The Telling Room Welcomes New Board Members and Officers
The Telling Room is thrilled to welcome five new members to the Board of Directors this summer, and to announce a new officer to the Board’s leadership team. Joe Conway, Brita Loppnow, Meredith McCarroll, Matty Oates and Jordene Trueh joined the Board of Directors as The Telling Room entered into its new fiscal year on July 1st. The Telling Room also welcomes current Board member Libby Lauze into a new role as the incoming Board Vice President.
“It’s my pleasure and delight to welcome Joe, Brita, Meredith, Matty, and Jordene to our board,” says President Tanuja Desai Hidier. “To see such a dynamic dazzling group of writers, readers, industry experts, and long-time supporters of youth voices join our team is a joy, especially as we enter into our 20th year as an organization. Their enthusiasm and belief in our mission brings even more momentum to our terrific team, all carrying us forward into the work to come with energy and excitement.”
“We also want to share how grateful we are to all the long-time members of our board who have strengthened The Telling Room during their service. We are thankful for the many ways they supported us and how they came together, particularly with the unexpected loss of beloved Vice President Rob Gould last year. Our deepest gratitude to Donna Simonetti for stepping up to help ground the board as Interim Vice President,” adds Executive Director Kristina Powell. Outgoing members include Sally Newhall of Sea Glass Events, Tim Schneider of Tilson Technologies, former interim Vice President Donna Simonetti, and Peg Smith of Pierce Atwood.
Board Vice President Libby Lauze is an education management professional with over 18 years of experience in the field of international education. As Director of Partner Services at CEA CAPA Education Abroad she is responsible for preparing young people to pursue academic and cultural exploration in countries around the world. Previously, Libby managed an organization supporting young international professionals coming to the US for internships and career training.
Joe Conway was born in Concord, Massachusetts where his passion for literature took root at an early age. An avid reader, his first job was working as a tour guide at the Old Manse—one-time home to both Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. He earned a BA in English from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and began a 10+ year career as a freelance writer in San Francisco. While living in the Bay Area, he began volunteering at 826 Valencia as a writing tutor and member of the editorial board. After moving to Portland, Maine in 2008, he was thrilled to find The Telling Room and began volunteering as an after school writing coach. In subsequent years he’s been a Young Writers and Leaders writing mentor eight times over, and he served on The Telling Room staff as the organization's first ever dedicated grant writer. He has seen first-hand how even a brief experience at The Telling Room can change a young person's life. Joe lives in South Portland with his wife Jenny and their two young boys and runs his own digital marketing, advertising, and analytics firm, Sonar Digital LLC, located in Portland.
Brita Loppnow is the founder and CEO of Prosper HR. She started her entrepreneurial journey to provide expert boutique Human Resources consulting and fractional HR services to startups and small businesses. Brita is a human capital leader, SHRM certified HR consultant, and a certified career coach. Because she brings 15 years of HR experience from working at startups and for McKinsey & Company, Brita joined the Telling Room HR Committee in the spring of 2024. When she is not researching the next big HR topic, she is managing her real estate/investment properties, paddleboarding on any body of water she can find, catching sunsets at the beach, and spending time with her two dogs. Brita thoroughly enjoys meditative journaling and writing poetry whenever she has a free moment.
Meredith McCarroll is a writer and educator living in Portland. McCarroll earned her PhD in African-American Literature and Film from University of Tennessee, where she focused on critical race theory and critical whiteness studies. She worked as Director of Writing and Rhetoric at Bowdoin College for eight years before launching Dogwood Writing and Editing. She is author of Unwhite: Appalachia, Race, and Film (2018) and co-editor of Appalachian Reckoning: A Region Responds to Hillbilly Elegy, which won the American Book Award in 2019. She is a frequent instructor of nonfiction at Maine Writers and Publishers. Her essays and stories have appeared in The Guardian, CNN, New Lines Magazine, Still, Salvation South, and elsewhere. She has volunteered at The Telling Room as a mentor in the Young Writers and Leaders Program and in the classroom. She is also a dancer, yoga teacher, and enthusiastic hiker.
Matty Oates put down roots in Portland, Maine in 2015, pivoting from a mariner’s life at sea and over 70,000 nautical miles traveled, to a life by the sea where he was swept up by this quick-growing community. Since then, he has run a nonprofit connecting youth with voyages at sea, co-founded a media strategy agency that served statewide and national clients, and now sits on the digital marketing team at Unum. A steadfast reader from his earliest years, he believes the written word—in all its forms—is one of the most potent sources of creativity and change that humans possess, and it was inevitable that he would one day cross paths with The Telling Room. Through his friend Rob Gould, he was introduced to the brilliant team leading the organization forward, and has served on the Development and Events committees since 2023. Now, as a member of the board, he looks forward to contributing in ever new ways to the mission and helping support the exciting goals ahead.
Jordene Trueh serves as a dedicated board member of the Telling Room, bringing many years of nonprofit management experience to the organization. With a strong passion for community engagement and youth development, Jordene is committed to fostering young leaders through writing and storytelling. As an Analyst at IDEXX Laboratories and the Founder of Backriver Blends, a Jamaican Specialty Foods company, Jordene combines her professional experience with her dedication to the community. Jordene holds a degree in Business Administration from Washington Adventist University. Although new to The Telling Room, Jordene hopes to inspire young writers and help advance the organization's mission. In addition to her role at The Telling Room, she also serves on other boards, contributing her skills and experience in multiple organizations. She resides in Topsham with her husband and two children, where she continues to be an active and influential member of the community.
For the full list of Telling Room Board members and their biographies, click here.