Kendra Allman
Kendra AllmanCommunity Organizing Fellow, Washington Housing Alliance Action Fund
I grew up in the Philadelphia area and stayed local to attend Bryn Mawr College, where I recently graduated with majors in English and Russian. It was my Russian major especially which sparked a deeper interest in advocacy and social justice, as my studies into Soviet history, as well as modern Russia, demanded a thorough interrogation into the operations of state power, what defines a human right, and how such rights are violated. One doesn’t have to travel to Russia to find examples of gross systemic injustice, but I believe that studying Russia and the former Soviet bloc allowed me to better understand systemic injustice on a domestic front and inspired me to work toward taking action closer to home.

In my free time, I enjoy exploring the cheesier sides of Soviet cinema, trying to teach myself new languages, and probably spending a little too much time playing video games. I love nature and, never having had the chance to explore the west coast, I’m excited to start exploring some new landscapes with hiking, bike rides, etc.

This year, I’ll be serving as Community Organizing Fellow for the Washington Housing Alliance Action Fund (WHAAF). I look forward to gaining a deeper understanding of homelessness and housing rights, as well as to learning community organizing and policy advocacy from a wonderful team of activists. I’m also looking forward to learning from my fellow cohort, whose unique experiences will inform my own and open up new perspectives. I feel lucky to have this opportunity to form meaningful new friendships and push myself outside of my comfort zone.

Pronouns: she/her

Mac Daily
Mac DailyGeneral Intake Coordinator, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project
I was raised in Denver, Colorado, where I was shaped by my explorations of the Rocky Mountains and my time in participating and working in spaces focused on female empowerment in the outdoors such as Sanborn Western Camps. I lived in the small town of Carpuela, Ecuador, for a year before university as a Global Citizen Year Fellow, where I worked at a center for older adults in my community and developed a close bond with my host mother and sisters. I then moved to Portland, Oregon, to study Hispanic Studies at Lewis & Clark College, where I continue to be amazed by the size of the trees and the many colors of green in the Pacific Northwest.

As I began to improve my Spanish fluency in Ecuador and study books like Eduardo Galeano’s Open Veins of South America that explained the colonial roots of modern migration crises, my interest in using my educational privilege to become an immigration lawyer crystallized. I am honored to be working with the Northwest Imigration Rights Project to learn more about how to combat the structural injustices of the immigration law system. I am excited to explore Seattle on my roller blades, be engaged in a meaningful community, and learn more about myself this year.

Pronouns: they/them

Kristina Smelser
Kristina SmelserBLOCK Project Community Coordinator, Facing Homelessness
I was born and raised on the Central Coast of California with my parents and two sisters, and I then ventured up to the Bay Area for college. As a student of public health at University of California Berkeley, I developed a critical understanding of social issues and a commitment to confronting them in my work and education. I also served as a health educator in several of Oakland’s public high schools and volunteered on community farms across the Western United States. Through these formative experiences, I became passionate about racial equity, food justice, and community-led efforts to improve the wellbeing of our human and non-human neighbors.

I feel immense gratitude for the compassion, diversity, and activism of the communities I’ve been a part of, especially throughout the trying times of the past year. I’m excited to join the similarly vibrant communities of QuEST and Facing Homelessness this fall. Living, learning, and exploring spirituality within an intentional community will nourish me as I plant roots in an unfamiliar place. I hope to share my love for cooking, gardening, and adventuring outdoors with the other fellows. I’m also looking forward to building on my experiences teaching, listening, speaking Spanish, and writing as part of the Facing Homelessness team.

Pronouns: she/her

Zoë Peyton Jones
Zoë Peyton JonesDevelopment and Communications Associate, United Indians of All Tribes Foundation
Development and Communications Associate, United Indians of All Tribes Foundation

As a dual US-UK citizen, I grew up primarily on Lenni Lenape land in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, but returned to the UK to study politics and sociology at the University of Cambridge. Throughout college, I’ve loved getting to explore and think about community, not just academically within my majors but also in the context of my own communities. In Cambridge, those ranged from music groups to my Covid “household” to climate activism groups and beyond. In Pennsylvania, I worked with a Philadelphia group that has countered decades of disinvestment by building solar resources and jobs training for its community members; this taught me firsthand the transformative power of community. I learned other hard truths in listening to the stories of incarcerated people and their families when I interned with a movement to deprivatize a local prison. I’ve loved working with groups both within and outside the university context to build strong and resilient communities, and now I’m excited to be joining the community of QuEST!

I’ll be working as the Development and Communications Associate for the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation this year, and I’m thrilled to have the chance to support their amazing work. I’m also very excited to make my move (and first ever trip) to the Pacific Northwest and can’t wait to see the mountains, which will be a significant change from Cambridge’s aggressive flatness! I’m looking forward to lots of walks, plenty of music-making, getting to use a real kitchen, and most of all getting to know the UIATF community and all the QuEST Fellows.

Pronouns: she/her

Audrey Koh
Audrey KohProgram Coordinator, Seattle JazzED
Born and raised on Tongva, Kizh, and Chumash land––in what is currently known as Los Angeles, California––I recently graduated from Williams College with two majors in American Studies and English. At Williams, I participated in various student affinity groups and music-related activities. I served as co-chair of the Minority Coalition Steering Committee, chair and senior advisor of the Asian American Students in Action organization, and board member of the Koreans of Williams club, hosted a music show through the student-run radio station WCFM 91.9, took violin lessons, and played in the Zambezi Marimba Band. I spent (most of) my junior year abroad in England, taking classes in English Literature and Language (and a fascinating one in Internet law!) through the Williams-Exeter Programme at Oxford.

In my free time, I enjoy perfecting my spam and kimchi-fried rice recipe, watching movies that give me existential crises, listening to music with my friends, and downloading more articles from JSTOR than I can afford to read at any given moment. Some of my academic interests lie in Asian/American studies, trauma and memory studies, Internet culture and sociology, and modern American literature and history; my thesis in American Studies was on hauntings of Korean/American womanhood in contemporary Korean/American literature and modern Asian/American history. In my American Studies classes, I learned about some of the frameworks necessary to conceive of and manifest better futures for peoples around the globe, and I believe that through service with QuEST, I can apply these frameworks to real-world situations and make a positive, tangible difference within people’s lives.

Having volunteered for various music and children’s organizations before college, I’m excited to work for Seattle JazzED this year as their Program Coordinator, assisting their mission to provide every student with access to quality music education through a commitment to social justice. I’m looking forward to practicing simple and mindful living in a social justice-oriented, intentional community with this cohort, and I can’t wait to explore everything Seattle has to offer (especially its parks, museums, and music scene) and to learn from and grow with the other Fellows, pushing my comfort zone and developing new interests and practices in the process!

Pronouns: she/her

Julia Selle
Julia SelleRadical Hospitality Coordinator, Recovery Cafe
While growing up in Maryland, I learned to love traveling and the outdoors from a young age. After a gap year spent in Thailand and working at an outdoor adventure company, I moved to the Northeast to attend the University of Vermont where I explored my passions for science, conservation, and environmental justice. I was very lucky to have the opportunity to study abroad in the Chilean Patagonia as part of a field studies program. While in Patagonia, my desire to protect the environment and people who depend on it was reinforced when I saw immense glaciers that are slowly disappearing due to climate change and met gauchos who are being forced to move due to development pressure. During my last two years at UVM, I surveyed state residents and conducted research as part of a multi-year research project team in order to inform the creation of an environmental justice policy for Vermont. I graduated in 2020, having combined my passions and interests into a major in Environmental Studies and minors in Neuroscience and Geography. I hope to continue to pursue my interests in social justice, environmental justice, and public health throughout my future.

I am looking forward to embracing the QuEST tenets of simplicity and intentional community through my love of photography, music, and exploring the outdoors, and through learning about the passions, interests, and hobbies of the other Fellows. I can’t wait to explore all that Seattle has to offer! I am excited to serve as the Radical Hospitality Coordinator for Recovery Café this coming year. I am looking forward to working with a group so dedicated to serving the people of Seattle and becoming part of that caring and compassionate community.

Pronouns: she/her

Click here to read about the 2020-2021 Fellows