Kapua Iao (she/her) was born and raised on the beautiful island of O’ahu, Hawai’i, though she felt the travel bug at an early age. She holds an MA in art history from the University at Buffalo and an MA in museum studies from the University of Toronto. Besides working at Yellow Arrow, Kapua is also an editorial assistant for Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and an editor for miscellaneous archaeological monographs and journals. She spends her summers in Crete, Greece, with the Gournia Excavation Project (gournia.org) and has written a few publications herself. Having traveled and lived all around the world, Kapua currently resides in Montréal, Quebec.
Annie Marhefka, Executive Director
Annie Marhefka is a writer in Baltimore, Maryland; she is the recipient of the 2024 Eunice Williams Nonfiction Prize, has been featured on The Slowdown Show, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Annie is working on several nonfiction projects with support from the Maryland State Arts Council, Gullkistan Center for the Arts, Tin House, a Michael Klein fellowship for social justice writing, and the Martha’s Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing. She has a BA in creative writing from Washington College and an MBA and is an MFA candidate at the University of Baltimore where she was comanaging editor of Welter Magazine. Her collection, Strangers We Know By Heart, is available from Garden Party Collective. When Annie is not writing, she is usually trying to find her way back to the water. Follow Annie on Instagram @anniemarhefka and at anniemarhefka.com.
Alexa Laharty, Creative Director
Alexa Laharty (she/her) is a designer and sometimes archaeologist living in Berlin, Germany. She grew up in Portland, Oregon (just a few blocks away from Gwen [Van Velsor], Yellow Arrow’s founder!), before moving to Boston, Massachusetts, then the United Kingdom to study archaeology. She spent most of the last decade as an archaeologist, before finally making the switch to a career in design. You can find her on Instagram @alexaelisabeth.
Raychelle Heath, Workshop Programming & Curriculum Manager
Raychelle Heath is a poet, artist, teacher, coach, yoga and meditation instructor, podcaster, and traveler. She holds a BA in languages and an MFA in poetry. She uses her writing and podcast to tell the multifaceted stories of black women in the world. She also explores her experiences with the culturally rich communities that she has encountered in her travels. She has been published by Travel Noire, Yellow Arrow Journal, The Brazen Collective, Locked Horn Press, Community Building Art Works, and others. She also holds yoga certifications for Kripalu Yoga, Yoga Nidra, and Mind Body Meditation. She is currently director of curriculum and coaching for the Unicorn Authors Club.
Allyson Waldon, Publication Sales Manager
Allyson (Ally) Waldon’s (she/her) entire world revolves around books. She recently received her MFA in creative writing and publishing arts from the University of Baltimore (UB). While at UB, Ally served as an editor for Welter, a literary magazine. When she isn’t writing, she manages operations at The Book Rack, a woman-run educational book distributor. In her free time, Ally performs with local community theaters and choirs in the Baltimore area. She is currently working on the creation of a new collaborative musical at Fells Point Corner Theater. She is also working on keeping her dog and cat from eating one another. Interior Lives, a self-published collection of short prose, can be found at allywaldon.com.
Melissa Nunez, Interviewer
Melissa Nunez is a Latin@ writer and homeschooling mother of three from the Rio Grande Valley region of south Texas. She enjoys observing, exploring, and photographing the local flora and fauna with her family. These adventures, along with her culture and community, inspire much of her writing. Her work has appeared in Honey Literary, Variant Lit, Susurrus, and others. She is a column contributor at The Daily Drunk and also a staff writer for Alebrijes Review. You can follow her on Twitter @MelissaKNunez.
Marylou Fusco, Author Support Coordinator
Marylou Fusco (she/her) grew up in the wilds of New Jersey and knew she was a writer forever. She holds a BA in Journalism from St. Bonaventure University and an MA in Creative Writing from Temple University. She has worked as a newspaper reporter, GED instructor, and ghost tour guide. Marylou’s writing has appeared in PopMatters, Carve, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Mutha Magazine, and various literary journals. She makes her home in Baltimore, Maryland, with her husband and daughter.
JENNIFER M. EYRE, WRITERS-IN-RESIDENCE Coordinator
Jennifer (Jen) M. Eyre (she/her) is a writer for both children and adults. She enjoys writing poems, essays, short stories, and everything in between. In January 2023 Jen graduated with her MFA in writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, where she rediscovered her love for free verse poetry. She has been a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) since 2017 and has completed courses through Gotham Writers’ Workshop and Writer’s Digest University. If Jen isn’t writing, she is likely capturing stories through her second love, photography. Jen lives with her husband, daughter, and ornery orange cat in Harford County, Maryland. You can find her on Threads @jmeyrewriter and Instagram @jmeyrewriter.
KERRY GRAHAM, WRITING COACH AND MEMBERSHIP COORDINATOR
Kerry Graham is a Baltimore-based writer, writing coach, and active literary citizen. She brings broad experience with arts funding as a former board member and current staff member at Yellow Arrow Publishing, an independent writer seeking grants, and a teaching artist collaborating with local institutions. She holds an MA in theology, an MS in secondary education from Johns Hopkins University, and was a creative-in-residence at The Baltimore Banner.
Emily García, Community Engagement & Events manager
Emily García holds an MFA in writing from California College of the Arts and was born and raised in Oakland, California, though she now lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Her work has appeared in ZYZZYVA Magazine, Hobart Magazine, South Dakota Review, 34THPARALLEL Magazine, Wallstrait Journal, and BmoreArt Magazine.
Kristen Caruso, Fundraising coordinator
Kristen Caruso (she/her) is a junior at the University of Rochester but calls New Jersey home. As a double major in English: creative writing and business with a minor in French, she hopes to combine her areas of study in a career in the publishing industry. Kristen’s interest in publishing began as the editor-in-chief of her high school’s yearbook organization and continues to thrive on the editorial board of her university’s art and literature journal, LOGOS. She enjoys coffee, the color green, poetry, nonfiction about trees, the ocean, Rochester snow, New Jersey pizza, music that’s somewhat bad, and lists that are too long.
Ann Quinn, Chapbook Poetry Editor
Ann Quinn’s (she/her) poetry was selected by Stanley Plumly as the first-place winner in the 2015 Bethesda Literary Arts Festival poetry contest and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her work is published in Potomac Review, Little Patuxent Review, Broadkill Review, and other journals and is included in the anthology Red Sky: Poetry on the Global Epidemic of Violence Against Women. Ann lives in Catonsville with her family where she teaches reflective and creative writing and music and plays clarinet with the Columbia Orchestra. Her degrees are in music performance; she fell in love with poetry in midlife. Her chapbook, Final Deployment, is published by Finishing Line Press. Please visit online at annquinn.net.
Claire Taylor, Chapbook Prose Editor
Claire Taylor is the author of the poetry collection April and Back Again, multiple chapbooks, including Mother Nature and One Good Thing, and a children’s literature collection, Little Thoughts. She is the founder and editor-in-chief of Little Thoughts Press, a literary magazine for young readers. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland, with her family and pets in an old stone house where birds love to roost. You can find her online at clairemtaylor.com.
Heather Brown Barrett, Guest Editor (YAJ XI/01)
Heather Brown Barrett is an award-winning poet in southeastern Virginia. She mothers her young son and contemplates life, the universe, and everything with her writer husband. She is a Cherokee Nation citizen, the membership chair of The Poetry Society of Virginia, a member of The Muse Writers Center, and a former board member of Hampton Roads Writers. Her work has appeared in Literary Mama, The Ekphrastic Review, Yellow Arrow Journal, formidable Woman sanctuary, Black Bough Poetry, OyeDrum Magazine, and elsewhere and has been nominated for Best of the Net. Her poetry is featured in the global TELEPHONE exhibition and was previously featured on the Dahlgren Railroad Heritage Trail as part of The Poetry Society of Virginia’s Poetry on the Trail project and in the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts Everyone Has a Story exhibit. Much of her work is influenced by themes and dualities of motherhood, modes of forgiveness and grace, and the types of subjects that plague most poets, like death, grocery stores, and birds. She’s the author of Water in Every Room (Kelsay Books, 2025), a collection of poems embodying the fluctuations of emotion and form in new motherhood.
Jill Earl, Editorial Associate
Jill Earl is a writer based in Maryland. As a past member of the Maryland Writers Association, she served as a proofreader then later editor of the membership publication Pen in Hand. She was a contributor and newsletter editor for WOW! Women on Writing, an online magazine for women writers. She was published in Pen in Hand, Topology (formerly catapult magazine), WOW! Women on Writing, and on the website Your Tango.
Meagan Gamble, Editorial Associate
Meagan Gamble (she/her)–or just Meg if you like–is a writer and bookseller living in Boulder, Colorado, for some reason, despite the fact that she is terrified of heights. She graduated from City University of London with an MA in creative writing and publishing in 2016 and now works in academic publishing. She is an editor, writing tutor, and her dad says she’s “Amazing, Beautiful, and Smart.” She hopes to keep working in books in some capacity for the rest of her career, either behind the scenes or as a novelist herself. You can find her on Instagram at @mgnface.
Siobhan McKenna, Editorial Associate
Siobhan McKenna (she/her) is a middle child and enjoys writing essays and longwinded letters to friends. In addition to her work at Yellow Arrow Publishing, Siobhan is a registered nurse and graduated from Bennington Writing Seminars with a MFA in writing and literature. Her writing can be found on the Yellow Arrow blog, and in Intima and Bellevue Literary Review. One of her essays was selected as a notable essay for the Best American Essays 2025 anthology. She lives in New York City. You can follow her on Instagram @sio_han.
Kait Quinn, Editorial Associate
Kait Quinn (she/her) is a poet and professional shower singer born and raised in Texas. She earned her BA in English writing from St. Edward’s University. She is the author of five poetry collections, and her work has appeared in Anti-Heroin Chic, Exposition Review, Reed Magazine, Watershed Review, and elsewhere. She received first place in the League of MN Poets’ 2022 John Calvin Rezmerski Memorial Grand Prize, the Sad Girl Diaries’ 2023 Fall Poetry Contest, and the 2024 Southern MN Poets Award. Kait serves as a poetry reader for Black Fox Literary Magazine and was a community editor for the Saint Paul Almanac’s 20th anniversary anthology. She enjoys repetition, coffee shops, tattoos, and vegan breakfast. Kait currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her partner and their very polite Aussie mix (Jesse). Find her at kaitquinn.com and on Instagram @kaitquinnpoetry.
Nichola Ruddell, Editorial Associate
Nichola (Nicky) Ruddell is a poet from British Columbia. Her work has appeared in Trouveillle Review, Literary Mama, and Yellow Arrow Journal. Nicky works as a social worker in the school system, and she is currently working on a chapbook for publication.
Mel Silberger, Reader
Amelia (Mel) Silberger is from and currently lives on Long Island, New York, and works as an account executive with Syntax Communication. She received her degree in psychology and writing with a minor in political science in May of 2024 from Loyola University Maryland. Mel is an aspiring creative nonfiction writer and editor who has loved creating stories since she was six years old, and hopes to continue to grow and build with other writers in the future.
Camille Leah (Cam) Barrón, Editing Intern
Camille Leah (Cam) Barrón (she/her) is a junior at Loyola University Maryland majoring in writing with a minor in gender & sexuality studies. She grew up devoting much of her time to reading, writing, and playing lacrosse and has since developed a deep commitment to women’s empowerment and language as a tool for connection, argumentation, and social change. Her academic and creative work centers on rhetoric and poetry with a particular focus on conversations surrounding her Méxican heritage, mental health, gender-based violence, and feminist thought. Cam aspires to continue this work postgraduation through publishing and advocacy-driven storytelling.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
If you are interested in joining the board of directors, view our open roles here. Read our bylaws here.
Mickey Revenaugh, Board President
Mickey Revenaugh is an education innovator, mission-driven leader, and recovering journalist/current writer of creative nonfiction and fiction. In addition to cofounding a Maryland-based international network of virtual schools, she serves in Board leadership for a New York City charter school, a national charitable foundation, and a global private school. Her writing has appeared in VICE, Chautauqua, Cleaver, Catapult, Louisiana Literature, Lunch Ticket, and many others. She holds an MFA from Bennington College, an MBA from New York University, and a BA in American Studies from Yale. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, and can be found online at mickeyrevenaugh.com or on Instagram @mickeyrevenaugh.
Sara Palmer, DIRECTOR OF BOARD DEVELOPMENT & Governance
Sara Palmer (she/her) began writing poems in childhood, and poetry has been a vehicle for self-expression, healing, and enjoyment throughout her life. During her career as a psychologist, Sara worked primarily with people living with physical disabilities and chronic illness and with their caregivers. She coauthored three books in the Johns Hopkins Press Health Book series (on spinal cord injury, stroke, and raising kids with physical disabilities), and wrote a fourth book in that series on living with Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia, a genetic vascular disease. After retiring from psychology, Sara focused on imaginative writing through classes offered by Yellow Arrow Publishing, the Writers’ Center, and Everyman Theater. Her poems appear in Yellow Arrow Journal, Pen in Hand, Fractured Hearts: Multi-faith Words of Hope and Healing, and Poetry is Life: Writing with Yellow Arrow.
LaWanda Stone, Director of Diversity & Inclusion
LaWanda Stone (she/her) leads executive communications at Stanley Black & Decker and inner communications as a certified yoga instructor at Life Time Fitness as well as her own platform, Namastone Yoga. Previously, she was a reporter for Fortune magazine, washingtonpost.com, Chicago Tribune, and Dow Jones Newswires. Her passion is to help individuals show up as their authentic selves and be seen through storytelling. Her worldview has been shaped traveling North America, South America, the United Kingdom, Africa, and Australia. She has degrees in journalism from Howard University, management (organizational leadership) from American Public University, and an RYT-200 yoga teaching certification from Life Time Fitness. You can find her on Instagram @Namastone_Yoga.
Barbara Frey, Director of Fundraising
Barbara Frey wears two hats. She is an event design specialist, most recently providing decorations for the June 20, 2024, Friends of Yellow Arrow gathering, and she is an online learning consultant, drawing on more than two decades of experience with Connections Academy, Baltimore City Schools, and beyond. Her articles have been published in educational journals and magazines.
Cindy Schuller, Treasurer
Cindy Schuller (she/her) is a CPA and has been working in various accounting and process improvement roles for over 20 years. She was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, and has lived in Baltimore, Maryland since the early 2000s after graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Master of Accounting. She works as a director on the global process transformation team for a leading education company. She currently lives in Millersville, Maryland with her husband, Kevin, and their children, Lauren and Kyle. In her free time, she enjoys reading, baking, and playing board games.
Susie Duong, Assistant Treasurer
Susie Duong brings 15+ years of experience in accounting, finance, and academics to her role with Yellow Arrow. She has held leadership positions at a global professional organization and is currently working as a subject matter expert and instructor for a leading education company. She earned her PhD in accounting from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MPhil from the University of Hong Kong, and a BA from Fudan University. Susie resides in Kansas City, Missouri, with her husband, two daughters, and their miniature schnauzer.
EMILY ROSS, Director of GRANTS
Emily Ross (she/her) is an arts and humanities professional with expertise in museum education, social work, and grantmaking. Working at the intersection of culture and human services she champions collaboration and community voices in her career. She holds a BA in art history from the University of Virginia and an MSW from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. She currently works as the program officer for grants at Maryland Humanities. Based in Baltimore, she enjoys trips to the Renaissance Fair, New England beaches, and art museums.
Kelsea-Marie Pym, Board Secretary
Kelsea-Marie Pym is a political consultant primarily working in the nonprofit advocacy space, focusing for the past decade in nonpartisan civic engagement and democracy issues. Kelsea’s professional ghost writing has appeared in outlets from the New York Times to the Sacramento Bee, and everywhere in between. Kelsea has been fortunate to live on both coasts, from Portland to San Diego and from Boston to Washington, D.C., and to now reside in west Michigan. The perspectives from different cities in addition to a multitude of life experiences inform both her professional and personal work. Kelsea holds her BA from Boston University.
Annie Marhefka, Executive Director
Annie Marhefka (she/her) is a writer in Baltimore, Maryland whose publications have appeared in Pithead Chapel, Whale Road Review, Lunch Ticket and more. She is the winner of the 2024 Eunice Williams Nonfiction Prize and her work was featured on The Slowdown Show. Annie is working on a nonfiction manuscript about grief and astrophysics with support from the Maryland State Arts Council, Gullkistan Center for the Arts, and the Tin House 2024 Winter Workshop. She has a BA in creative writing from Washington College and an MBA, and is an MFA candidate at The University of Baltimore. You can find her writing on Instagram, Twitter, and anniemarhefka.com. When Annie is not writing, she is usually trying to find her way back to the water.
Angela Firman, Honorary editorial associate
Angela Firman (she/her) is a midwesterner at heart living a Pacific Northwest life with her best friend and their hilarious, sometimes demanding, roommates aged 7 and 11. Angela is an avid reader, a closet-cross-stitcher, and a fervent writer. While she has always enjoyed journaling, writing became a source of healing for Angela after being diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 33. She found a place in the literary world in a writing group for young breast cancer survivors—women who have grown to be some of her dearest friends—and now as an editor for Wildfire Magazine—a magazine and writing community for people diagnosed with breast cancer under 50. She was diagnosed again at 37 with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer, which has strengthened her relationship with God and allowed her to find absolute joy doing work she loves, uplifting the voices of her fellow survivors and other marginalized voices as an editor. Her nonfiction writing has been published in Wildfire Magazine, Open Minds Quarterly, You Might Need To Hear This, and Press Pause. You can find her on Instagram @angelafirman11.
GWEN VAN VELSOR, FOUNDER
Gwen Van Velsor (she/her) writes creative nonfiction and pseudo-inspirational prose. She started Yellow Arrow in 2016 as a project that publishes and supports writers who identify as women. Raised in Portland, Oregon, Gwen has moved many times, from sea to shining sea, now calling Bosnia her home. Her major accomplishments include walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Spain, raising a toddler, and being OK with life exactly as it is. She has published two memoirs, Follow That Arrow, in 2016 and Freedom Warrior, in 2020 through Yellow Arrow Publishing. For other books and musings by Gwen, visit her website gwenvanvelsor.com.
Previous team members
Thank you to everyone who has helped Yellow Arrow grow and thrive. For information about our current and past team members, click here. For our past journal guest editors, click here.