Advocacy
Jean Paul, Advocacy Sub-committee chair
Hello! My name is Jean Paul (he/him) a Shared Power Consultant with the Washington State Office of Equity. I am a committed equity, diversity, and inclusion professional whose background extends to exposing marginalized youth to STEM careers, helping at risk fathers with child custody and achieving economic freedom. I was born in the beautiful island of Haiti, and immigrated to the U.S. as a teenager. I am a proud husband, father of two, community leader and Doggy Dad. In my spare time, you can find me playing with my children, tending to my garden, bird watching and taking long walks with my Dog Onyx.
Area(s) of Professional Expertise: Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, Partnerships, Leading Initiatives, Customer/Stakeholder Relations, Change Management, Facilitation, Youth Development.
Ethnic Background: Immigrant born in Haiti. West African and Taíno.
Language(s) Spoken: Haitian Creole, French and English.
Nadia Damchii, Advocacy Subcommittee Co-Lead
My name is Nadia Damchii (she/her) and I am excited to be part of WIN Advocacy Subcommittee. I have a diverse background working with various segments of international organizations and communities particularly through membership, donations, charities, and government fundraising for Red Cross projects. I previously worked at Deloitte Auditing, the Mongolian Political Party, and the Red Cross of Mongolia before I joined DSHS four years ago as a Management Analyst in Leased Facility Maintenance Operations in the Facilities, Finance, & Analytics Administration. Each position I’ve held has provided me with invaluable personal and professional growth. I am a life-long learner, enjoy self-study, and my journey is firmly guided by my faith.
Membership Outreach
There is no one in this position at this time.
Mentorship Program
Joanne Lee, Mentoring Program Administrator
Joanne Lee is a Deputy Assistant Director for the Equity & Employee Development Division at the State of Washington Department of Enterprise Services. Joanne is a 2023 Excellence in Washington State Government Leadership Award recipient.
She previously held the position of Learning Consultant, Principal for the City of Tacoma. In addition, she worked as a Leadership Development Learning Design and Delivery Professional for the State of Washington Department of Enterprise Services. With over 20 years of experience in various workforce development roles, Joanne has extensive expertise in developing, supporting, maintaining, and expanding professional technical education partnerships to meet industry needs through customized training programs.
Joanne has a wealth of experience working with diverse adult learners, providing training and support ranging from one-on-one consultations to large-scale workshops, seminars, and training sessions for various workforce populations. She has also served as a Chair at the Washington Immigrant Network (WIN), Leadership Development Lead for Hawaiians, Asians, and Pacific Islanders Empowerment Network (HAPPEN), and as a Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Seattle SHRM.
Joanne earned her Graduate Certificate in Human Resource Management from the University of Phoenix. She holds a Master of Arts in Instructional Technology and a Bachelor of Arts in Education from California State University, San Bernardino. Alongside her passion for fostering relationships with community-based organizations, businesses, and industries, Joanne actively promotes partnerships for the workforce and continuing education. Currently, she is a member of the Business faculty at the Seattle Colleges. On a personal note, Joanne loves to travel with her family.
Area(s) of Professional Expertise: Learning/Training Facilitation and Development, Business Development, Leadership Development, College Professor
Ethnic Background: Immigrant born in the Philippines
Language(s) Spoken: English and Tagalog
Christina Pourarien, Mentoring Program Administrator - Past chair (2023-24)
Christina Pourarien (she/her) is an Information Technology Services Division Executive Operations Manager for the State of Washington Employment Security Department (ESD). After graduating from Central Washington University, she began her state service career in 1999 at the Washington State Lottery. She has worked at General Administration (currently known as Department of Enterprise Services), Department of Retirement Systems, The Evergreen State College, Department of Social Health and Services, Department of Licensing and Labor & Industries before joining ESD in January of 2022. She currently serves as the co-chair of the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Employee Resource Group at ESD.
Christina was born in Great Falls, Montana moved to South Korean with her family when she was six months old, and returned to the United States as a young child in the early 1980s. Her father proudly served in the US Air Force and her mother is originally from Korea. She attended public school in the North Thurston School District in Lacey, Washington. She had the privileged to be the first one in her family to receive a formal college education from Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington with a bachelor's degree in psychology. She and her husband Cody have a teenage daughter, Sima.
Area(s) of Professional Expertise:
Human Resources, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, Classification and Compensation, Recruitment, Coaching, Career Planning, Facilitation, Organization Change Management, and Conflict Resolutions
Ethnic Background:
Multi-racial – Child of first generation Korean immigrant parent.
Language(s) Spoken:
English, and conversational Korean
Career & Professional Career Development
Laura Villegas, Career & Professional Development Co-Lead
Laura grew up with German Shepherds in a small town in the Colombian Andes and now lives in Olympia. She came to the US in 2007 with an athletic scholarship to study at Montana State University and since has lived in Montana, North Carolina, Washington DC, Idaho and now Washington state. She loves the outdoors and has a strong connection with nature.
Laura is an enthusiastic systems thinker and currently works with the Department of Ecology as market monitor of the state’s Cap-and-Invest program. Laura has a PhD in environment and development economics. She likes to think she remains mostly a sensible and compassionate thinker with a strong hunger for justice, peace, and integrity. Laura's education, along with her personal and professional experience, makes her skeptical of mainstream and hegemonic schools of thought and constantly leads her to question the ethical implications of economic analyses in policy making. She’s grateful to the state of Washington for the opportunity to contribute, through her work, to efforts that are aligned with some of her core values: service, justice, gratitude, and responsibility.
Anastassia Hunte Gardner, Career & Professional Development Subcommittee Co Lead
Anastassia Hunte Gardner is a Research & Outreach Program Specialist at Washington State Department of Enterprise Services (DES). Her role is working with procurement professionals to identify small, diverse, and veteran businesses, troubleshoot research barriers, tracks quarterly data and provide outreach training.
Anastassia believes in customer service and the importance of working together as a team.
Since 2022, Anastassia has presented at Alliance Northwest, American Contract Compliance Association’s National Training Institute, NIGP Forum and Washington’s DEI Empowerment Conference. Her work experience includes working at a public library and radio stations. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington.
She enjoys traveling, listening to podcasts, visiting museums, and watching K-dramas.
Gwen Willis, Career & Professional Development Subcommittee Co-Chair
Gwen currently serves as an eLearning Developer and LMS Administrator at the Employment Security Department (ESD). She has been with ESD for almost 4 years, and in previous roles taught business classes for job seekers. Prior to her work in state government, Gwen worked 17+ years for a non-profit organization partnering with a variety of colleges and community-based organizations, providing training in computer skills and professional development. Among the more impactful duties for Gwen, were those where she was able to help others acquire the skills needed to return to work or grow professionally.
Gwen came to America from Guyana, South America as a teenager. She attended public school in New York City. Being a military spouse brought Gwen to Washington State. She has been serving in the Washington Immigrant Network's (WIN) business resource group since 2018. She has served on the Events Planning Sub-Committee and as one of the editors for our Diversity Cookbook. Gwen earned her Master of Education, Learning and Technology from Western Governors University.
In her free time, Gwen enjoys family, movies, reading, and traveling.
Special Projects
Christina Pourarien, Mentoring Program Administrator - Past chair (2023-24)
Christina Pourarien (she/her) is an Information Technology Services Division Executive Operations Manager for the State of Washington Employment Security Department (ESD). After graduating from Central Washington University, she began her state service career in 1999 at the Washington State Lottery. She has worked at General Administration (currently known as Department of Enterprise Services), Department of Retirement Systems, The Evergreen State College, Department of Social Health and Services, Department of Licensing and Labor & Industries before joining ESD in January of 2022. She currently serves as the co-chair of the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Employee Resource Group at ESD.
Christina was born in Great Falls, Montana moved to South Korean with her family when she was six months old, and returned to the United States as a young child in the early 1980s. Her father proudly served in the US Air Force and her mother is originally from Korea. She attended public school in the North Thurston School District in Lacey, Washington. She had the privileged to be the first one in her family to receive a formal college education from Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington with a bachelor's degree in psychology. She and her husband Cody have a teenage daughter, Sima.
Area(s) of Professional Expertise:
Human Resources, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, Classification and Compensation, Recruitment, Coaching, Career Planning, Facilitation, Organization Change Management, and Conflict Resolutions
Ethnic Background:
Multi-racial – Child of first generation Korean immigrant parent.
Language(s) Spoken:
English, and conversational Korean
Lani Fowlkes, Special Projects Co Lead
Lani Fowlkes serves as the Equity Analyst and Relational Partnership Coordinator with The Department of Licensing’s Equity and Inclusion Office. She manages the Pro Equity Anti Racism (PEAR) Team and is the Language Access Coordinator. It’s this work that fills her heart and gets her up in the morning. As an Equity Analyst and Relational Partnership Coordinator, Lani has been able to put her MBA degree and DEI Certification to good use. She earned a Certified Diversity Professional Certification in May 2024.
Her strengths of building trust with partners have garnered concrete relationships with PEAR Team Community Partners.
Lifting and centering community voices and improving access to DOL services are the two areas Lani is the most passionate about.
Darchelle D. Burnett, Special Projects Co-Lead
Darchelle D. Burnett, M.A. is a DEI Learning Design and Delivery Professional/Human Resources Consultant 4 with the Department of Enterprise Services. Darchelle is a proven transformative leader and trainer who has overseen several diverse and multicultural teams. Before this role, Darchelle worked for The University of Washington at their Bothell campus serving in and studying DEI literature, curriculum, and communities. She carries her leadership and training experiences from her career at California State University, Monterey Bay, where she engaged in institutional politics, DEI event programming, and other various positions where she received many accolades. In addition to Darchelle's leadership and training experience, she holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social and Behavioral Science (CSU Monterey Bay), with a concentration in Anthropology and a minor in Peace Studies and has also earned a Master of Arts in Cultural Studies (University of Washington-Bothell). As she believes in lifelong learning and expanding knowledge outside of our environments, Darchelle has also studied abroad in Germany and the Netherlands, and many national conferences, collecting and presenting on multicultural and diverse experiences. DEI education and training is both her profession and her passion, and it is demonstrated in all that she does.
Kuen Kuen Spichiger , Special Projects Co-Lead
Kuen Kuen Spichiger has been a Folk and Traditional Arts Program Specialist with Washington State Parks since February 2022. She is one of the members of Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) group in the agency and Washington Immigrant Network (WIN) in Statewide Business Resource Groups. She is also a nature-inspired artist, children's picture book illustrator and author, and art educator. She is an instructor with Arbutus Folk School in Olympia and serves on their board!
WIN Communications
Tuletu Nelani, Communications/Website Manager
Tuletu Nelani, is a seasoned communications professional with more than 13 years of experience in creative storytelling, cultural exploration, and content creation. Joining state service in October 2023, she brings a wealth of expertise to drive impactful connections.
With a bachelor’s degree in journalism and media studies, Tuletu’s skills encompass broadcasting, videography, content creation, audio editing, and problem solving.
Her professional journey includes:
- Media manager for an 8000-student body.
- Teaching in South Korea and chronicling cultural experiences.
- Military spouse ambassador at JBLM, supporting active-duty soldiers, veterans, and their families.
Tuletu’s dedication to innovative solutions earned her recognition as an Investec Top 100 candidate for the Arts, Culture, Media, and Society Award.
A passionate advocate for cultural exchange she's fluent in English and isiXhosa (yes, the language of Wakanda!).
Beyond her professional accomplishments, Tuletu enjoys anime, reading, hiking, travel, photography, and videography.
Todd Baker, Newsletter Manager
Todd Baker has been the Business Relationship Manager for the Department of Labor and Industries' since 2017. During his thirty years with the department, Todd has served as operations manager, project manager, and consultant in the areas of strategic and business planning, leadership development, and process improvement. Todd lives in Olympia with his wife. He is an author of three memoirs and enjoys running, grilling, and heavy metal music.
Heidi Helsley, Social Media Coordinator
Heidi has been a Health Promotion Consultant at the Health Care Authority since August 2019. She is Washington Wellness's communications lead and supports political sub-divisions participating in the Public Employees Benefits Board (PEBB) with their employee wellness and benefit promotion efforts.
She brought over 22 years of Department of Health (DOH) work experience to Washington Wellness. At DOH, she focused on health promotion, policy development, training, and communications including serving five years as Office of Nutrition Services' social media lead.
She studied at Washington State University's Edward R. Murrow School of Communications, the University of Washington's Northwest Center for Public Health Practice Leadership Institute, and earned a bachelor's degree from Evergreen State College.
Heidi is the first US born citizen on her father's side of the family. Her father immigrated to the United States when he was 12 years old. He served in the US Army and later became a citizen.
She is excited to support WIN's efforts, especially making WIN's social media platforms engaging and helpful.
Komal Qureshi, Website Manager Backup
Komal Qureshi has worked in the Accounts Management Center at the Employment Security Department since 2021. She is a graduate of University of Washington and has a passion for working with small business.
Volunteers
Alejandro Sanchez, Volunteer
Alejandro Sanchez works for the Office of the Governor as the Special Assistant for immigration-related matters. Alejandro joined the state in 2012 as an administrative law judge with the Board of Tax Appeals.