Commissioners

Leiyomi Preciado (She/They) is a proud transwoman of Filipino, Mexican, and Indigenous American ancestry. Leiyomi is originally from Orange County, California and has called Bremerton and the Kitsap Peninsula home for the past decade. She works as a Certified Peer Counselor who provides services to adults who experience mental health and/or substance use. She empowers people to utilize their voice to self-advocate and influence decision makers in focusing on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion as part of the solution and law implementation. 

Leiyomi has worked in collaboration and partnership with the National Alliance to End Homelessness, Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, Washington Recovery Coalition, Washington Community Connectors, and the Washington State Society of Clinical Social Work to help dismantle stigma and increase understanding and awareness on how combat homelessness and help educate service providers on transgender history and healthcare. She has been a part of various boards and committees like Disability Rights Washington Mental Health Advisory Committee, Office of Recovery Partnership Advisory Committee, the Bremerton Race Equity Advisory Committee and more. Leiyomi was also the first openly trans person to run for public office in Kitsap County for County Commissioner.

Darlin was born in Cuba and immigrated to Miami, Fl where they were raised on café con leche, community care, and so many pastelitos by a single mother and a brigade of tias who made sure to inculcate a strong sense of justice and curiosity in them. Darlin holds a Bachelor of Arts in Human Rights and Visual Arts from the University of Dayton, Ohio. Darlin’s lineage and ancestors are Chinese, Indigenous and Arab as a result of forced labor migration and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. A common kaleidoscope of identities that many hold across Latinidad. Darlin is queer and non-binary and from this place they reimagine what it means to be Caribbean.

Darlin is deeply invested in creating a more equitable healthcare landscape for 2SLGBTQ+ people. They are an undisciplined scholar whose research is concerned with the intersection of social change, identity, queer and trans liberation grounded in anti-racism practices. Darlin has previously enjoyed a variety of nonprofit positions throughout her career in immigration law, program and project management, policy education, while establishing and leading Yoga and Meditation programs within community.

Stephanie Valerdi is a Queer, chronically ill Mexican immigrant with over a decade of experience supporting families through community-based work rooted in equity, accessibility, and trauma-informed care. With a background in mental health and early childhood development, Stephanie offers bilingual, culturally aligned peer support to parents and individuals within the Latinx and LGBTQIA+ community. She currently facilitates parent groups at PEPS and has provided peer support through Perinatal Support Washington and Qlaw Foundation. In her peer work Stephanie uplifts those most impacted by systemic barriers and works to expand access to Spanish-language mental health and community resources.

Stephanie’s work is deeply informed by her lived experience as a survivor of gender-based violence and her ongoing commitment to QTBIPOC communities. She brings empathy and authenticity to her one-on-one support with parents and survivors, helping them navigate complex systems while creating space for healing and connection. Stephanie also serves as a board member for Somos Seattle, an LGBTQ+ Latinx organization. Outside of her professional life, she’s rooted in family and community care. Stephanie finds joy in time spent with her wife, and child, and in celebrating Queer and Latinx joy through community, nature, drag shows, and everyday moments of resistance and rest.

Nico Archer (he/they) has spent his career leading strategic communications, brand development, digital strategy, and large-scale integrated campaigns across Washington State and beyond. He is a Partner at DH, a social-impact communications agency with offices in Seattle and Spokane, grounded in research, behavioral insight, and equity-centered strategy.

At its core, Nico’s work focuses on dismantling the structural, cultural, and narrative barriers that shape power and the social determinants of health. He works to ensure that people have the information, access, and support they need to be healthy, safe, connected, and able to thrive.

Nico’s portfolio spans public health, education, financial inclusion, philanthropy, economic development, climate and energy transition, transportation, and behavioral health. His clients have included government agencies, tribal nations and organizations, foundations, and mission-driven nonprofits. His expertise includes brand and message architecture, behavior-change communications, digital engagement strategy, community-centered storytelling, and leading complex multi-channel public-information efforts. Across all work, he focuses on expanding access, strengthening trust, and elevating the voices of historically marginalized communities while helping clients align their vision and purpose with their impact and the people they serve.

Nico’s community leadership includes six years on the Board of Directors for Joya Child & Family Development, a Neurodevelopmental Center of Excellence serving children and families with developmental delays and disabilities. His service on the Executive Committee supported governance, strategic planning, and organizational growth. He was recognized by the Journal of Business as a 2023 Rising Star for his leadership in public engagement, purpose-driven communication, and cross-sector collaboration. Beyond formal roles, he supports initiatives advancing education access, gender equity, global citizenship, youth mentorship, and cultural appreciation. For more than 20 years, he has helped lead, plan, and support multiple Pride events and programs that cultivate queer joy, belonging, and community connection.

Nico holds an MA in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University and a BA in Health Sciences and Literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He and his husband live in Spokane with their three dogs and cat.

Originally from upstate New York, Kawana lived in Portland, Oregon for seven years before settling in Vancouver, Washington in 2021 with their wife. Since 2022, they have served as a Public Involvement Coordinator for the City of Portland, Oregon, and co-lead the Operations and Events Planning Committees for Diverse and Empowered Employees of Portland (DEEP).

Kawana holds a BA in Studio Art (Integrated Media) from Hamilton College and is the recipient of the J. Barney Moore Prize in Art for their work in video art, digital storytelling, and women’s history. Their passion for events planning was solidified while helping to produce the Activist Mobilizing for Power (AMP) Conference, presented by the Western States Center. A former Pride Foundation Fellow, Kawana brings over twenty years of experience in arts and nonprofit management, live events production, public engagement, and government communications. They have produced engaging events for organizations including Broadway Center for the Arts; BUTCH Voices; Center for Diversity & the Environment; House Dance International; Beyond Bold and Brave’s NYC Black Lesbian Conference; Portland Symphonic Choir; POWFEST; and Portland Parks & Recreation’s Summer Free for All program.

Kawana is an active member of the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2), the National Forum for Black Public Administrators (NFBPA), and the Project Management Institute (PMI). A lifelong believer in the power of events as catalysts for community building and connection, Kawana is affectionately known by friends and family as “a socially conscious butterfly for change.”

I’m a border kid from El Paso, TX, raised at the intersection of cultures, languages, and identities. I hold a B.S. in Psychology from Texas A&M University and an M.A. in Mental Health Counseling from Northern Arizona University.
Today, I serve as a Co-Executive Director at Spectrum Center, a 2SLGBTQIA+ nonprofit serving Eastern Washington and North Idaho, where I also lead our education and development teams. Before this, I spent five years as the Director of Student Equity and Inclusion Services at Eastern Washington University, directing both the Multicultural and Pride Centers. My path in higher education has taken me from the University of Kansas, where I managed the Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity, to the University of Colorado Colorado Springs as the LGBT Program Director. Throughout my career, I’ve designed and facilitated Queer competency workshops customized to meet the unique needs of each industry, such as LGBTQIA+ Advocate Training, Anti-Racism 101, UndocuALLY sessions and deep dives into microaggressions, unconscious bias, and systemic power. Education will always be my true passion. I genuinely believe no matter your age or field there is always room to grow personally and professionally, especially when learning about marginalized identities and our place in creating inclusion.
When I’m not at work, you’ll find me in Spokane with my wife and our son, trying to keep up with a preschooler!

Dr. M. Eliatamby-O’Brien moved to central Washington in 2017, where they are an Associate Professor at Central Washington University, and the Director of the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program. Their professional work focuses on identifying and sharing how creative narratives and graphic art works by refugees and forced migrants help capture overlooked experiences within these communities, with a particular focus on transpacific migration. 

They co-direct TransRural Lives, a digital storytelling project focused on the experiences of transgender older adults in rural areas and small towns throughout the Pacific Northwest. Through this work, they help provide opportunities for intergenerational collaborations and community-building between trans people through storytelling. They strive to be active in 2SLGBTQIA+ and arts nonprofit spaces throughout central Washington and beyond. They also sit on the Board of Gallery One Visual Arts Center and Pride Foundation.

Eve Hwang is a Product Manager at Amazon, where she leads technology initiatives for the Community Delivery program—a partnership that has delivered over 60 million meals through more than 40 community organizations since 2020. She brings extensive experience in technology leadership and community impact, having previously served as Director of Technology at Food Lifeline and as a Program Manager at Slalom.

Eve previously served as Chair of the GSBA, Washington’s LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce, where she advanced economic opportunity and advocacy for LGBTQ+ businesses and professionals across the state. She lives in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. 

Linden Jordan’s story traces a lifelong commitment to advocacy, especially for women, children, and LGBTQ+ communities. From early anti–strip mining activism in his home state of West Virginia to work as a prosecutor, therapist, teacher, and transgender rights educator in Washington State, the common thread is service, reinvention and social justice.

He grew up in West Virginia, studied psychology obtaining a Masters Degree, and later earned a law degree in Washington State. His early work with the Huntington, WV police department as a crisis counselor led him after law school to pursue a position as a Deputy Prosecutor with the King County Prosecutor’s Office in 1979, where he focused on crimes against women and children. He eventually became Assistant Chief of the Juvenile Division and left there in 1986.

After leaving law, he moved to Skagit County to work as a therapist, helping victims of physical and sexual assault. He also saw clients from the LGBTQ+ community. In 2001, he moved into teaching Psychology at Skagit Valley College, where he became deeply involved with LGBTQ+ students and developed his “Science of Gender” curriculum. He found a receptive audience for this curriculum at a local chapter of PFLAG Skagit and began to do speaking engagements through their community education committee. He retired from the College in 2013. He is still very active with PFLAG Skagit.

If you look for some record of him during this time period, you won’t find anything under his current name. He likes to say that he spent many years “performing as a woman” before he could finally realize his true identity. Even though he knew at the age of 4 that the F on his birth certificate was a mistake, he would not become his authentic self until he retired from Skagit Valley College. He likes to ask audiences what they did when they retired. He gets many answers like golf, travel, gardening. He then reveals that when he retired, he began his transition—at the age of 63. The desire to be oneself never ends. His dream became a reality.

He now lives on eleven acres in the woods in Eastern Skagit County with his beloved spouse where he is very active with PFLAG Skagit, No Hate in Washington State, Washington Indivisible Network, and the North Cascades Wild Church. His presentation on The Science of Gender is very popular with groups that include activists, parents, teachers, law enforcement, mental health counselors, students at Western Washington University, medical professionals, religious organizations and all curious people.

He also shares his life with one very active border collie, five sassy ducks and two snobby chickens.

Originally from a suburb of Kansas City, Kansas, Ayanna has called Washington State home for the past four years. She holds a bachelor's degree in Music from Kansas State University and a Master of Science in Student Affairs in Higher Education from Colorado State University. In her professional career, Ayanna has worked as a social justice leader in Higher Education, specializing in organizational change management, training development, and building inclusive cultures where diverse teams can thrive. Her approach combines empathetic leadership with strategic thinking to create sustainable change. Most recently, Ayanna worked as the Program Manager for LGBTQ+ Western and The Centers for Student Access, Community, and Intercultural Engagement at Western Washington University. 

As a Black lesbian woman, Ayanna brings lived and professional experience to her advocacy work and is passionate about uplifting conversations and experiences that are often pushed to the margins. She is committed to creating spaces where all community members can authentically exist and thrive, particularly focusing on intersections of identity such as race, sexuality, and body politics within LGBTQ+ communities. Ayanna's work centers on building bridges between communities and fostering understanding through inclusive dialogue and systemic change initiatives. Ayanna currently lives in Bellingham, Washington with her wife and their three fur babies.

Omni Romero is a philanthropic professional with over 12 years of experience in grassroots organizing, resource mobilization, and strategic planning. Born to immigrant farmworkers in Warden, Washington, Omni graduated with honors in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and pursued graduate studies at Duke University before returning home to support their community. They live in Richland, WA with their two Mexican Hairless Dogs.
 

As the inaugural Director of Community Advocacy, Research, and Education at Pride Foundation, Omni launched the TRANSform Culture Fellowship (a $15,000 fellowship for BIPOC 2STNBI folks), the Seedlings Webinar Series, and new strategies to strengthen advocacy infrastructure, frontline leadership, and narrative power across the Northwest. Previously, as inaugural Director of Encuentro at the Latino Commission on AIDS, they led HIV health justice work across 16 Southern states, including launching the Encuentro Conference. A native Spanish speaker, Omni has provided gender-inclusive Spanish interpretation, translation, and language justice capacity-building globally since 2016. They currently serve on the Board of Directors for Philanthropy Northwest, Tri-Cities Diversity and Inclusion Council, and Tri-Cities Pride.

Originally from Saint Paul, Minnesota, Mark lived in Seattle for 43 years, before moving to Walla Walla in 2022 with his two husbands and finding a warm and welcoming community in a beautiful setting in Eastern Washington. Mark had a long career as a small business owner in the beauty industry in Seattle, before moving into nonprofit and fundraising work for the decade before he retired from his last position as Acting CEO & President of GSBA.

He continues to use his passion to raise awareness and funds for nonprofits in the ARTS and in support of youth, by serving on two Boards in Walla Walla and advising others in their fundraising efforts. Him and his husbands built their home to be a gathering place for making connections and showing support for the community and have hosted numerous friend and fundraising events for local organizations and love introducing friends to causes they are passionate about. He is also a potter and loves to express his creative energy through clay. He is proud to be an out and open member of the LGBTQ+ community and a voice in Eastern WA for equality.

Dakota is a queer mixed-race transgender man, veteran, and public sector leader committed to advancing equity, accountability, and community-centered change across Washington State. With a background spanning behavioral health, advocacy, and systems leadership, Dakota is known for building trust in complex environments where policy, power, and lived and living experience intersect.

His work centers lived and living expertise as essential to systems change, focusing on strengthening ethical community engagement, shared governance, and co-design with communities most impacted by inequity. He is committed to ensuring that historically excluded voices are meaningfully included in shaping public systems and decisions, while advancing practices that reduce tokenization and support shared power, accountability, and long-term trust. Dakota brings a leadership style grounded in relational integrity, courage, and a deep commitment to belonging for Washington State communities, particularly transgender people, veterans, and communities of color.

As a commissioner, Dakota is committed to advancing dignity, visibility, and equity for 2SLGBTQIA+ Washingtonians while helping create spaces where people can safely and authentically belong.

Joanna Turner is a queer, radical, eco-humanist who is passionate about racial and climate justice. They currently work for Washington Gorge Action Programs doing substance misuse prevention throughout Klickitat County. By hosting events like queer family game nights and grief circles, they bring resources to their various communities. For almost eight years, they have been elected to the Trout Lake Community Council and serve as the secretary. They are passionate about building connections wherever they go. As a single parent in a rural town, they are acutely aware of how challenging and rewarding it can be to live in such a remote area. 

In 2017, Joanna left Minnesota with their three children in search of a place to call home and build a life. Through the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) program, they landed in Trout Lake, Washington. They fell in love with the area and when their work on the farm ended, they stayed. Joanna is an entrepreneur who most recently owned and operated their own janitorial business. 

Joanna loves to spend time in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest with their dog, grow food, play poker and write creatively. They are a huge fan of the insect Praying Mantis’ and dancing at the local music venue. They are also currently enrolled in the Ecological Chaplaincy masters program at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace. They are excited to serve their communities through fostering nature based spirituality and advocating for rural queer folks.