Meet the Woke Words Team
Meeyong McFalls-Schwartz, Woke Words Founder
Meeyong (she/hers) created this group with the vision of providing a space where Womxn, Femmes, and Non-Binary POC could see themselves in the books they read. Meeyong created this group as the previous Director of Development at the YWCA and is now a part of the Grants team at the Nature Conservancy Utah. She is a creative soul with a love for literature, art, food, the outdoors, and a proud plant mama to 20+ plants.
Sarah May, Lead Coordinator
Sarah May (she/hers) is a biracial Salvadoran American, artist, weaver, storyteller, and community advocate in Salt Lake City, Utah. She graduated from the University of Utah with her BFA in Photography & Digital Imaging and her MA in Community Leadership with an Emphasis in Art & Culture from Westminster College. Sarah coordinates and facilitates designated spaces of healing, connection, and empowerment for BIPOC communities with an emphasis in Black, Indigenous, and Womxn, Femmes, and Non-Binary Persons of Colour. She is a facilitator and coordinator for two groups for Womxn, Femmes, and Non-Binary People of Colour at the YWCA Utah; the Color Collective, an intersectional community group, and the Woke Words Reading and Writing Series. She was recently the community and inclusion coordinator summer of 2021 with the Utah Arts festival organizing BIPOC literary performances.
Sarah creates work exploring the intricacy of narrative through merging multiple mediums together, exploring her connection to her Indigenous heritage using cyanotype, film photography, found objects, weaving and textiles, and her own writing. Her work and process reflect her journey exploring identity as being cyclical and evolving, connecting to ancestry, and the idea of destiny and healing as intertwined. She recently purchased her own loom to expand her weaving practice, and her black lab border collie named Frederick Douglas is her baby.
Anly Lockwood, Assistant Coordinator
Anly Lockwood (she/hers) is the assistant coordinator of the Woke Words Reading and Writing Series for Womxn, Femmes, and Non-Binary Persons of Color. She helps coordinate and works with the facilitators who lead the casual hangout sessions between the formal group sessions to create a space of nurturing connectedness and building community. Anly is a singer and musician and is a part of three local bands.
Saundra Stokes, Chief Mission Impact Officer, YWCA Utah
Saundra Stokes is the Chief Mission Impact Officer at the YWCA Utah and is acts as our YWCA support. The Chief Mission Impact Officer helps to shape, influence, and implement how the Mission, Values, and Vision are lived out through our programming and internal staff community. This role provides programmatic leadership as part of the executive leadership team, ensuring the successful integration, assessment, and ongoing development of the mission in all of YWCA Utah’s programs, decisions, and strategies. The YWCA’s Mission work impacts all aspects of our organization from governance, strategy, operations to program management and direct services. The Chief Mission Impact Officer is responsible for the implementation of Domestic Violence Service Programs, Race and Gender Equity Programs, and Children’s Services Programs.