropolitan areas that start with “C”: Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, back to Chicago, and now Cincinnati. She lives on the West Side with her husband, Dave, and their kids, Louie and Rosie. A lifelong learner, she has been involved in numerous educational endeavors and loves reading, attending live theater, visiting museums, and freezing things with liquid nitrogen.
Venita Thomas
Writer
Venita “Vee” Thomas is a graduate of (The) University of Cincinnati and Xavier University where she has earned a Bachelor of Science in Human Resource Management, Master of Labor (Law); Employment Relations, as well as Master of Education, respectively. Venita is on the Ph.D. journey as a candidate at Union Institute and University; certified Diversity & Inclusion Specialist via University of Kentucky. Venita acknowledges the time served in the United States Army as the catalyst for learning great leadership skills, and her dissertation which focuses on the art of transitioning into civilian life. Venita understands the process of reintegration of military to civilian life due to a medical discharge. "
Ava Calvert
Resident Editor
Ava is a fourth year student at the University of Cincinnati studying Rhetoric and Professional Writing. Ava focuses her studies on editing and publishing, but also works with creative writing. Outside of school, Ava enjoys reading, writing, painting, and visiting local spots like the Contemporary Arts Center and Ault Park.