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.

Randy holds a BA in Design and Advertising and has more than a decade of experience designing, developing and launching brands. Working with clients from law firms to community spaces to neighborhood initiatives, Randy seeks opportunities to take concepts, ideas, strategies and processes to the next level to create the most impactful, effective and efficient work. In addition to his skills that span from branding to website design, he is bilingual in English and Spanish.

Beyond his passion for design, Randy and his wife are foodies who are constantly trying new restaurants and documenting experiences on their food blog. He also enjoys traveling, soccer, art and reading.

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.

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.

Theodore Wheeler is the bestselling author of three novels, most recently the USA Today bestseller The War Begins in Paris (Little Brown, 2023). He has won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Nebraska Arts Council, and Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany. At different times, somewhat overlapping, he was co-director of Omaha Lit Fest and co-owner of Dundee Book Company, a neighborhood bookshop in midtown Omaha. For fourteen years Theodore worked as a journalist who covered law and politics and he now is an assistant professor in the English Department at Creighton University.

SECRETARY

Keegan Korf is a mother, wife, friend, communications professional, educator, tech nerd, library advocate and e-bike evangelist. She lives in Hanscom Park with her husband Justin, their son Ender and an entire litter of cats (Fixer, Sonny and The Holy Spirit). While trained in journalism (officially), Keegan taught high school English prior to working in district-level administration and eventually, nonprofit leadership. She has been a TEDx speaker, a TOYO recipient, a founding nonprofit board member, and a local school board candidate. Today, she serves as Chief Development Officer at Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Midlands.

Her appreciation for the written word is most often expressed through her consumption of books - in every possible format - but with a preference for audio and paperback.