Mary Keehn is the founder of Cypress Grove Cheese, inventor of Humboldt Fog™ and several other internationally known products. She is the past Chair and is on the Board of Directors of the Humboldt Area Foundation, and volunteers for Life Care Humboldt, Women for Wellness, and Resolution Care. She was the first Chair of Humboldt Harvest (now Humboldt Made) and past board member of The American Cheese Society.

Mary has four daughters, one step daughter, nine grandchildren, and is the guardian for her granddaughter who is on the autism spectrum.

Jolene Konnersman is an attorney who practiced in the area of employment law for many years before transitioning to immigration law. She currently works with clients from all over the world to secure their immigration status in the United States and reunite families. Jolene also provides pro bono legal services to the Alliance for Children’s Rights, the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Immigration Legal Assistance Project, and OneJustice. Jolene is a graduate of UC Santa Barbara and UCLA School of Law.

Claudia Lima is a highly recognized and well-known artist, she also brings to the Board the perspective of a parent of an adult child with Down's Syndrome. Her advocacy for her son, Christopher, has led her to serve on the State Council of Developmental Disabilities, the Area 1 Board of Developmental Disabilities, and as Area Director for Humboldt County Special Olympics, among other organizations.

Malorie McCurdy has resided and been professionally employed in Humboldt County for most of her life. Malorie manages a thriving local manufacturing company that employs nearly 50 people and distributes products worldwide. She resides in McKinleyville near the We Are Up community with her husband Padre and their three children. Malorie’s interest in this unique community project was sparked by her mother, Mary Keehn’s, idea to build a beautiful place where people of varying abilities can live and thrive.

Tory Starr is the President/Executive Officer for the Open Door Community Health Clinics. The ODCHC network serves a large two county area on the north coast of California providing high quality, patient centered primary care to a diverse population for more than 51 years. ODCHC is the largest provider of primary care services for more than 60,000 patients in a predominately rural setting. His professional focus has been on organizational development and change management as his organizations have navigated the turbulent waters of health care transition.

Fatima Naylor was born and raised in Humboldt County. Fatima is the managing mortgage loan originator at Humboldt Mortgage Company. Fatima was one of seven mothers who founded Families Advocating Autism Now (FAAN), now known as the Humboldt Autism Alliance in 2009. She was dedicated to finding new and better ways in assisting the local education system adapt to the growing and changing needs of a child with autism. Because of her two sons, who are on the spectrum, she is passionate about raising the level of awareness and advocacy in Humboldt County.

Sierra Braggs is dedicated to building a world in which many worlds are possible. She is passionate about community inclusion for all people with housing first as the foundation from which healthy families can grow and thrive.  Sierra was introduced to Autism Spectrum Disorder by her brother-in-law, and has experience working at every level of the service system over the past 20 years, in large part due to his lack of access to adequate services and support during their time together in the state of Georgia for seven years.  Sierra has spent the past 10 years coaching Redwood Coast Regional Center service providers to provide person centered community based services to people with developmental disabilities.  During her time at RCRC she advocated strongly for the development of affordable and accessible housing for people with developmental disabilities and supported the development of six inclusive housing projects in Lake and Mendocino Counties, with three more in process in Humboldt County, including We Are Up.  She has recently begun to learn about neurodivergent affirming practices.  Sierra is presently embarking on a new journey with her husband to start a behavioral health agency serving transition age youth and young adults in Humboldt County to lead independent lives of their own choosing.  She is currently the President of the Friends of Redwood Coast Montessori board and looking forward to working with the We Are Up board to manifest its beautiful vision.   

Robin Keehn retired from her position of Executive Director Region 2, State Council on Developmental Disabilities (Diverse Abilities) after 27 years doing advocacy, program development, systems monitoring and public education in the nine northeastern counties of California.

She received her Special Education Credential back in 1974 and worked in Missouri, the Philippines and at Sonoma Sate Hospital, developing educational programs and providing instruction to student with a wide a variety of special needs and abilities. Robin lives in Chico, California where she actively stands up for diversity and volunteers with a variety of community organizations.

Laura Larson has spent her adult life addressing the need for inclusive and integrated supports for people with a variety of disabilities. Without a safe place of your own to call “home”, it is difficult to achieve the dream of a “good life.”

Laura served as the Executive Director of the Area Two Board on Developmental Disabilities from 1984-2006 working on developing needed supports in Northern California. Later she became the Executive Director of Far Northern Regional Center from 1996-2019. During this time she established the nonprofit housing foundation Resources for Rural Community Development, Inc (DBA Access Home) with a mission to provide safe and affordable housing for people with developmental disabilities.