Executive Director Kristina M.J. Powell joins The Telling Room having dedicated her career to community building, Maine-based nonprofits. She graduated from Bowdoin College with her BA in Anthropology, and for seven years she worked in admissions & enrollment at the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), and then co-managed the study abroad advising department. At Bates College, she served as Associate Director developing and implementing new programs for underrepresented alumni, students, and their families. Kristina later managed the development team at The Center for Grieving Children, and in June 2021 received her MBA while serving as the Director of The Berwick Fund at Berwick Academy.

Teaching Artist & Volunteer Coordinator Jack Gendron (he/she/they) grew up in South Portland and served as Preble Street's volunteer program manager before joining the Telling Room. Jack holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Syracuse and is the author of two poetry collections; their work has appeared in Tin House, Fence, The PEN Poetry Series, and elsewhere (mostly elsewhere). Jack enjoys the smell of almost all baked goods, the look of a dog wearing sunglasses, and the audible gasp of a net when a basketball passes through it.

Publications Manager Bridget Hoke was a teaching intern in 2018 and is thrilled to re-join this hub of artists, creatives, and passionate people in unceded Wabanaki lands known as Portland, ME. Growing up in a family that instilled in her the importance of education, she started her career as an educator in 2020. As an Africana Studies Major and Bowdoin Teacher Scholar, she sees education as a tool for collective liberation and justice. Having worked at Casco Bay HS last year, she looks forward to continuing relationships with Maine youth changemakers and writers- and cannot wait to help spread the impact of their voices to audiences across Maine and beyond. She is happiest when jumping into the closest body of water, no matter the weather, and cooking up delicious food for the people she loves.

Communications & Editorial Director Rylan Hynes (they/them) studied creative writing, visual art, and theatre at College of the Atlantic as an undergraduate. Rylan has worked with independent bookstores and nonprofits across the country, including Maine's own Nonesuch Books, Chicago’s celebrated Women & Children First, and poetry press Alice James Books. Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance (MWPA) has awarded Rylan with a 2020 Martin Dibner Fellowship, a 2022 Lit Fest Fellowship, and they are a member of MWPA’s Community Advisory Board. Rylan and their work were recently a finalist for the 2024 Maine Chapbook Series, Tin House’s 2024 Trans Writers Residency, and longlisted for The Masters Review's 2023 Novel Excerpt Contest. In 2024, Rylan was a writer-in-residence at Monson Arts and they will be a participant in the 2025 Tin House Winter Online Workshop. When they aren't busy writing, Rylan enjoys spending time with their spouse, making art, and gardening.

Amy Kimball thinks having fun is of the utmost importance. Being a Teaching Artist with The Telling Room is the perfect job because it’s fun and challenging every day–meeting writers where they are and working with them to develop their craft. What could be better? Amy is a poet and memoirist with a masters in education.

Lead Teacher (Publications), Jude Marx (they/them), grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico and relocated to Maine to study English and Education at Bowdoin College. Jude pursued their passion for teaching multilingual learners through a teaching Fulbright in Puebla, Mexico and four years teaching ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) in Maine public schools. Jude holds a MSEd. in Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages and is deeply committed to partnering with young people to transform our educational systems. A poet and artist themself, Jude believes in the power of creative storytelling as a tool for community building and empowerment.

Development Manager Emily O’Neil grew up in downeast Maine and holds a B.F.A. in Communication and Media Studies from the University of Southern Maine. She worked as a news editor before pivoting to arts administration and philanthropy, where she has found immense joy supporting creativity through her work. Emily was Advancement Assistant at the Portland Museum of Art before joining The Telling Room in the spring of 2024. She lives in Portland and enjoys reading, cooking, and roller derby.

Teaching Artist Marlin Hipai Pamba is a Telling Room alum of the Young Writers & Leaders program from 2016-17, as well as Publishing Workshop. She interned with AmeriCorps from 2018-20 here at The Telling Room. Her love of working with students and creative writing keeps her involved. She is currently pursuing a degree in education at Southern Maine Community College. Working out, podcasts, and traveling are high on the list of ways she enjoys spending her time.

Development Director Sarah Schneider holds a B.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Maine at Farmington and has studied towards her M.F.A. at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She was the Grants & External Affairs Manager at Maine Family Planning for over nine years and then worked at the Maine Women’s Fund as their Development Coordinator before joining The Telling Room in December of 2014. She remains optimistic that she will someday finish writing a biography of her cousin Doris Cochran, who was an avid weaver and pioneering herpetologist at the Smithsonian. Sarah lives in Portland with her husband and their young daughter.

Young Writers & Leaders Program Lead Sonya Tomlinson has been teaching with The Telling Room since 2008. Sonya holds a B.F.A. in Design from UNC-Greensboro. Deeply involved in the arts both professionally and personally, she spent nearly a decade as traffic manager and contributing arts writer at The Portland Phoenix and on the events staff at Space Gallery - all the while moonlighting as performing and recording artist Sontiago on Montreal’s Endemik Music. Her heartstrings are tugged in the direction of teaching high school students self-expression through songwriting and poetry.

Finance & Operations Manager Stacey Ventimiglia joined The Telling Room in the fall of 2023. She studied Hospitality Management at the University of New Hampshire and spent the first part of her career in sales, event planning, and office management. Stacey’s love of children inspired her to pivot her career to education. Before joining The Telling Room, she spent five years working as a School Secretary and Substitute Teacher. Working at The Telling Room allows her to share her passion for empowering youth with her strong administrative skills. Stacey lives in Freeport and is a mom to two daughters, ice cream lover, avid reader and meticulous planner.

Program Director Nick Whiston is originally from Boston, attended Earlham College in Indiana, and came to The Telling Room after working in education for eight years in Oakland, California. As a classroom teacher and then nonprofit director, Nick worked diligently to create opportunities for young people, focusing on college access and preparation. Since joining The Telling Room in 2013, he has rediscovered an appreciation for creative writing and the importance of youth voices. When he is not working, Nick enjoys spending time with his wife and kids, playing tennis, and dominating in fantasy baseball.

Education Manager Marjolaine Whittlesey grew up in France and came to Maine to go to College of the Atlantic where she focused on literature, ecology and performing arts. Her innate love of teaching quickly took over and for the past ten years she has taught creative writing, French, and theater to students of all ages. When she is not teaching, she works as an actor, director, and theater educator with several companies around Maine, and particularly enjoys juggling the verbal thrills of Shakespeare with the embodied storytelling of physical theater. She loves collaborating with passionate artists and educators who invite students to trust their voice.

Teaching Artist Kathryn Williams is a young adult author, most recently of the novels Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff that Made Me Famous and The Storyteller (published in January 2022). Her nonfiction has appeared in numerous print and online publications, and she holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the Sewanee School of Letters at the University of the South. Originally from Virginia, she's been in Maine since 2012 and teaching for The Telling Room since 2014. In the Young Emerging Authors program, she gets to help the next generation of poets and storytellers turn their words and their worlds into books.