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- Leadership
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Name
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Description
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Bio
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Todd Tuell
Co-Regional Advisor
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To provide support, encouragement, and leadership to writers and illustrators of all levels and continue to strive for better ways to meet the needs of our membership. I welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions!
Together we oversee conference and workshop planning, field questions from volunteers, members, and interested others, and assist the other volunteers in completing their tasks, among other fun things.
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Todd is a freelance journalist with most recent work appearing in the Spotlight Magazines, the Broomfielder, the Broomfield Enterprise and the Boulder Women's Magazine. Todd most enjoys outdoor activities with his family from running to hiking and skiing. He works from home and raises two elementary age children, Maxim and Gabriella, and a new baby, Alexandria.
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Denise Vega
Co-Regional Advisor
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To provide support, encouragement, and leadership to writers and illustrators of all levels and continue to strive for better ways to meet the needs of our membership. I welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions!
Together we oversee conference and workshop planning, field questions from volunteers, members, and interested others, and assist the other volunteers in completing their tasks, among other fun things
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Denise believes that without SCBWI, she would not be where she is today with her children's book career. She connected with both of her critique groups and made editorial contacts through RMC-SCBWI conferences and learned invaluable writing, revising, and submitting lessons from other members. Her first novel for young people, Click Here To Find Out How I Survived Seventh Grade), won the 2005 Colorado Book Award for Young Adult Literature and other accolades. She has published two other young adult novels —Fact of Life #31 and Access Denied (and other eight grade error messages), the sequel to Click Here--as well as two picture books. She has also published articles, short stories, and poems in both the children's and adult markets. Denise loves french fries but can't stand cheese and lives with her cheese-loving husband and three children in Denver.
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Bobbi Collier-Morales
Illustrator Coordinator
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To create educational events for our illustrators and to communicate with them to make sure the Rocky Mountain Chapter is meeting their artistic needs.
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Illustration has been a passion in Bobbi Collier-Morales’ life since she was a child. Her career started 28 years ago, and has grown and expanded as the skills, equipment and industry has changed. She’s illustrated for the trade book, mass market, religious and educational markets. In the last three years, she’s added licensing and designing to her resume. “I’ve been doing this long enough that I’ve seen our industry change drastically since I started. Learning the ropes takes effort and a good network of others who are professionals to help navigate the publishing maze. I’ve learned from some of the best, had some hard lessons and have been given a hand up by many generous people. I want to return that favor to illustrators who are new to the market.”
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Karen Windness
Assistant Illustrator Coordinator
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To provide opportunities for education and mentoring within the author/illustrator and illustrator membership. She works closely with Illustrator Coordinator Roberta Collier-Morales to foster growth and support for area artists.
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Karen Windness began writing and illustrating books at 2 years old and was published a mere thirty years later. (Hooray for Boys and Girls, West Woods Press).
Karen studied illustration (children’s book focus) at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design where she was a valedictorian graduate in 2002. She has been an active member of SCBWI for over eight years, and met her writer-husband, Steve Windness, at the Fall 2002 RMC-SCBWI conference.
In addition to illustrating children’s books, Karen is best known for her pet portraiture (www.mudpuppystudios.com), and has also created several art licensing lines.
She is very excited about being a part of the RMC-SCBWI team and bringing some new energy and ideas to this fantastic organization.
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- Conferences & Workshops
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Name & Title
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Description
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Bio
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Tracy Abell
Conference Facilities Coordinator
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Act as liaison between conference and workshop venues and the chapter. Ensure the venue meets our needs during the event, troubleshooting, and answering questions.
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Tracy writes contemporary middle grade and young adult fiction, vacillating between joy and terror depending on where she’s at in each story’s unique journey toward “The End.” When she’s not writing or lovingly reminding her sons to pick up dirty socks and wet towels, she’s gardening, running on the trails or spinning her hoop. SCBWI is a great community and she’s happy to pitch in.
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Jeanne Kaufman
Assistant Facilities Coordinator
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Provides assistance to the Facilities Coordinator with all facilities planning and coordinator with the venue, and works with speakers on A/V equipment on site.
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Jeanne Kaufman is a writer (and reader) of stories and poetry for children. Her first picture book, Young Henry and the Dragon, will be published by Shenanigan Books. In her other life, Jeanne is a part-time professor of Criminology. She lives in Boulder with her husband and their two daughters.
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Carrie Seidel
Conference Book Sales Coordinator & Handout Table
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Liaisons with our conference bookseller to sell member and facutly books and to request and organize all the free goodies publishers send us to distribute at the conference.
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Carrie has four kids, four cats, and two dogs - one is four times bigger than the other. When she’s not writing, she’s either reading or thinking about writing. She’s written picture books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, and magazine articles. She’s terrified of dead spiders and monsters underneath beds.
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Cheryl Reifsnyder
Manuscript Critique Coordinator
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Gathers, sorts and distributes all the manuscripts submitted for critiques in conjunction with our annual Letters & Lines conference. Also coordinates the one-on-one critique, pitch and portfolio review appointments.
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Cheryl Reifsnyder writes in Boulder, CO, where she lives with one sweetheart, two energetic boys, two bouncy dogs, and a small mammal menagerie. Her articles, crafts, and short stories have appeared in magazines such as Highlights for Children, Cricket, and Spider Magazine, and her book-length fiction is represented by super-agent Gary Heidt of Signature Literary Agency.
When she’s not writing, she spends her time reading, snow shoeing, crocheting, running, camping, and hiking in the Rocky Mountains—but not all at the same time.
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Lindsay Eland
Speaker Coordinator
& Assistant Registrar
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Collects and organizes all the Speaker Applications we receive to help find the very best presenters at our events. Also in charge of the moderators at our Letters & Lines conference and making sure that our guest speakers have everything they need.
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Lindsay Eland is a stay-at-home mother of four--five including her husband! Her debut novel, Scones and Sensibility, will be released on February 14, 2010 with Egmont-US. When she’s not writing or rewriting, she loves to spend time with her family, read, run, cross-country ski, and laugh. she is agented by the wonderful Rebecca Sherman of Writers House.
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Peggy Vicaro
Registrar
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Sets up and coordinates all aspects of our supremely slick and efficient online conference registration as well as handle check-in and on-site registration.
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Peggy Vicaro, originally from south Louisiana, is the Executive Director of Cottonwood Artists' School in Colorado Springs. Peggy is an aspiring writer who enjoys writing children's stories in her free time. She is a member of the Pikes Peak Writers and one day hopes to write full time.
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Gayle Croissant-Madden
Letters & Lines Brochure Designer
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Designs the Letters & Lines Fall Conference brochure, including incorporating the winning illustration from the Fall Conference Illustration contest for the current year.
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Bio to come...
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Chris Liu Perkins
“Big Sur in the Rockies” Coordinator
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Organizes and oversees the Big Sur in the Rockies Children’s Writing Workshop, co-sponsored with literary agent Andrea Brown, where writers receive help with their manuscripts from editors, agents, established authors, and each other.
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Before Colorado, Chris lived in Kansas City, California, Boston, Atlanta, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Germany. She writes nonfiction and fiction, often about Chinese history and culture. Her writing has appeared in DIG, Highlights for Children,Appleseeds, Skipping Stones, and various publications for grown-ups. Her nonfiction book, The Tombs of Mawangdui, will be published in 2011 by Charlesbridge. She enjoys time with her husband and two daughters, traveling, quilting, and learning tai chi.
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Wally Clark
Summer Retreat Coordinator
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Organize the summer retreat at a location conducive to both work and relaxation, with a powerful facilitator or two who will squeeze blood from the turnip that is our talent.
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Wallace Clark, a long time RMC-SCBWI member, has loved to tell stories since he was first late home from kindergarten. A retired physicist from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder and now a free-lance technical writer, he is working on a novel involving society, robots, and artificial intelligence.
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Michelle Pumphrey
Mentor Program Coordinator
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Selects mentors for the year, coordinates the receipt and distribution of mentee applications to mentors, notifies mentees of selection, organizes end-of-mentorship picnic.
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Bio to come...
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- Local Events
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Name
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Area
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Bio
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Leni Checkas
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Greater Boulder/Longmont
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Leni Checkas is a stay-at-home mom of one (the lucky girl). She waits to be discovered for her witty writing with heart in hand and a head full of imagination. She enjoys life, loves to laugh, and packs as much of it into one day as she can, including biking, swimming, and just general playing around.
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Carrie Seidel
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Greater Denver
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Carrie Seidel has four kids, four cats, and two dogs - one is four times bigger than the other. When she’s not writing, she’s either reading or thinking about writing. She’s written picture books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, and magazine articles. She’s terrified of dead spiders and monsters underneath beds.
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Annie McFarlane
and
Marty Banks
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Greater Colorado Springs
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Anne McFarlane writes MG and YA romance. She is a member SCBWI, RWA and Pikes Peak Writers. Her work has been a finalist in the Heart of Denver Molly Contest and won second at the PPWC conference contest.
Along with a friend she runs www.yaromance.com, a website devoted to all things girl-YA that include a first kiss, tummy butterflies and great romance.
She’s worked as an online marketer and developer for Towrrecords.com, FOX TV, and UNM Engineering. When she’s not writing, she’s a freelance web developer and marketer. She manages four websites and volunteers with the Pikes Peak Library District youth writing group. SheI also volunteers with some local after school enrichment programs for D-11 and D20 in Colorado Springs. She loves to work with kids who love to write. More information about her can be found at www.annmac.com.
Marty Mokler Banks is the author of the children's picture book The Splatters Learn Some Manners, a finalist in children's literature at the 2010 Colorado Book Awards. She's also the co-author of the travel book, Insiders' Guide to Colorado Springs. Marty has been a writer/editor for about 30 years and currently freelances magazine stories and marketing projects. She also loves her many school visits to grades K--2. She holds the (now rare) B.S. in journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder and studied at the University of Iowa's Writers Workshop. She lives in Colorado Springs with her family, dogs, and the occasional visiting bear.
We currently meet every third Sunday of the month to schmooze for an hour or so, and then work in critique groups. The overwhelming request we heard at the start of our tenure as co-coordinators was critique groups, so for now that's our focus. Other programs will be scheduled as time goes on. If you're looking for a critique group, we'll try and get you in one that's a good fit. If you have a critique group and just want some insightful, inspiring discussion with colleagues who can share your publishing (or not!) joys and pain, stop by for an hour and chat. Through the end of 2011 the meetings are the third Sunday of the month, beginning at 12:30 p.m. at Colorado Springs Fire Station #18, 6830 Hadler View, Colorado Springs, 80919 (behind the Walgreens at Vindicator and Centennial)."
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Teresa Funke
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Northern Colorado
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Teresa R. Funke leads meetings, schmoozes, parties and more for SCBWI members and others in Northern Colorado. She is the award-winning author of Remember Wake and Dancing in Combat Boots, both adult fiction books. In 2007, her children's book, Doing My Part, was released. It's the first in Teresa's new Home-Front Heroes middle grade series about child characters in World War II. Though fiction, all of Teresa's writings are based on the experiences of real people. Teresa is also a popular speaker, workshop leader and writer's coach.
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Penelope Stowell
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Southern Colorado
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Jodi Gallegos
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Western Slope
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Liz Norcross
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Wyoming
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Liz Norcross grew up in Utah and graduated from BYU with a B.S. in Molecular Biology. She lives in Casper, WY with her husband and four young children. If she had any spare time, she would spend it reading and writing middle grade and YA fiction.
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- Communications
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Name & Title
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Description
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Bio
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Lacy Boggs
Managing Editor,
Kite Tales Newsletter
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As the Managing Editor of the Kite Tales newsletter, Lacy sets the schedule for publication, plans the content of each newsletter (consulting with RAs and Assistant Editor), and then generates content. Generating content involves fielding article queries, posting calls for articles, approaching members to be featured in an article or to write about an area of expertise, conducting an interview or writing an article herself, and coordinating with the Assistant Editor. Once all the content has been assembled, she copyedits, formats, and organizes the materials before the email goes live.
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Lacy is the food editor and web editor for Yellow Scene Magazine, the largest publication in Boulder County. In addition, she does freelance work as a food writer, travel writer, mommy blogger and general features writer for several other publications and takes on project work writing website content for companies across the North Metro area. Lacy grew up in north Dallas and graduated with a BA in Moving Image Arts from the College of Santa Fe (now the Santa Fe University of Art and Design). Lacy is a Pisces, a foodie, a geek, a Gen-Y, a little bit rock and roll, a bibliophile, a grammar nazi, a flexitarian, a locavore, an urban homesteader, a DIYer, a gardener, a little bit type-a, an INFJ, a yogini, and many, many other things. She lives with her husband and daughter in Westminster and is working on a YA novel in her spare time.
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Michaele Charles
Assistant Editor
Kite Tales Newsletter,
Regional News page, Industry News
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As the Assistant editor of Kite Tales, Michaele collects the member good news for the Flying High section and other tasks, requests and compiles member Good News for the Regional News page, and compiles and sends out the industry news for “The Scoop” monthly e-announcements.
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Michaele Charles is a freelance writer in Denver and the owner of Voice Communications, which meets the writing and communications needs of colleges and universities, small businesses, mid-size to large companies, and design, creative, and marketing firms around the country. Michaele also writes for children and blogs about inspiring kids on her website. In her pre-writing life, Michaele worked in accounting and finance, both for a public accounting firm and a Denver-based investment company. Currently, she is working on a young adult novel and continually works on several picture books. Her ideas for stories and articles are usually inspired by her two funny and curious preschool-age children, who ask lots of questions about sharks, heaven, wrinkles, dogs, dinosaurs, skeletons, and lots, lots more.
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Carolyn Gard
Member Liaison
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To periodically obtain the membership list from national in order to send members notifications of events and to make sure all the information fits on a 4.25 x 5.5 inch card!. Also, to maintain a record of members who pay to have Kite Tales and conference materials mailed to them as hard copies, and to send welcome letters to new members.
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Carolyn Gard has been writing for kids for thirty years, interspersed with having to have real jobs to pay mortgages or college tuitions. The most interesting of these jobs was working at the state legislature—finding out way too much insider information. She’s currently a volunteer naturalist for the city of Boulder and takes school kids for hikes in the mountains.
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Jennifer Smith-Daigle
Historian/Archivist
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Creating an ongoing history of the chapter, scan and digitize important documents for eventual inclusion in a digital photo album. Maintain documents and photos of ongoing events.
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At the age of sixteen, Jennifer started following her bliss. It led her to Fairbanks, Alaska. Then a year later she traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia. Before the age of twenty she circumnavigated the globe by ship with Semester at Sea. What’s Jennifer’s bliss? Stories. A graduate in Anthropology and Russian from the University of Colorado, stories of past civilizations brought Jennifer’s first publication in Archaeology. She then wrote historic signage for Parker, Colorado and text for exhibits in the Aurora History Museum. Jennifer is now a stay-at-home mom of elementary school age Annabelle, and twin boys William and Henry. She writes parenting articles, Young Adult non-fiction and fiction, with emphasis in urban fantasy.
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- Publicity
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Name & Title
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Description
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Bio
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Rebecca Talley
Panel Coordinator
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Receive and process author and illustrator form data for those who wish to participate in panel presentations. Also receive panel requests, working with schools, libraries, and other organizations and institutions to provide panels for them.
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Bio to come...
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Kristin Sandoval
Publicity
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Generates interest and awareness with aspiring writers & illustrators of the resources and events provided by our regional chapter of SCBWI. This volunteer maintains current Public Relations efforts (including Event and Press Releases, promotional materials) as well as planning and launching new initiatives.
Also maintains Speaker List that is available for download on the site and is distributed at local events where RMC exhibits.
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Bio to come...
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Sarah Azibo
Exhibits Coordinator/ Webmaster
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The Exhibits Coordinator acts as the liaison between local events where our chapter exhibits and RMC. This volunteer communicates with PAL authors, gathers materials, and helps set up and break down at each event.
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Sarah writes middle grade fiction and picture books from her home in Denver. When not writing, she invests her time volunteering, tutoring, and appreciating nature. As a new member, she is amazed by all she has gained from attending SCBWI events and looks forward to spreading the word about this incredible community of artists.
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