Board

FAYLITA HICKS

PRESIDENT

Faylita Hicks (she/they) is a queer Afro-Latinx writer, spoken word artist, and cultural strategist. A prolific creative, and directly-impacted artist, Hicks is known for their dynamic storytelling methods and compelling narrative arcs. Newly based in Chicago, IL, Hicks is the author of the critically-acclaimed debut poetry collection HoodWitch (Acre Books, 2019), a finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Poetry, the 2019 Julie Suk Award, and the 2019 Balcones Poetry Prize. They are currently working on their second collection, A Map of My Want (Haymarket Books, 2024), and a debut memoir about their carceral experience A Body of Wild Light (Haymarket Books, 2026). Both books are supported in part by grants, fellowships, residencies, and awards from the Art for Justice Fund, Black Mountain Institute, Tin House, and the Center for Art and Advocacy‘s Right of Return USA. The former Editor-in-Chief of Black Femme Collective and Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, Hicks is a voting member of the Recording Academy/GRAMMYs and its Songwriters and Composers Committee for the Texas Chapter. Hicks is also the recipient of fellowships and residencies from the Tony-Award-winning Broadway Advocacy Coalition, Civil Rights Corps, Lambda Literary, and Texas After Violence Project. The winner of the 2020 Sappho Poetry Award, their poetry, essays, and digital art have been featured in American Poetry Review, Ecotone, Kenyon Review, Longreads, Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A-Day, Poetry Magazine, Slate, Split This Rock, Texas Observer, The Slowdown Podcast, and Yale Review, amongst others. The founder of ICL: Creative Consultations, Hicks received their MFA in Creative Writing from Sierra Nevada College’s Low Residency Program, now the University of Reno at Lake Tahoe, where they are a member of the teaching faculty.

Eric Charles May

VICE PRESIDENT

Eric is the author of the novel Bedrock Faith, which was named a Notable African American Title by Publishers Weekly, and a Top Ten Debut Novel for 2014 by Booklist Magazine. A 2015 recipient of the Chicago Public Library Foundation’s 21st Century Award and a former reporter for The Washington Post, May’s fiction has also appeared in Fish Stories, Solstice, Hypertext, Flyleaf Journal, F, and Criminal Class magazines.

In addition to his Post reporting, his nonfiction has appeared in Sport Literate, Chicago Tribune, and the personal essay anthology Briefly Knocked Unconscious By A Low Flying Duck.

Jessica Caravallah

BOARD MEMBER

Jessica is a Michigan native and a resident of the north side of Chicago since 2008. After graduating from the University of Michigan, she began her career in Community Affairs at the Chicago Cubs. She has since moved to Ticket Operations, where she works in large-scale event and project management. She earned her MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2022, where she participated in Booth Social Impact as a strategic project manager with the YWCA and as a Board Fellow through the Rustandy Center with Chicago Appleseed.

RACHEL WALERSTEIN

BOARD MEMBER

Rachel is a teacher, writer, and community builder from Central New York. They are passionate about empowering others to co-create the world in which they want to live and work. A teacher by training, Rachel received their Bachelor’s in Education from SUNY Oswego and their PhD in English from the University of Iowa before moving to Chicago. It was in their final teaching role at a for-profit high school here that Rachel realized their focus was no longer in the classroom, but on reimagining the infrastructure intended to support it. Now, they facilitate learning solutions that bring organizations together as a community to solve their most pressing problems and achieve their mission. When not serving as the Senior Learning and Talent Development Manager for AIDS Foundation Chicago, Rachel co-leads the Leadership Institute for Young Nonprofit Professionals, Chicago.