Oliver Webb (he/him), Co-Chairperson
Area of Focus: Accessibility Advocacy, Housing Advocacy, Security, Mental Health
This is the second Board he has served on. He was born in Washington and spent most of his life here, with the exception of a few years spent in other West Coast States as a child during the school years (summers spent in Washington). He graduated with honors from North Seattle College (2009) and was offered a partial academic scholarship to Seattle University’s Social Work program. While there he directed and produced the Vagina Monologues using Eve Ensler’s Trans Spotlight piece and had all proceeds go to NW Network. He also founded and ran Domestic Violence Awareness Week, which ran the week of Valentine’s Day. He interned at Roots Young Adult Shelter and as a Jump Start Team Lead while continuing to work full-time. He worked for many years as a Social Worker with both at-risk youth and the homeless population of Seattle before sustaining a workplace disability that ended his career. He has spent nearly three decades in activism and volunteering, much of that spent in Seattle’s Queer community including volunteering with Lifelong AIDS alliance, Seattle Pride, Gender Justice League, Gender Diversity, Alki Beach Pride, TDOR Seattle, and leading a security team which assists in securing Pride celebrations and other Queer events. He has worked as an Accessibility Coordinator and Advocate and is passionate about the rights of people with disabilities. He is currently helping with the Trans Jail Coalition, to help ensure incarcerated Trans individuals are treated with respect and dignity, as well as, given the proper care they deserve.
Awards: SGN Reader’s Choice Awards 2021 Best Community Organizer, Tacoma Pride Awards 2022 Pearl Award, ST. Oliver The Pineapple Papa (The Sister’s of Perpetual Indulgence Mother House of Washington)
Rowan Duran (he/him), Co-Chairperson
He was born in Washington state and has lived here for most of his life. He had long been searching for a place he belongs until he first connected with DAPS in June of 2022 and became a Voting Member in September. Aside from volunteering with DAPS, he has also volunteered with Seattle Trans Joy, Anti-Racist Communities, and Whale Scout and sings with STANCE. Rowan has been out for over 8 years and has been honored to support to others during varies stages of their gender journeys throughout the years. Rowan has a passion for many things, from the arts to sciences, spending time outdoors and reading. He is excited to serve as the youngest Board Member and looks forward to bringing his life experiences to the table to help our community grow and thrive as a part of the living history of DAPS.
MJ Cook (they/he), Vice Chairperson
Area of Focus: Parenting, Divorce Advocacy
They were born in New York and raised in Florida for most of their life. They are a recent transplant to Washington State, having fallen in love with the Pacific Northwest while on vacation more than a decade ago. Finally deciding to make their dreams come true they relocated with their two children in the summer of 2021. . Both an advocate for and part of the LGBTQ+ community for over 20 years, they came out as Non-Binary in 2020. After relocating, they began looking for community to find support with and serve. Both social justice and community service are strong passions of theirs, and finding a community with similar goals has always been important to them. They’ve been involved with various organizations and projects throughout the Central Florida area over the past 15 years including Come Out with Pride, The Princess Project, Zebra Coalition, Baby DJ, and Step Out. After rallying community support and organizing memorials after the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, they began working with other lgbtq+ organizations in the Central Florida area volunteering time and resources.
Professionally MJ has a background in event logistics and design, having planned and designed a wide range of events from large scale corporate functions for Universal Studios to weddings to corporate retreats. In their spare time they enjoy gardening, being out in nature, and spending time exploring their new home in the PNW with their children. They’ve discovered a safe and welcoming environment within DAPS and look forward to growing in their community outreach work along with the organization.
Briar Gandy (they/them), Treasurer
Beginning with membership in their high school’s GSA as a “straight ally”, through involvement with the Seattle bisexual organizations, they have always had a desire for creating community.
An early after voting member of DAPS, they found needed community and support through the Zoom meetings early in the COVID-19 pandemic. An enjoyer of recreational math, they are excited to turn their skills and passions towards creating a stable financial future for DAPS.
They also enjoy speculative fiction and more fiber crafts than strictly necessary. Briar lives in Bellevue with their husband and two strange cats.
Jenna McMichael (she/her), Secretary
Jenna grew up in southern California, always believing that the state was too hot to sustain human life. She moved to Washington in 1998 to go to college, and fell in love with this place. Since 2003 she has worked for the University of Puget Sound as a web content manager. She has also worked as a writer, producer, and occasional actor for the geek film companies Dead Gentlemen Productions and Zombie Orpheus Entertainment, and co-authored several role-playing games for Dead Gentlemen Productions and Margaret Weis Productions.
Jenna and her wife live in Tacoma with two weird cats and a fetch-obsessed black lab. She enjoys video games, so-bad-it’s-good sci-fi, and inflicting the Star Wars Holiday Special on unsuspecting friends. Joining DAPS has helped Jenna discover a sense of community that was missing from her life. She is excited to join the DAPS board, and looks forward to helping the organization grow, and helping other trans folks find their missing community.
Astro Pittman (they/them), Member-At-Large
Area of Focus: Harm Reduction, Mental Health
They were born in Italy, raised in Texas, and has called Seattle home for over 13 years. Astro is completing their senior year at Seattle Central College in the Applied Behavioral Science baccalaureate program and has applied to the 2021 Master of Social Work program at University of Washington. Astro works with at-risk youth as a drug and alcohol counselor, focusing on Queer, homeless, and POC youth. Astro is the President of Seattle Central’s LGBTQ+ student club, Queer Cooperative; a fully professed Guard with the Sisters of the Mother House of Washington (Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence); an award-winning journalist and editor-in-chief of Seattle Central’s newspaper, The Seattle Collegian; an advocate for the transgender sex worker and Queer recovery communities; Board Member at Large with Diversity Alliance of the Puget Sound (DAPS); and the founder of Transgender Day of Remembrance Seattle (TDORSeattle), the Cis Ally Trio (Cissy), and SeattleTransVisibility.org. They are also a regular guest panelist and speaker for various workshops and events spotlighting LGBTQ+ topics. Astro’s mission is to blend these spheres of service and activism into a collective vehicle for social welfare, anti-oppression, equity, and justice in their communities. Developing research, training, and curriculum specifically tailored to the needs of the LGBTQ+ recovery community is their passion and calling, and they have especially focused on the specific needs and challenges of transgender individuals in their research. Their most closely held dream is to create and run a treatment and recovery center for Queer individuals from all walks of the rainbow; where they receive targeted, trauma-informed, identity-affirming, and community-focused support from excellent clinicians who identify with their struggles through lived experience.
Kenzie McMillan (she/her), Member-At-Large
Kenzie was born, raised, and currently still lives in rural north east Oregon with her two cats, Tegan and Sara. After returning to college in her early forties, she graduated with high honors from Blue Mountain Community College in 2011 with degrees in Civil Engineering and Drafting. COVID isolation allowed her to come out to herself after being completely closeted for 40 years. Fortunately for her, that same isolation had caused DAPS to take support groups online and a lucky turn of events allowed her to connect with DAPS from hundreds of miles away. Support from those group sessions and from the DAPS members allowed her to navigate socially transitioning and coming out while working at a conservative engineering firm. As a Board Member-At-Large her goals include continuing to return support to current and future DAPS members and helping to extend the reach of DAPS to eastern Washington and north eastern Oregon with a particular emphasis on helping those who are coming out later in their life.
Our Board meetings are the final Saturday of each month at 2pm on Zoom (unless announced as otherwise). All meetings are open to the public, If you would like to have your business or organization speak at the meeting please reach out to info@diversityallianceofthepugetsound.org at least 1 week in advance so you can be added to the agenda. There is a community forum for general inquires and comments.
If you would like to join the Board please contact our Chair(s) chair@diversityallianceofthepugetsound.org with the position you are interested in and a letter of interest and qualifications that make you the best candidate for that position. We strongly encourage trans and gender diverse BIPOC individuals from across the State to apply.
Current Openings
Board of Directors
Board Co-Chair: This is a non-voting position on a 7 member Board. This position oversees the Board and the organization as a whole, and maintains its compliance. To apply click HERE or email our Board Secretary for accessibility assistance or questions at secretary@diversityallianceofthepugetsound.org
Board Member At Large: This is a voting position that oversees the running of the organization, the specific position will be built off skills and org needs. To apply click HERE or email our Secretary for accessibility assistance or questions at secretary@diversityallianceofthepugetsound.org
Funding Board
Board Member: This is a non-voting position that does not govern the organization. This position is responsible for finding and procuring grants, donations, and in-kinds for programming, events, and the organization as a whole. Individuals with grant writing, fundraising, and in-kinding experience are encouraged to apply. To apply click HERE or email our Treasurer for accessibility assistance or questions at treasurer@diversityallianceofthepugetsound.org
