Senior Advisor (she/her)

Wula Dawson was born and raised on the West Coast between Portland and Southern California, and is a seasoned advocate for social justice, specializing in base building, culture shift, and leadership development. She built a student paper and established a Queer student student group at Soka University. With a background in non-profit operations, fundraising, PR, and organizational development, she merges community organizing expertise with a focus on reproductive justice, particularly centering on Queer and Black Liberation and BIPOC power building.

She started her professional fundraising experience at Seeding Justice in 2013 and since then has built upon her event planning and fundraising acumen, she excels in cultivating relationships, as well as mobilizing volunteers and committee members for events and fundraising campaigns of all scales. Wula's extensive background in the anti-family-violence movement and the reproductive justice movement, uniquely position her to offer strategy and vision to gender justice, women's health, reproductive justice, and broader racial and social justice causes.

Senior Trainer (she/her)

Born and raised in Ashland, Oregon, Emily has dedicated her career to unearthing and dismantling the many ways in which injustice harms us all. From 2014-2021, Emily served as Executive Director of the Women's Foundation of Oregon. In that role, she brought her passion for dismantling sexism, racism, and other forms of oppression, back home to the Pacific Northwest, to help create true and lasting gender justice in our region. Before leading the Women’s Foundation, Emily worked for several think tanks on the east coast, with an abiding focus on gender justice and multi-sector systemic change.

Over the past two decades, Emily has given hundreds of keynotes, trainings, and workshops across the country. She’s a frequent guest speaker for outlets like City Club, OPB, KBOO, KOBI, KGW, and X-RAYFM. Emily is also the author of several articles, Op-Eds, reports, and other resources, including the groundbreaking Count Her In report and companion policy briefs. Emily holds a bachelor’s degree from Bryn Mawr College and a Master’s in Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. She lives with her wonderful wife, their two terrific kids, and their two sweet doggies in NW Portland. Selected accolades, press clippings, previous work, and testimonials are available at evanspractice.com.

Advisory Board Member (he/him, they/them)

Ira Wade (they/them & he/him) identifies as Southern, Black, queer, neurodivergent and non-binary from Montgomery, Alabama with generational lineages in Demopolis and Union Springs, Alabama. They have lived in the Deep South, the Mid-Atlantic and most recently landed in the Pacific Northwest in 2016. They have worked in higher education as faculty and administration, non profit and government sectors.

As a lifelong learner, they hold a Doctorate in Education with a focus on educational activism in formal and non-formal education from University of Portland, a Masters of Arts in Urban Affairs from Norfolk State University with a focus on career decision making for LGBTQ+ students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, as well as a Bachelors in Interpersonal and Public Communications with a minor in Political Science from Mississippi College.

They are currently working on their PhD in Urban Studies at Portland State University focusing on Critical Geography in the context of queer of color and liminal ecologies with a curiosity of exploring new economies, food sovereignty, and the reconceptualization of church and congregation in new world creation from a foundation of Sankofa and spatial manifestation of the queer imaginary. .

They enjoy traveling, attending cultural events across a myriad of genres and artistic mediums and using it to nourish their soul and integrating it into their approach to strategic planning, never-ending learning and knowledge sharing, as well as political education and capacity building with community. They also can’t keep succulents alive but continue to try (kinda).

Senior Advisor (she/her)

Jessica Mole Heilman (she/her/ella) joined the Center for Women’s Leadership team in 2020. As a first generation college graduate, born and raised in Cherry Grove Oregon, Jessica has dedicated her career to tenacious, student centric problem solving in complex organizations. Jessica is committed to organizational change and systems change work that utilizes strategies of co-creation, shared power, and collaboration.

Prior to joining the CWL Team, Jessica worked with the Center for Public Service managing the Executive MPA program and Interim Coordination of The Executive Seminar Program in Natural Resource Management. In addition, Jessica has over a decade of experience in program development, collaborating on experiential learning for adult learners, and navigating chaotic environments.

Jessica holds an MS in Education: Education Leadership and Policy, specialization: Post-Secondary, Adult and Continuing Education concentration, certified in Teaching Adult Learners, and completed her B.S. in Health Studies all from Portland State University.

Advisory Board Member (she/her)

Vicki Reitenauer joined the faculty of Portland State University in 2000 and teaches core and elective courses in the Women, Gender and Sexuality program, as well as Capstone service-learning courses in the University Studies program. Before coming to PSU, she worked as an advocate in the domestic violence field, a counselor and medical assistant in women's reproductive health clinics, and a sexuality and community health educator. The co-author of Learning through Serving: A Student Guidebook for Service Learning across the Disciplines (Stylus, 2005) and numerous articles on pedagogy, reflective practices, and service learning, Vicki also writes and publishes poetry and creative nonfiction, serves as a writing and creativity coach, and works as a freelance editor.

Senior Advisor (she/her)

Suk is a practiced organizational strategist who takes a human-centered approach to navigating complexity within organizations and collaborative efforts for social change. Her approach focuses on transforming ourselves in order to transform the conditions around us, embedding renewal within structures and practice, and strengthening the connections within the ecosystems that sustain us. Her most enduring contributions have been built upon the dignity and safety required for values-based relationships that sustain organizational, policy, structural, and broader systems change.

Suk has prioritized multi-racial organizing and the leadership of communities of color, immigrant and refugee, and many other self-identifying communities which has led to roles across a range of conditions that shape community well-being: civic engagement, community self-determination, health, environmental and economic justice, and more. These roles have added to Suk’s own lived experience to inform a deep, evolving understanding of the fractal nature and generational impact of complex systems on our lives.

Senior Advisor (she/her)

Trina Stout (she/her) is a communications strategist and storyteller for social good. She crafts and implements strategies to help clients change minds, policies, and behavior. What really animates her is changing narratives and culture too.

During her career, Trina has provided communications services for academic institutions, coalitions, foundations, government agencies, nonprofits, and policy/advocacy organizations. Seasoned at a full-service communications agency in Washington, DC, she feels grateful to call Southern Oregon home again. She grew up on and now lives again on stolen land traditionally stewarded by the Shasta and Takelma people.

Trina holds a M.A. in Public Communication from American University, and a B.A. in Economics from Pomona College.

Advisory Board Member (she/her)

Born and raised in Oregon, Lisa feels deep roots across the state. A graduate of Portland State University with a BS in Sociology, Lisa went on to work in the Public, Private, and Nonprofit sectors. Lisa is a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde (Kalapuya/Molalla). Lisa worked across North America as Sales Manager for numerous food manufacturers including Kronos Products and Sara Lee. After 12 years, she left the private sector to fulfill her lifelong dream of owning her own business when she and her husband started Cupcake Jones in 2007. Lisa and Peter operated a community centric business that donated a percentage of all sales to a different non profit organization each month. They sold the business a decade later and now Lisa refers to herself as a "recovering entrepreneur."

After a brief sabbatical, Lisa joined the nonprofit sector as the Director of Development and Communications at Latino Network. From there, she went on to the Deputy Director position at Our House of Portland, a service agency for people living with HIV. Next, she became the Executive Director of American Leadership Forum of Oregon, a statewide leadership development program. Lisa joined the City of Portland in June 2022 and is the Director of the Office of Equity and Human Rights, working across all city bureaus to advance equity and create systems and structures that support safe and thriving communities.