PRESIDENT

Dr. Pearson (Mama Beast) is a mother, activist, author, educator, speaker, poet, comedienne, cook, and citizen of the world. As a Kenyan Indian Muslim immigrant queer disabled woman of color, she is passionate about Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility, and Kindness. She has received national and local awards for her work, authored two books, and spoken at TEDx Omaha. Her goal is to make sure you know that you are loved and that you are enough.

VICE PRESIDENT

Casey Logan was born and raised in Omaha, where he lives with his wife (Toni) and their two kids (Lois and Harold). Over the course of his career he has worked in journalism, communications, copywriting, nonprofit administration, insurance (briefly), and shoe repair. He has heeled soles. Casey currently works as a senior brand and communications strategist with Emspace + Lovgren. Previously, he held various leadership roles at Film Streams, a nonprofit arts organization he helped start and develop over the course of its first 15 years. His site for low-key posting, which he reveals occasionally in bios, is okclo.com.

Community Advocate and Volunteer. Retired, freelance advertising copywriter. Copywriter and editor, John Deere Lawn and Garden Division. MFA University of Iowa Writers Workshop, Poetry. I am a big fan of the NWC and love being involved in supporting poetry, creative writing, literature and the arts in our community.

Dr. Michelle Friend is an Associate Professor in the Teacher Education Department at the University of Nebraska Omaha. Her work focuses on computer science education, both through preparing teachers to teach CS and through understanding equity issues around computing. She also supports connections between computer science and other disciplines to enhance learning in each. She received her Ph.D. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Education in Learning Science and Technology Design, and holds a Master of Information Science and Bachelors of Biochemistry and Science Education degrees from Indiana University. She previously taught computer science at The Girls’ Middle School in Mountain View, CA, and was the first female president of the Computer Science Teachers Association. She grew up outside Washington, D.C.

Judy Kiagiri is a Kenyan actor and writer living in Omaha, Nebraska. She is a writer of short films, plays, web series, and screenplays. She is also the co-founder of AFROMAHA, an organization that uses its platform to celebrate and share African culture through signature events such as Afro Fest Omaha, the African Fashion Week and the Afro Excellence Gala.

Judy has a degree in international business, and has forged a career specializing in nonprofit grants and financial management of large scale budget international development projects.

She was recently nominated for the 2022 Inspire Awards honoring excellence in women leaders in Omaha, and is a recipient of the 2018 award for community engagement from the Leadership Africa Summit, and a recipient of a 2019 award for creativity from Young Black and Influential Omaha.

When she is not traveling across the world, or creating entertaining content that represents African diaspora lifestyles and voices, she is cutting up a rug dancing salsa, hosting a podcast, and blogging. She lives in Omaha with her three children.

Michelle Ulicny (she/her) is an Omaha native where she lives with her husband Todd. Michelle was an NWC Teaching Artist for 4 years. Her M-F passion is as a Director of Product Ownership at Lincoln Financial group and helping her team be the best they can be. She has a BA in International Business Management and MA in Organizational Management. Michelle started writing at 16 and loves all things words and creativity. She is thrilled and honored to be a part of such a vital organization supporting creativity in the community.

Joy is an attorney in Omaha, Nebraska. Her practice involves family law, estate planning, and estate administration. Joy first fell in love with the written word from reading voraciously as a child. Seeing poetry come to life through performance cemented her love of written and spoken word. In her free time, Joy likes to consider herself a woman in STEM (shenanigans, tomfoolery, enjoyment, and mischief). Joy is proud to be a member of the Nebraska Writers Collective Board.

Maria (Bea) is a relationship-driven human capital professional with over 15 years of learning and development experience in higher education and corporate settings. She worked at Omaha Steaks for nearly 16 years in various roles improving performance of employees by consulting, assessing, creating, and implementing learning and organization-wide solutions and is currently an OD Consultant.

She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska-Kearney, a Master of Science degree in Leadership Development from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a Change Management and Organizational Development diploma from the University of Chile and is a Certified Strategic Human Resources Business Partner (sHRBP).

She has volunteered on several health, technology, and education-related organizations and is passionate about leadership and diversity and inclusion.

Adil Moussa is passionate about learning, teaching and spreading knowledge. Adil got his B.A. in English literature and translation in Morocco before moving to Omaha to pursue an MBA.

In his professional career, Adil worked in the credit card processing industry before starting his own consultancy firm advising banking executives on customer acquisition, retention and sales. A reluctant entrepreneur, he opened another business offering credit card acceptance to local businesses.

A self-professed nerd, Adil enjoys reading, traveling and collecting useless knowledge that comes in handy in trivia.