CURRENT fellows
Briana Babbitt
I grew up outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and graduated from Vassar College before moving to Portland in early 2015. Currently, I work at Foundations for a Better Oregon as the Operations Associate, where I coordinate our day-to-day operations and build dynamic systems that empower the organization to work ambitiously and effectively toward a more equitable and just Oregon. I am passionate about equitable education, systems change, and fostering our shared responsibility for the well-being of Oregon’s children, and previously have worked for All Hands Raised and Reading Results. I love cooking vegan food, hiking, roller skating, reading, and spending time with my toddler daughter, who is a sixth-generation Oregonian.
CATHERINE WEHAGE
We are delighted to welcome Catherine Wehage, new to ninety-nine girlfriends in 2024, as our newest Fellow. She will join Lan Fendors on the Finance & Operations Committee. For the last 10 years, Catherine has streamlined operations for tech, healthcare, and nonprofit organizations. In her spare time, she enjoys dancing bachata and salsa, hiking, and traveling. Born in Portland, Catherine now lives in Clark County with her husband and two children, and works for the City of Portland. We are so happy that Fellows alum Ana Rau introduced Catherine to us!
Katrina machorro
I was born and raised in NE Portland and after graduating from Oregon State University have lived in Spain, Malta, Virginia and Florida. Over the past decade in the education industry I’ve been gifted with the opportunity to work with hundreds of high-school to non-traditional aged college folks. My decade of experience spans from direct classroom teaching English abroad, college academic advising & higher education data analysis, building direct-service intern and volunteer programming, crisis intervention to workforce development. My current role has exposed me to grant writing and am enjoying seeing how one can make a difference even behind the scenes. Oregon will forever be home and I am excited to partner with ninety-nine girlfriends to help invest and strengthen Oregon's human capital and learn more about the realm of philanthropy. In my free time I enjoy hiking, running, baking and wrangling my two fluffy Persian cats.
tuyen ta
Tuyen ("Twin") is passionate about higher education, community centric fundraising, and building relationships in the communities we serve. Tuyen grew up in Northeast Portland and returned to Portland after graduating from Colgate University with a major in English Literature and minor in Rhetoric and Writing. She currently is a Development and Administrative Associate at College Possible Oregon. Outside of work, Tuyen love to explore a new space in Portland including restaurants and small businesses.
alumni
josie greer
I am a local and love the Pacific Northwest! After graduating from the University of Oregon with a BS in Journalism and a Minor in Multimedia in 2017, I started working for Clackamas Women's Services (CWS). The mission of CWS is to break the isolation of domestic and sexual violence. As Development Manager, I enjoy connecting with the community to increase awareness about our work and generate support for the organization. As someone who grew up here, I have both contributed to and witnessed the immense impact the power of collective giving can have on the community. It's truly inspiring, and I want to continue to foster a culture of philanthropy. Outside of the office, I enjoy cooking (and eating!), reading, and spending time outside.
Elizabeth starke
I am a community activist and development diva centered in intersectional feminism. I graduated from PSU with a BA in Anthropology and a Minor in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies in 2013. I was the chair of Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette's Sexy Tuesdays Planning Committee from 2011 to 2014, where I organized special events to raise awareness about sexual and reproductive healthcare. I helped make marriage equality a reality through my volunteerism with Human Rights Campaign, and have served on the Board of Directors for Focus on Youth, helping to build their community garden for homeless kids and the Seeds of Hope program. Since 2014, I have been the Development Director at Rose Haven, the only day shelter and community center serving women, children and marginalized genders experiencing homelessness and interesting traumas in Portland.
ANA RAU
I have lived in Oregon for the past six years. Born in Zambia, and raised in Michigan, I am a transplant to Oregon. I earned my Bachelors and Masters degree(s) in Public Administration & Nonprofit Management with an emphasis in Budget & Finance from Grand Valley State University. I have had the privilege to serve in higher education and the nonprofit sector for the past ten years. I work in the major gift arena, pairing interest and capacity to solving inequities in our community. As I progress in my career I continue to deepen my passion for (B-JEDI) belonging, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion and critically analyzing how it intersects with my personal values and fundraising work. I'm excited to be a part of ninety-nine girlfriends' Fellows program to help impact systemic change in our community. In addition to this work, I also serve on the SPOON Foundation Board helping to provide equitable nutrition access to children around the World. What brings me the most joy is spending time with my loving partner and two sweet sons. Outside of diaper changes, feedings, and soccer practices you can find our family exploring the waterfalls and mountains in the Pacific Northwest.
april jay unterberger
Hi, I'm April Jay! Originally from a tiny town in Wisconsin, I dreamed of moving to Portland since I was 13. I graduated with a Masters in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I've worked in child protection, university counseling, psychiatric inpatient and mental health therapy. All of these roles influenced my values of social justice and trauma informed care. In 2017, I moved to Portland for a therapy job and soon after was led to explore my passion for spiritual healing. I'm trained as a Reiki Master Teacher and Shamanic Practitioner serving individuals and groups through spiritual therapy sessions, retreats, and mentorships. My passion is combining trauma therapy techniques with ancient knowledge to connect people with their deepest source of love. I find deep joy in helping people overcome their trauma and remember their purest gifts and talents. I believe we all are our most potent healers and I am simply a guide to help people remember this! In my time outside of work I love writing poetry, dancing, live music, and exploring parks with my pup and partner. I look forward to meeting other Fellows and members of ninety-nine girlfriends!
AZUL TELLEZ WRIGHT
Azul shares what it is like to be a part of the ninety-nine girlfriends Fellows Program:
Over the past year, I’ve interviewed the ninety nine girlfriends fellows cohort to shed light on these four impressive women (five including myself!). Now I’d like to turn the spotlight onto some of our mentors who have guided us over the past few years. I had the pleasure of interviewing my mentor, Eileen Brady, and Molly Gray’s mentor, Abby Farber, who shared their experiences in the program.
What does being a mentor for ninety-nine girlfriends entail? As a mentor, you are matched with one fellow who shares similar career interests and goals. Mentors attend quarterly meetings with the other mentors and fellows and are encouraged to meet with their mentee as often as they both see fit. Mentors also guide their mentee in their Fellows Project, which changes each year.
What I find wonderful and unique about the ninety-nine girlfriend’s Fellows Program is that each mentor-mentee relationship is different and can be tailored to what each pair wants and needs. Abby explains, “I asked Molly what her goals were for the mentorship and what she was hoping to get out of it. It’s about finding out about what the person wants and needs. A lot of being a mentor to Molly was talking about big career decisions, giving her direction.” Eileen explains that her experience as a mentor surprised her; “As mentors, we tend to think, ‘I should do this. This will be a good thing for someone else, when really I get so much insight, and creative thought out of it. I get to share my story as well as listen to other people’s stories.”
Being a mentor also connects you to a greater community within ninety nine girlfriends. The quarterly Fellow Program meetings are wonderful ways to get to know other members on a deeper level. “When I see Azul at ninety nine girlfriend events, I have someone to talk to and I can introduce her to other people,” Eileen says.
I think the other fellows would agree with me when I say that having a mentor is a huge boon in my life. I feel lucky to spend time with an experienced individual who shares my professional interests and guides me in a myriad of ways.
caroline mcdonald
I grew up outside of Washington, D.C. and studied International Law and Spanish at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. After graduating in May of 2020, I moved out to Portland for a year of service with Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest/AmeriCorps. During that year, I lived in intentional community with six other Jesuit Volunteers and focused on the four pillars of simple living, social and ecological justice, spirituality, and community. I served in the Graduate Support Department at St. Andrew Nativity School and supported students and graduates of Oregon's only tuition-free, private middle school for low income students. Afterwards, I stayed on at Nativity as the Graduate Support Coordinator.
Before turning my focus domestically, I worked in the human rights and civic engagement fields at Vital Voices Global Partnership, Freedom House, and the United Nations Foundation. In my free time, I enjoy going on long runs; finding new hikes; baking with whatever is in my kitchen; drinking copious amounts of coffee; and, trying to make a dent in my ever growing reading list. I am thrilled to be a part of ninety-nine girlfriends and to collaborate with others who have an interest in leveraging local voices and expertise for greater societal change!
Cleo Tung
Cleo joined ninety-nine girlfriends as a Fellow in 2017. She works for Partnership for Safety and Justice, where she’s been the Development Director for three and a half years. The organization engages in statewide advocacy focused on making Oregon’s criminal justice system more fair and effective for survivors of crime, people convicted of crime, and the families of both. As their Development Director, Cleo oversees the organization’s annual fundraising programs. She explains, “I view fundraising as a form of community organizing and movement building. It’s about developing meaningful relationships with folks in the community, pooling our resources, and leveraging our collective power to effect change.”
Cleo’s background in criminal justice is impressive. She received her undergraduate and graduate degrees in criminological research, and quickly became interested in fixing our broken criminal justice system. Dedicated to the cause, Cleo plans to continue working in the criminal justice space. “It’s a problem that I hope we can remedy in our lifetime so I envision myself doing this work for the long haul.”
Outside of work, Cleo spends time at the Oregon State Penitentiary meeting with the Asian Pacific Family Club and celebrating a shared identity of Asian and Asian Pacific Islander heritage. For over three years, Cleo has been one of the many volunteers helping APFC fundraise to build a healing garden inside the state penitentiary. “A lot of the people in the club are serving extremely long prison sentences, so this project is an opportunity for them to be a part of something positive and to bring the beauty of the outside world in.” APFC has raised $350,000 and will break ground next February. “They’re building a community of healing within the prison and leaving a lasting legacy. It’s very humbling.” Cleo is also on the board of OAASIS (Oregon Abuse Advocates and Survivors in Service), an organization that advocates for policies that help children who have survived sex abuse.
While Cleo is thoroughly dedicated to criminal justice reform she makes times to sustain herself through fun hobbies. Cleo and her husband enjoy cooking exciting vegan meals and taking their dirt bikes out to the Tillamook National Forest. “I’ve never been a very athletic person or had good hand-eye coordination, so I decided to try something really out of my comfort zone. I took a course and found it really challenging at first but I kept practicing and got my motorcycle license. It’s been a journey!”
Cleo and two other inaugural Fellows helped plan and run the ninety-nine girlfriends Awards Ceremony in 2017. In 2018 she served on the Arts & Culture grant review team and hopes to participate on another team again this year.
Cristal finley
I am an enrolled member of the Yakama Nation. I grew up in The Dalles, Oregon and moved to Portland to attend college and complete a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. I went on to earn an MBA with a focus in Finance. I have a passion for helping non-profit organizations carry out their mission and make a difference in the community. I became interested in giving back after being exposed to university donors and volunteering within a local SUN program while in college and, since then, have served on four non-profit boards and have enjoyed engaging in hands-on volunteer opportunities where it’s needed. Philanthropy has given me new connections in the Portland metro area, helped me grow new skills and step into leadership. I am excited to join ninety-nine girlfriends because I believe in the power of collective giving and I look forward to making connections with local women. I work in equipment finance lending at Dext Capital and was drawn to lending 10 years ago after an internship where I got to see firsthand how finance services play a role in helping others reach their goals. I currently serve on the board for The Risk Management Association – Portland Metro Chapter. In my free time, I enjoy hiking, doing puzzles, reading, biking, podcasting, speaking and engaging with my online community focused on personal development for female professionals.
Emma Hoyle
Emma was born and raised in Lawrence, Kansas where she attended the University of Kansas earning degrees in English and American Studies, with a focus on Women and Gender Studies.
Emma has more than 15 years of nonprofit fundraising experience, currently serving as College Possible Oregon’s first Individual Giving & Major Gifts Officer. Prior to that, she served as Development Director for Path Home for seven years. Her most notable success at Path Home was completing a $5.2m Capital Campaign to purchase and remodel the Family Village Campus, tripling the organization's size.
Emma has focused much of her ninety-nine girlfriends involvement with the Grant Review Team - serving as a co-lead and on the inaugural Resource Team. She serves on the board of OAASIS (Oregon Abuse Advocates and Survivors in Service), and lives in Southeast Portland with her husband, young son, cat, and three chickens.
kathleen porcello
Hi there! My name is Kathleen, and I am a proud Fellows graduate of ninety-nine girlfriends.
I grew up in Portland, Oregon, and then studied political and economic globalization and social sciences at the University of Puget Sound and the Evergreen State College. After graduating, I moved back to Oregon and began my career in nonprofits and philanthropy as a grant writer for NAMI Clackamas. Then, I became the Grants Program Manager at Girls Inc. of the Pacific Northwest, furthering my skills as a dedicated grants professional. I am passionate about climate justice, human rights, eradicating poverty, and so much more. I believe that trust-based philanthropy and community-based nonprofits, together, can be powerful forces for positive change.
Being a Fellow at ninety-nine girlfriends was an incredible experience. In my two years, I met and volunteered with so many smart, kind, and talented women, while learning so much about trust-based philanthropy and the local nonprofit community. I especially loved my time serving as a grant reviewer and leader on the Health & Wellness and Family & Human Services teams. In spring 2023, I graduated from ninety-nine girlfriends’ Fellows program and joined the Grant Professionals Association of Oregon and SW Washington. Thank you to my mentors, fellow Fellows, and everyone at ninety-nine girlfriends for making my time at the organization so special!
mikayla posey
I am from Kingman, Arizona, a small town in the northwest corner of the state. I originally moved to Portland in 2011 to attend college at the University of Portland, where I double majored in German and Communication Studies. During college I worked for many schools in the North Portland area, UP International Student Services, and studied abroad in Salzburg, Austria. All of these experiences further spurred my passion for education and cultural exchange. After graduation, I moved near Frankfurt, Germany as an English Teaching Assistant for the Fulbright program. Working with 5th-12th grade English classes at a local German school, the students and I dived in topics ranging from plural nouns to American holidays to immigration policies in the US. I also spent much of my time in Germany working with different refugee programs for both adults and youth. For the first, our goal was to create a place of cultural exchange for and with the refugee population, and to achieve this we volunteered together to host bi monthly gatherings where locals and refugees could share meals, ideas, and build bridges. For youth, we led games and activities in refugee homes to help them express their emotions and experiences through play. In 2017, I returned to the great Pacific Northwest that I had fallen in love with in college to work for Portland Tennis & Education (PT&E), a nonprofit whose vision is to create a fair learning and playing field for Portland’s most underserved youth. I’ve since moved on to another opportunity. In my free time, I volunteer with the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO). As a member of their Refugee & Immigrant Mentorship program, they have partnered me with an incredibly talented young lady from Somalia. We work together towards her success, whether that be through homework help, college application assistance, or talking through issues. Besides volunteering, I like to stay active in my free time. I enjoy boxing, playing tennis, hiking, biking, and playing on a kickball team with friends. I also enjoy traveling and have a goal of visiting 30 countries before I turn 30. Only 9 more countries to go!
Molly Gray
Molly joined ninety-nine girlfriends in 2017. During her first year as a fellow Molly was on the Arts and Culture Grants Review Team. In her second year, she served as the Impact Team’s liaison to My Voice Music. In their final year as a fellow Molly was on the Financial Review Team.
In 2020, Molly continued working with 99GF as a member, serving on the Grants Steering Committee and as a co-lead for the Impact Team. Also in 2020, Molly received an MBA with a concentration in Nonprofit Management from the University of Portland.
These days Molly works as a Program Associate at the Meyer Memorial Trust, using many of the skills and insights she gained as a member of ninety-nine girlfriends to continue supporting the advancement of racial, social, and economic justice with nonprofits around Oregon.
In their free time, Molly enjoys gardening, riding her motorcycle, snuggling her dog, and tromping around in the forest looking for chanterelles.
Rebecca Goldcrump
I grew up in the Bay Area and have had the privilege of calling Portland home since 2013. Professionally, I have been on a journey from numbers to humans - from CPA to MBA to Social Impact Strategist and Entrepreneur to Integral Coach. I am passionate about using numbers to impact humans and bringing humanity to numbers. In 2020, I founded The Impact Collective, where I help both organizations and humans integrate their purpose into how they do business, so social impact drives their business success.
Tong Zhang
Tong is the Executive Director of Oregon MESA, based at PSU. Tong is passionate about the work she does because it brings equity to the education space and encourages students to think for themselves. Before her work in nonprofit management, Tong was a research scientist in tumor immunotherapy. Her experience as a scientist has greatly shaped the work she does now; “As a scientist, I realized how hierarchical and exclusive the systems are for technical and scientific fields. There’s such a lack of representation and a lack of encouragement at most levels. That really fuels a lot of what I do now. I don’t feel like a lot of the experiences that my colleagues and I went through had to happen because we were women, young, or inexperienced. There are so many bright ideas that come from people of different backgrounds and society is missing out on them because the environment hasn’t fostered their growth.”
Outside of work, Tong enjoys traveling and going on day trips with her husband. She’s also a proponent of Asian dramas because she likes the completeness of stories. “I get frustrated with a lot of American TV shows that don’t have an end. All the Asian dramas have around fifteen episodes and that’s the whole show and there’s no more.” She has also begun to write a book about business strategy. This book would target early career professionals and offer management tips that she’s learned over the years and that she wishes were presented in a more relatable manner. She is passionate about helping young professionals in both her work and her free time!
Tong describes herself as an optimistic person, which is why she likes being part of ninety-nine girlfriends. “It’s really easy to get cynical and believe that it’s not going to get better. A lot of what I like to do is about helping make a better future for myself and others if I can. That depends, however, on believing that people, including myself, can change and the situations can change too.”
Van pham
Hello! I'm an arts worker and artist who grew up in Reno, NV. I moved to Portland about 10 years ago, with a few recent stints in London (to obtain a Masters in Cultural Policy, Relations, and Diplomacy) and Sydney (where my partner had a job last year). I have worked across the performing arts, humanities, and music/radio as a curator, event coordinator, administrator, researcher, writer, videographer, performer, and fundraiser. For more than 5 years, I have worked for the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art–most recently as a development associate and grants manager. I also consult in fundraising and grants for other arts organizations and individual artists in Oregon and Vermont. I'm delighted to be a part of ninety-nine girlfriends' Fellows program. I look forward to interacting with the wider network of members and contributing to this group's efforts to support local organizations and causes. Thank you for this opportunity!