Staff
We have a small staff, both paid and volunteer, who run our programs and help behind the scenes.
Teri Hein, Executive Director
Teri is a native Washingtonian, veteran classroom teacher, and published author. She has traveled extensively and taught in Latin America. In addition to awards for her teaching and writing, she received a Fulbright Scholarship to research Ecuador’s varied cultural influences on the learning styles of its children.
Yoko Ott, Deputy Director
Yoko’s young life was lived on a Hawaiian island, so she grew up looking beyond the edges. This forward gaze and innate curiosity sparked an imagination that would inform her later work, not to mention a desire to move to the mainland. Time spent contemplating and creating at University of Washington’s School of Art led to a snazzy degree–then jobs at One Reel and the Frye Art Museum prior to joining the 826 team. Thus far she’s decided that the concept of mash-ups is the best philosophical approach to life.
Samar Abulhassan, Hamilton and Workshops Manager
Samar, a once-upon-a-time obituary writer, looks forward to the lively task of helping the kids of Hamilton Middle School write vivid stories while liberating their unique alphabets. She completed an MFA at Colorado State University in creative writing under a very blue sky. She moved to Seattle last fall from the San Francisco Bay Area, where she wrote poetry and worked in public schools for seven years. She finds the most vital glimmers of home in her notebooks.
Justin Allan, Store and Events Manager
Justin, a multiple discipline artist, purveyor of barn yard noises and faux languages, and long-time stargazer brings his nine plus years retail experience to 826 Seattle as the Store and Events Manager. He attended Everett Community College and Cornish College of the Arts, though a degree in anything substantial continues to elude him. He currently lives in a historic building on First Hill with his temperamental and noisy cat.
Alex Allred, Financial and Operations Manager
Alex can usually be found happily crunching numbers in the 826 Seattle office, though she loves numbers and words equally. She studied English and Creative Writing at U.C. Santa Cruz, and served as Archie McPhee’s Accounting Manager for nearly eight years. She and her husband live in Seattle’s Central District and enjoy playing peekaboo and taking naps with their baby daughter.
Casey Gwinn, Accounting Assistant, Work Study
Casey spent most of his life in Walla Walla (supposedly the place so nice they named it twice), before escaping to the U of W. Now he can be found wading through the weekly sales receipts in the 826 Seattle office. He hopes to one day be a history teacher, but not the boring monotone kind; the fun, goofy and enlightening kind. In his free time, Casey enjoys losing at both fantasy and real sports and eating tasty meals of his own creation.
Toffer Lehnherr, Programs Assistant
Toffer was born in Florida, but raised in Tennessee. He currently lives in Fremont with his wife and two dogs. He sat around reading for several years, which a university awarded him a degree for doing. Toffer still reads, even though no one grades him anymore. He enjoys music, but not loud music that hurts his ears, and watching sports, except when his team loses. You will find him running our drop in program (and enjoying it) Monday through Thursday. Another thing he enjoys is ice cream, even in the winter.
Devyn Perez, VISTA Volunteer
Devyn started at 826 Seattle as a work-study administrative assistant. She recently graduated from SPU and was even more recently sworn in as a VISTA Volunteer. She is thrilled to continue working at 826 Seattle and to have the opportunity to learn more about programming, working with students, and the most effective ways to sell space travel supplies. Devyn is a big fan of coat weather and can be found wandering the streets of Greenwood in the morning looking for coffee and a bagel.
Thomas Faiz, Student Mentor
Thomas Faiz is a senior at Ballard High School. He is very involved in different activities in the school, like the Black Student Union, African Student Association, CYO basketball, MESA, and he does community service for the blind. He came to 826 Seattle during Drop-in Tutoring for two years before becoming a Student Mentor.
Ribika Hailemariam, Student Mentor
Ribika is a senior at Ballard High School. She enjoys keeping herself busy with extracurricular activities such as African Student Association, FBLA, MESA (Math, Engineering, Science Achievements), Link crew, and community service with her church’s youth group. She likes running around Green Lake during her free time. She found out about 826 Seattle earlier this year, and recently joined its great community as a Student Mentor.
Doug Woodbury, Mathematician-in-Residence
Doug is our drop-in tutoring math whiz, one of those rare breeds that can actually explain advanced algebra and trigonometry to even the least enthusiastic high school student. While we have other great math tutors, we count on Doug to head up our math team daily. In his spare time, Doug likes to cook and play obscure German board games. (He also teaches writing workshops!)